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Linguistic Landscape in the Time of Covid: An Introduction of Sorts

By aos
English 295 is a special topics class, and this semester, the class studied linguistic landscape. Linguistic landscape study is interested in the functions, meanings, and ideologies of signs in public spaces in particular historical periods. While relatively new compared to other fields in language studies, linguistic landscape has established its own sets of theoretical and methodological lens over the last two decades, positioning itself as a key area of study for contemporary language issues. The growth and popularity of linguistic landscape study owe to its dynamism and flexibility. It is quick to challenge and push its own theoretical and methodological assumptions in the face of (often drastically) shifting landscapes in the contemporary period. It is also heavily multi-disciplinary, borrowing liberally from a range of fields in the humanities and social sciences (e.g., literary criticism, art studies, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, social semiotics, applied linguistics, g...
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Examining the Public Signs of the AFP's General Headquarters: Military Response and Culture in Addressing COVID-19 Pandemic

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Introduction  The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), our country’s military organization, is mandated under the Constitution as the “protector of the people and the State.” Its chief goal is to uphold and secure the sovereignty of the State and the integrity of the national territory. Hence, the AFP was one of the main government agencies providing public safety and security amidst the global health crisis, together with the Philippine National Police (PNP). Against the backdrop of the worsening health crisis in the Philippines in 2020, the AFP was one of the very first agencies optimized by the government to enact and enforce the mechanisms to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (Sapla & Ojano, 2020).  The country’s military was part of the Whole-of-Government Approach observed in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. The measures laid down by the IATF-MEID, which was at the helm of the Department of Health (DOH) and wherein the AFP is a member, ...
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Aswangs in the City: Locating and Defining the Linguistic Landscape Spaces of Trese’s Marketing Campaign

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Around June 2021, there was an episode in one corner of the social media landscape where CCTV footage of aswangs or monsters circulated among users. Like a scenario of an urban legend coming to life, the said monsters were ripping apart a few billboards for an upcoming Netflix show. Aside from the CCTV footage, related photos of vandalized billboards across the country, purported to be of the same culprit, were uploaded and passed around until “it reached the media.” In screaming red paint, they demand the main character of that Netflix show to leave the city being claimed by the aswangs. Episodes like this, and more, provided its fair share of entertainment to a nation living through restrictions for a year, and whose lives have been disrupted by the pandemic. For a moment, people noticed an artifact of the outside world once more. What happened was a “guerilla marketing” strategy for the show, Trese, an anime adaptation of a hit Filipino graphic novel with the same name. It was com...
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