The ‘Linguistic Borderscape’ as an Analytical Framework for Studying Linguistic Hybridity in Border Regions

Barbara Alicja  Jańczak

doi:10.66479/abcd.24091

Barbara Alicja Jańczak Institute of Applied Linguistics, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7651-636X

DOI: https://doi.org/10.66479/abcd.24091

Absztrakt

This article proposes a new conceptual framework for analysing linguistic phenomena in border regions, drawing on examples from the Polish-German borderland. Although language constitutes one of the key dimensions of cross-border interaction, linguistic relations have remained relatively underexplored within border studies. To address this gap, the paper introduces the Model of Border Integration, which combines insights from sociology and border studies and enables the analysis of linguistic dynamics in relation to varying degrees of durability, permeability, and hybridity, characteristic of border regions. Within this framework, particular attention is devoted to the concept of the ‘linguistic borderscape’ (linguistische Grenzschaft), understood as a hybrid zone where linguistic landscape, language policy, and language contact intersect and mutually shape one another. The paper is based on the assumption that multilingualism and multiculturalism tend to manifest more intensely in permeable borderlands than in inland areas. Border regions are therefore conceptualised as “language laboratories” in which communicative practices, linguistic norms, and symbolic representations are constantly negotiated and transformed through sustained intercultural contact. Inspired by the concept of the borderscape, the study examines how hybrid linguistic realities emerge and develop in cross-border contexts. The analysis focuses on three interrelated domains: (1) the linguistic landscape of border towns and villages, including public signage and commercial communication; (2) the development of language policy and planning, such as bilingual education and multilingual public services; and (3) the communication practices of border inhabitants and service-sector providers. The findings demonstrate that hybridity in border regions is not an exceptional phenomenon but rather a constitutive feature of the communicative ecology of permeable borderlands. The article argues that the concept of the linguistic borderscape offers a valuable heuristic and methodological tool for the study of multilingualism in border areas and highlights the role of borderlands as spaces of linguistic negotiation, adaptation, and innovation.

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