English as the lingua franca of multilingual tourist destinations. The linguistic landscape of the Bay of Palma de Mallorca

Abstract

This thesis deals with the sociolinguistic aspects of written text in the public sphere of an international tourist destination, the Bay of Palma (Spain). The study rests upon three theoretical foundations: the linguistic landscape (Landry & Bourhis, 1997), the concentric-circle model of spread of English (Kachru, 1985) and the use of English in lingua franca contexts. The research poses five questions concerning the linguistic profile of holidaymakers, their expectations and perceptions concerning the presence of English in the linguistic landscape, how multilingualism is structured in signs, and the linguistic accuracy of texts as a influential factor in tourist satisfaction. The data collected include 400 interviews and 736 pictures of the linguistic landscape in S'Arenal, Palmanova y Magalluf. The results and their discussion allow us to address the questions posed and unveil how and to what extent the presence of English in the linguistic landscape and tourist satisfaction are interrelated.