ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Culture and Communication
Illuminating Linguistic Change: Exploring Diurnal and Nocturnal Variations in Hong Kong's Linguistic Landscape
Provisionally accepted
- The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, SAR China
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Most linguistic landscape studies rely on daytime data and treat visibility as static, leaving a gap in understanding how time and lighting conditions reconstruct language hierarchies at night. Drawing on typical functional areas of Hong Kong, namely Sai Ying Pun, Tsim Sha Tsui, and Causeway Bay, this study systematically investigates the diurnal and nocturnal variations of linguistic landscape, with a specific focus on illumination strategies and linguistic visibility across the urban contexts. A comparative day–night perspective reveals temporal fluctuations that shape linguistic hierarchies and demonstrates that illumination functions as a selective filter of linguistic capital. Analysis of 2,006 items shows that of 1,419 daytime signs, only 587 remained visible at night. While governmental signage largely adheres to the bilingual English-Chinese policy during daytime, its presence diminishes at night. In contrast, commercial signage prioritizes English as a lingua franca after dark, driven by economic imperatives and symbolic capital associated with globalization. The selective visibility of languages at night highlights urban symbolic hierarchies and contributes to distinctive spatial identities across districts. By integrating a chrono-semiotic perspective into LL research, the present study enriches understandings of linguistic visibility as dynamically mediated by illumination, economic forces, and identity construction, advancing the interdisciplinary discourse on nocturnal urban semiotics.
Keywords: linguistic landscape1, Multilingualism2, nocturnal studies3, chrono-semiotic perspective4, Hong Kong5
Received: 22 Jul 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 CHEN. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Cheng CHEN, chenc2024@yeah.net
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