Easy de Traducir: Geomapping Spanish Language Billboards across Fort Worth, Texas

Abstract

How languages are used in public spaces (our linguistic landscape) influences how individuals feel about those languages and by default the speakers of those languages. These thoughts, perceptions, beliefs, etc. are known as language ideologies and language ideologies are some of the greatest influences and predictors of how people are positioned, treated, valued, and given or not given opportunities for power and success in a community. Fort Worth, Texas, is the 13^th largest city by population in the United States and at 35%, Hispanic or Latine individuals make up the second largest ethnicity in the city. And although Spanish is frequently heard in many parts of Fort Worth and found on private shop signs in historically Mexican-American neighborhoods, the explicit and very public display of written Spanish in the linguistic landscape (e.g., billboards) of Fort Worth is not representative in number of the percentage of Latine individuals nor is it thematically balanced with the themes found on English billboards. Using the geomapping app Lingscape we have discovered a surprising and potentially influential pattern of primarily using the Spanish language on Fort Worth billboards to advertise for alcohol companies. We argue that this sends a clear (albeit unconscious), unspoken message of the place, value, and role of Spanish in Fort Worth. We worry about the impact this might have on how Spanish-speaking and Hispanic/Latine youth are viewed in schools, potentially leading to negative stereotypes and more problematic representations of these students.