At the promising age of twenty, the study of linguistic landscapes (LL) has enjoyed four different workshops since the proposal of the notion by Rodrigue Landry and Richard Bourhis in 1997. The most recent one, held in Ethiopia in 2012, embraced a wide range of geographical, social, and modal dimensions with a focus on how identity is constructed, negotiated, and contested in various LL cases. Stemming from the contributions to the workshop, this collection explores not only the general issue of multilingualism and multimodality in public spaces, but also a specific concern about identity as a dynamic construct, which is situated in and in constant interaction with linguistic, social, and cultural factors.

In an effort to capture the fluid nature of identity, the current volume comprises five parts, each containing three separate chapters and tackling a distinct aspect of the identity issue in LL studies. Part 1 explores political and economic dimensions of identity construction in LL. With rich descriptions of the multicultural and multilingual cases in South Africa (Christopher Stroud), post-Soviet cities (Sebastian Muth), and Tanzania (Francesca Gallina), the researchers demonstrate how local communities manipulate linguistic and semiotic symbols to construct and assert their respective identities in political, artistic, and commercial domains. Part 2, with case studies from Italy (Monica Barni & Carla Bagna), Tunisia and Egypt (Selim Ben Said & Luanga A. Kasanga), and Israel (Shoshi Waksman & Elana Shohamy), captures the transient features of LL in social demonstrations and protests. Part 3 extends from individual to regional and national identities in different regions. Focusing on the visibility of local minority languages in multilingual settings, these studies not only investigate national language policies and local ideologies, but also discuss actual linguistic practice in negotiating and realizing local identities at the grassroots level, as in the cases of Trieste (Stefania Tufi), southern Ethiopia (Binyam Sisay Mendisu, David Malinowski, & Endashaw Woldemichael), and Harar, Ethiopia (Moges Yigezu & Robert Blackwood). Part 4 addresses collective identities in several European cities, such as those of shopkeepers (Ruth Pappenhagen, Claudio Scarvaglieri, & Angelika Redder), local artists (Yael Guilat), and football fans (Raymond Siebetcheu). Methodologically, these three studies feature a combination of LL with a bigger lens including linguistic soundscape, logos and images, art exhibitions, and other multimodal dimensions. Part 5 approaches the relationship between LL and identity from a comparative perspective. With discussion of ‘the two faces of globalization’ in Berlin (Eliezer Ben-Rafael & Miriam Ben-Rafael), the educational institutions in the USA and Korea (Rebecca Todd Carvin & Kristina Eisenhower), and the CBD linguistic landscapes in a South African community (Quentin E. Williams & Elizabeth Lanza), the researchers provide interesting comparisons and contrasts of identity formation by means of linguistic and other semiotic resources.

This volume makes a constructive contribution to the growing literature on LL as well as identity studies. Being conceptually rich and methodologically resourceful, it significantly expands current LL studies by encompassing multimodal approaches, linguistic soundscape studies, grounded theory, and other useful tools and paradigms in a highly topicalized collection of empirical studies. Being more than a summative review of disciplinary achievements, this volume demonstrates the potential of LL studies in addressing broader issues concerning multilingualism and multimodality.