A language of resistance: The pro-Palestinian linguistic landscape of Cape Town (South Africa) and its physical, lingual, and functional complexity

Authors

  • Alexander Andrason Centre for African Studies, Humanities Faculty, University of Cape Town, South Africa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37693/pjos.2026.12.28455

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the pro-Palestinian linguistic landscape (PPLL) of Cape Town. An analysis of 239 signs reveals that the linguistic landscape of this research site is highly complex. The signage is diverse with regard to its physicality (modality, materiality, and compositionality), lingualism (languages used, their formal properties, and mutual configurations), and functionality (authorship, readership, purposes, domains of use, and thematic scope). Overall, the properties of the PPLL in Cape Town largely coincide with those characterizing the linguistic landscape of resistance in Palestine, particularly its street-art subtype. The two principal differences between Cape Town and Palestine concern the use of Arabic as a genuine resistance element in the landscape – absent in Cape Town but prominent in Palestine – and the incorporation of several local (South) African elements into the PPLL in Cape Town.

Author Biography

Alexander Andrason, Centre for African Studies, Humanities Faculty, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Alexander Andrason is a researcher at the Centre for African Studies at the University of Cape Town. He holds a PhD in Semitic Languages from the Complutense University of Madrid, a PhD in African Languages from Stellenbosch University, and a PhD in General Linguistics from the University of Iceland. He speaks thirty living languages and possesses extensive knowledge of more than ten ancient and classical languages. His research spans linguistics, cognitive science and complexity theory, anthropology and anthrozoology, as well as LGBTQIA+ studies, pedagogy and philosophy. His interdisciplinary work approaches language as a dynamic adaptive system situated within broader cognitive, sociocultural, political, ecological, and biological contexts. Committed to social justice, he embraces scholarship as a transformative life practice, envisioning a future in which state borders give way to an order grounded in human solidarity and compassion as fundamental principles.

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Published

2026-03-09

How to Cite

Andrason, A. (2026). A language of resistance: The pro-Palestinian linguistic landscape of Cape Town (South Africa) and its physical, lingual, and functional complexity. Public Journal of Semiotics, 12(1), 20–55. https://doi.org/10.37693/pjos.2026.12.28455

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 1 (2026): Public Journal of Semiotics

Section

Articles