Spaces of consumption and senses of place: a geosemiotic analysis of three markets in Hong Kong

Abstract

While spaces of consumption have been extensively studied in geography, recent sociolinguistic research on metrolingual markets, semiotic landscapes, and translanguaging space present new ways to examine the linguistic, semiotic, and sensory aspects of these prosaic spaces. Integrating these perspectives in a geosemiotic framework, this paper examines the interactions in three markets in Hong Kong which have emerged as important social spaces for three participants during a larger ethnographic project. Through video walks, interviews, and participant observations, it is found that each market embodies a unique configuration of the geosemiotic aggregate and the customers selectively attended to specific modes of communication and sensory properties of the spaces, which in turn shaped their experiences of the place. Thus, this paper suggests that situated analyses of linguistic, semiotic, and material resources in everyday interactions can contribute to a better understanding of the dialogical relationship between spaces of consumption and senses of place.