Polish Language in the Linguistic Landscape of Vilnius

In Vilnius' historic center, Polish language signs are scarce in public spaces due to administrative barriers and societal preferences for more prestigious languages. A study analyzing 52 inscriptions from December 2021 to May 2022 revealed that Polish is predominantly used orally rather than in writing, reflecting the multilingual nature of Poles in Vilnius. Signs were classified as monolingual, polyphonic, or mixed and further divided into public and private categories. The research highlights how systemic penalties against non-Lithuanian signs and the tendency to anonymize by adopting majority languages limit Polish visibility in the city's linguistic landscape.

Geben, K. (2022). Polish Language in the Linguistic Landscape of Vilnius. Acta Baltico-Slavica, 46. https://doi.org/10.11649/abs.2867