Genre and metacultural displays

This paper argues that studies of the LL could merit from a more detailed social semiotic examination of particular sign-genres. It describes genre as normative system open to change, on the one hand, and as complex historical and cultural configurations of semiotic resources and affordances, on the other. Based on illustrative analysis of how the discursive interaction of ‘pride’ and ‘profit’ is affecting Galician and Basque street-name signing, the paper makes the following points: (1) genre depends on discourse, and discourse depends on genre; (2) particular materializations of a genre actualize distinct resources and highlight different affordances; (3) detailed and contextualized analysis of determined sign genres can reveal ideological layering in the LL; (4) when a genre is taken ‘out of place’ or is recontextualized, its typical repertoire of resources is rearranged and new affordances emerge.