ABSTRACT

This study focuses on public signage on Wilton Drive in Wilton Manors, Florida – a homonormative space that privileges the representation of the experiences and needs of particular groups of gay men to the exclusion of other sexualities. I use a linguistic landscape methodology to conduct a multimodal critical discourse analysis in which I identify prevalent affective regimes discursively surfacing in public signage on Wilton Drive. My research interest lies in the question of how affective regimes are produced through signage practices, and how they shape social representation in this homonormative space. After a theoretical outline of the concepts of linguistic landscape, affect and affective regimes, I illustrate and analyze the discursive construction of three types of affective regimes that are particularly common in this context: love, tolerance and homonationalism. The analysis shows how the three affective regimes contribute to making Wilton Drive a space in which specific social normativities prevail, but also takes a critical look at the downsides of such discursive constructions.

摘要

本研究的重点是佛罗里达州威尔顿庄园威尔顿大道上的公共标牌——这是一个同性规范空间，优先代表特定男同性恋群体的经历和需求，排除其他性行为。我使用语言景观方法来进行多模态批判性话语分析，在其中我确定了在威尔顿大道的公共标牌上散漫地出现的普遍情感制度。我的研究兴趣在于如何通过标牌实践产生情感机制，以及它们如何塑造这个同性规范空间中的社会表征。在对语言景观、情感和情感机制的概念进行理论概述之后，我说明和分析了在这种情况下特别常见的三种情感机制的话语结构：爱、宽容和同民族主义。分析显示了三种情感机制如何使威尔顿大道成为特定社会规范盛行的空间，同时也批判性地审视了这种话语结构的缺点。