Typographic Landscaping and Material Culture in Plurilingual Settings: Discussing data from Sardinia

This article explores the visual and material factors that can carry, highlight, and orient verbal elements within the linguistic landscape, with a particular focus on typography and materiality. The study concentrates on the multilingual context of Sardinia, an island marked by long-standing multilingualism and cultural diversity. Although both the autochthonous and allochthonous minority languages spoken on the island did not develop their own vernacular writing systems, typographic choices — from subtle microtypographic strategies to the inclusion of images and materials evoking the island’s cultural heritage — play a crucial role in shaping Sardinia’s linguistic landscape, especially in the bottom-up sector and the tourism domain. Drawing on examples collected during our fieldwork, including signage related to restaurants, souvenir shops, and tourist service providers, we discuss the potential of typography and materiality to enhance and display the symbolic value of Sardinia’s cultural and linguistic heritage.