Place can be defined as a symbolic construction of connected and competing discourses (e.g. Lefebvre 1991; Mugerauer 1985; Cresswell 2004). One of the most powerful discursive means for constructing and defining places is the act of naming (Tuan 1991, 1996). In this paper we wish to discuss how names are used by speakers – not only as a resource for identity performance and stance-taking, but also to construct places and make them meaningful. First, we present examples of the practice of
claiming places in Danish hip-hop lyrics and graffiti. Alternative place names are employed to challenge established discourses of urban spaces, typically by portraying them as dangerous suburbs where alcoholics, pushers and gangs hang out. When claiming a place in hip-hop lyrics or graffiti young people use locations as resources in performances or as identity markers and they contribute to the ongoing discursive construction of the places in question. Second, drawing on data from urban and rural speech communities in Denmark, we argue that the act of naming is part of a continuous mental
mapping, turning surrounding, undifferentiated space into local, meaningful place. Bringing in different kinds of spatial language (place names, deictics, directional adverbs) we show that viewpoint and positioning with regard to specific places of interest is encoded and conceptualized continuously and consistently in language. We specifically show that the construal of places is not only connected with more dramatic events and social stance-taking but is also reflecting social routine, regular business and activities. We claim that ‘speaking from a place’ (Blommaert 2010) is a continuous socio-cognitive activity.

Poster - med lektor Pia Quist, Afdeling for Dialektforskning, Nordisk Forskningsinstitut, Københavns Universitet