Emergency Linguistic Landscape in Resilient City Building: A Case Study of Nanjing, China

Emergency Linguistic Landscape in Resilient City Building: A Case Study of Nanjing, China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Emergency Linguistic Landscape in Resilient City Building: A Case Study of Nanjing, China Huili Sun, Li Wang, Yingqi Jiang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6697262/v2 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Archived Versions: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Emergency linguistic landscapes (ELLs)—public signage deployed during crises—serve as vital tools for multilingual communication, public safety, and inclusive emergency governance. This study investigates the linguistic, modal, and functional features of ELLs across four categories of public emergencies in Nanjing, China: natural disasters, industrial accidents, health emergencies, and security incidents. Based on fieldwork and analysis of 1,750 multimodal signs collected from six types of urban spaces, the research reveals that ELLs are predominantly monolingual or bilingual, highly text-centric, and unevenly distributed, with limited accessibility for non-Chinese speakers. These findings highlight the urgent need for more inclusive, multilingual emergency language practices to support resilient urban governance. The study contributes to emerging scholarship on linguistic landscapes, crisis communication, and multilingual language policy in Asia and beyond. Public Emergencies Linguistic landscapes Emergency language services Resilient cities Nanjing Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Archived Versions: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6697262","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[{"code":2,"date":"2026-03-23 16:49:35","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"humanities-and-social-sciences-communications","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"palcomms","sideBox":"Learn more about [Humanities \u0026 Social Sciences 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