The Linguistic Landscape on the Streets of Kuwait: A Challenge to the Concept of Diglossia

Linguistic landscape (LL) is a representation of language(s) visibility in public space. This study aims to draw a comprehensive profile of LL as adopted by private firms on billboards alongside the main streets of Kuwait, shedding light on the status of Kuwaiti vernacular, Standard Arabic (SA), and English in the country. The study utilises a quantitative approach through which billboards on the main streets of Kuwait were photographed, categorised based on the language of the script, then quantified to assess the popularity of the language. Billboards representing the main displayed language varieties were presented to a heterogeneous sample of respondents to assess their views across the two dimensions of status and solidarity through a digital questionnaire. The study also utilised a qualitative approach through informal interviews to gain the language specialists’ perspective on the issue. The results indicate that Kuwaiti vernacular has a growing positive attitude because of its perceived charisma and promotion of solidarity. When SA is mixed with English, or when English is transliterated into SA orthography, it tends to appeal to the public eye. Kuwaiti sociolinguists reflected a strong rejection of the trendy Kuwaiti vernacular over SA. Yet, English has not been viewed as a threat to SA.

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KONSEP LANSKAP LINGUISTIK PADA PAPAN NAMA JALAN KERAJAAN (RÂJAMÂRGA): STUDI KASUS DI KOTA YOGYAKARTA

Paradigma Jurnal Kajian Budaya ◽

10.17510/paradigma.v8i1.231 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 38

Author(s):

Fajar Erikha

Keyword(s):

Ethnic Group ◽

Public Space ◽

Social Space ◽

Qualitative Approach ◽

Linguistic Landscape ◽

Symbolic Function ◽

The Public ◽

The Social ◽

Place Naming ◽

Main Streets

Linguistic landscape (LL) points to linguistic objects that signify the public space. (Ben-Rafael, Shohamy, et al. 2006). This concept addresses a number of topics such as social, political, cultural, until the economy. Through the study of LL, the author explored the main streets (râjamârga) of the Yogyakarta Palace, from its function as the identification of place names or informational function, and for messages or symbolic function. In order to achieve comprehensive results, author used qualitative approach through analysis visual data (photography) of sign of street names. The finding is confirmed two functions of linguistic landscapes: a) sign of street names as informational functions such as, to refer the place as well as the social space of Javanese which depicted an ethnic group; the orthographic of hanacaraka asserted language boundary; b) sign of street names as symbolic functions e.g. contained a ton of meaning (ccording to philosophy Paraning Dumadi), delineated Javanese as group identity, Javanese as their own indigenous language, linked between the power of government and place naming, even related to economic purpose through attract tourists visit Yogyakarta.

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On Visibility and Legitimisation of Languages: The ‘Linguistic Landscape’ in Adaama, Ethiopia

Aethiopica ◽

10.15460/aethiopica.16.1.704 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 16 ◽

pp. 149-191 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

H. Ekkehard Wolff ◽

Sileshi Berhanu ◽

Getinet Fulea

Keyword(s):

Public Space ◽

Language Use ◽

Written Language ◽

Linguistic Landscape ◽

The Public ◽

Regional State ◽

Graphic Representations ◽

The Status ◽

Primary Focus ◽

Arabic And English

With a focus on the city of Adaama (formerly: Nazret), the biggest urban agglomeration in Oromia Regional State, the paper addresses the “linguistic landscape” which is indicative of the overall sociolinguistic situation of a polity. Language use in the public space has not only practical-instrumental, but also historical, political, juridical, and most of allpsycho-sociological dimensions, the latter relating to the symbolic value of written language use. The paper deals with multilingual graphic representations on public commercial and private sign-boards, advertisements, and notices in Adaama city, with an additionalfocus on the situation on the campus of Adama Science and Technology University. Under the chosen theoretical framework, it analyses language visibility in terms of language legitimisation, both in terms of peoples’ attitudes and based on official documents regarding language status and language use in present-day Ethiopia, such as the Education and Training Policy (1994), the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (1995), the Revised Constitution of Oromia Regional State(2001/2006), and the Higher Education Proclamation (2009). The primary focus of the paper is on the status, functions, and representations of AfanOromo, including a review of the major historico-political changes affecting this language from Imperial Ethiopa (before 1974), the Därg period (until 1991), and under the new Constitution of the FDRE (since 1995). The paper also deals with linguistic and graphic issues concerning the “orthographic” representations of the four languages used: Afan Oromo, Amharic, Arabic, and English, involving three different graphic systems: Fidäl (Abugida), Arabic, and Roman.

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English and Arabic Inscriptions in the Linguistic Landscape of Yemen: A Multilingual Writing Approach

International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature ◽

10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.6n.4p.149 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 149 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Anwar A. H. Al-Athwary

Keyword(s):

Public Space ◽

Low Frequency ◽

Salient Feature ◽

General Purpose ◽

Linguistic Landscape ◽

Top Down ◽

Bottom Up ◽

The Public ◽

Standard Arabic ◽

Multilingual Writing

The present paper investigates the multilingual written texts of the signboards in the public space of Yemen. It attempts to apply Reh's (2004) typology of multilingual writing. Reh introduces four strategies of multilingualism: duplicating, fragmentary, overlapping, and complementary. They refer to the arrangement of information in the inscriptions of multilingual signs in a given linguistic landscape (LL). To achieve this purpose, a data corpus of 755 multilingual signs in the LL of Yemen has been used, the majority of which are bilingual in Arabic and English. The analysis showed that all four strategies of duplicating, fragmentary, overlapping, and complementary multilingual writings were generally employed in Sana'a's LL. While overlapping and complementary multilingualism were totally absent in the top-down signs, duplicating and fragmentary multilingualism had much higher frequency over overlapping and complementary ones in bottom-up signs. Keeping in mind that speech community in Yemen is monolingual in Arabic, the absence or low frequency of overlapping, and complementary signs in both top-down and bottom-up levels can be explained by the fact that these two types of texts presuppose multilingual readers since knowledge of all the languages involved is necessary to understand the whole message. The model of writing mimicry system proposed by Sutherland (2015) is also examined. Writing mimicry system was found to be a salient feature of the public space of Yemen performing some specific functions; it is only used for advertising and promotional purposes rather than expressing the identity of ethnolinguistic minorities. The study also revealed that Sana'a multilingual LL is characterized by the use of Arabicised English, glocalisation and multifunctional signs, all of which are employed to serve a general purpose of promoting, and advertising commodities and showing modernity and success. Standard Arabic appears on almost all of both top-down and bottom-up signs. The scarce use of Yemeni Arabic is indicative of the notion of Arab nationalism. Linguistic nationalism refers to the communicative and symbolic functions of Standard Arabic in articulating national identity in the LL of Yemen.

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Komunistki

The Oxford Handbook of Communist Visual Cultures ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190885533.013.30 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 671-692

Author(s):

Aga Skrodzka

Keyword(s):

Public Space ◽

Visual Memory ◽

Women's Movement ◽

Women’S Rights ◽

The Public ◽

The Status ◽

The Commons ◽

Communist Past ◽

Status Of Women

This article argues for the importance of preserving the visual memory of female communist agency in today’s Poland, at the time when the nation’s relationship to its communist past is being forcefully rearticulated with the help of the controversial Decommunization Act, which affects the public space of the commons. The wholesale criminalization of communism by the ruling conservative forces spurred a wave of historical and symbolic revisions that undermine the legacy of the communist women’s movement, contributing to the continued erosion of women’s rights in Poland. By looking at recent cinema and its treatment of female communists as well as the newly published accounts of the communist women’s movement provided by feminist historians and sociologists, the project sheds light on current cultural debates that address the status of women in postcommunist Poland and the role of leftist legacy in such debates.

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FRONTING THE BACK LANE OF HERITAGE STREET: CASE STUDY OF PETALING STREET

PLANNING MALAYSIA JOURNAL ◽

10.21837/pm.v19i18.1053 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 19 ◽

Author(s):

Sabrina Chua ◽

Yahaya Ahmad

Keyword(s):

Public Space ◽

Business Owners ◽

Qualitative Approach ◽

Historical Background ◽

Second Phase ◽

Master Plan ◽

Kuala Lumpur ◽

The Public ◽

Planning Experts

Back lanes are ubiquitously found in every city as they are a required component according to the by-laws. The intention of back lane is to serve as a service road and consequently society tends to neglect and had led to a forgotten public space due to its lack of maintenance. Thus, this has discouraged the pedestrian movement as it is unsafe because the laneway is mainly hidden from public eye. Therefore, it became a space for undesirable activities to be taken place especially for hoodlums. In line with the Kuala Lumpur Tourism Master Plan 2015-2025, that gives emphasise to revitalise forgotten spaces, this research looks into the issues of back lanes in Petaling Street with the aims to unlock its potentials. The study adopted a qualitative approach through 2 phases. The first phase is through literature review to study and understand its historical background follows by site observation through photographs and recording of the site existing conditions. The second phase is through interviews with urban planning experts and business owners to discuss the historical value, issues and parameters to revitalize the back lane. The outcome of the research divulges that revitalization of back lane and shifting the front façade to the back lane or adapting to a double façade are able to greet the public with new urban social spaces and that tenants are able to utilize and give it a new meaning.

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Identifying and Explaining Organizational Cultures in the Public Sector: A Study of the Australian Public Service Using the Interaction Ritual Theory of Randall Collins

Administration & Society ◽

10.1177/0095399716647151 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 51 (9) ◽

pp. 1363-1396

Author(s):

Craig Matheson

Keyword(s):

Public Service ◽

Two Dimensions ◽

Regional Office ◽

Educational Levels ◽

The Public ◽

Interaction Ritual ◽

Ritual Theory ◽

The Status ◽

Different Cultures ◽

Office Location

This article identifies and explains different cultures within the Australian Public Service (APS) using the interaction ritual (IR) theory of Randall Collins. It argues that such cultures vary along two dimensions: power and status. On the power dimension, we may distinguish three cultures: that of the order givers, that of the order takers, and that of those who both give and take orders. On the status dimension, we may distinguish localistic and cosmopolitan cultures. Cultural differences on these two dimensions are associated with variations in organizational rank, educational levels, agency tasks, relationships with clients, and central versus regional office location.

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Linguistic Landscape of Religious Signboards in Ado Ekiti, Nigeria: Culture, Identity and Globalisation

Theory and Practice in Language Studies ◽

10.17507/tpls.0909.11 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (9) ◽

pp. 1146

Author(s):

Blessing T. Inya

Keyword(s):

Public Space ◽

Collective Identity ◽

English Language ◽

Activity Level ◽

The Other ◽

Linguistic Landscape ◽

The Public ◽

Islamic Religion ◽

The Relationship

This paper focuses on the linguistic landscape (LL) of religious signboards in select areas of Ado Ekiti, Nigeria with a view of establishing the relationship between the languages used on these signboards and the implication for identity, globalisation and culture. Fifty-three LL items were photographed for the study. The areas selected were based on activity level and the number of religious signboards they featured. The data were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings revealed the dominance and the pervasiveness of the English language over and across the other languages in the public space. The use of Yoruba texts across the items revealed religio-cultural and loyalist reasons while the use of Arabic confirmed the inherent attachment of the language to Islamic religion, and fostered a religion-based collective identity between the sign writer and the sign reader.

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Multilingualism in Linguistic Landscape of Prishtina (Kosovo)

Journal of Educational and Social Research ◽

10.2478/jesr-2018-0036 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 101-106

Author(s):

Shkumbin Munishi Prishtina

Keyword(s):

Language Policy ◽

Public Space ◽

Public Perception ◽

Field Research ◽

Time Span ◽

Linguistic Landscape ◽

The Status ◽

The Impact ◽

The City

Abstract Language relations as manifestations of the phenomenon of multilingualism are also expressed in the area of the so-called linguistic landscape. Undoubtedly, the linguistic landscape not only reflects the use of languages in public space but at the same time reveals the depth of public perception of different languages, depending on their function and prestige. In this paper, I will treat Albanian, English and Serbian rapports through their coverage in the Pristina linguistic landscape, focusing on the use of these languages in advertising space in the city of Prishtina and in other tables that perform semiotic functions of indexes in this city. Likewise, within the reflection of the status planning of languages in Prishtina linguistic landscape, the use of Serbian in the official tables will be treated. This case study will also reflect the features of language policy and the impact of the globalization phenomenon in different languages. The results presented in this paper will reflect on the field research within a certain time span. The research has shown that in the Pristina linguistic landscape, in addition to the Albanian language, English has a dense use, while the use of Serbian is mostly limited to official charts i.e. names of the streets of the city and is not found in private advertisements tables.

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WIELOJĘZYCZNOŚĆ ZRÓWNOWAŻONA? KRAJOBRAZ JĘZYKOWY POLSKO-CZESKIEGO POGRANICZA W UJĘCIU EKOLINGWISTYCZNYM (PRZYPADEK DUSZNIK ZDROJU I HRONOVA)

Slavia Occidentalis ◽

10.14746/so.2019.76.10 ◽

1970 ◽

pp. 145-156

Author(s):

MAGDALENA STECIĄG ◽

ANNA KARMOWSKA

Keyword(s):

Public Space ◽

Small Towns ◽

Public Access ◽

Linguistic Landscape ◽

The Czech Republic ◽

The Public ◽

Road Signs ◽

Public Road ◽

Local Opposition ◽

Made In

The aim of the article is to analyse the linguistic landscape of the Polish-Czech borderland with particular emphasis placed on the number and hierarchy of languages existing in the public space. A static study will be carried out i.e. a study of the language(s) of public road signs, names of streets and squares, public-access buildings, signs on businesses and shops, hoardings etc. The research material comes from two small towns: Duszniki Zdrój in Poland and Hronov in the Czech Republic, both aspiring to become local tourist centres. The global vs. local opposition is of importance to the assumptions made in the study because the language will be regarded as a local practice (Pennycock, 2010). In conclusion, the study will examine the thesis that the local linguistic landscape is a testimony to a transition from a monolingual paradigm towards a “post-monolingual condition” (Yildiz, 2012). It will also be very interesting to find out which configuration of the languages can be considered sustainable in terms of the area’s multilingual nature.

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Paisaje lingüístico en Benín: un recurso didáctico y motivador para el aula de lenguas extranjeras

Linguistik Online ◽

10.13092/lo.101.6682 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 101 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Laurent-Fidèle Sossouvi ◽

Mei-Chih Lin

Keyword(s):

Quantitative Analysis ◽

Public Space ◽

Written Language ◽

Foreign Languages ◽

Linguistic Landscape ◽

Pioneer Study ◽

The Status ◽

Urban Scene ◽

Context Of Learning

Multilingualism and multiculturalism have been and are constitutive aspects of African soci-eties. This pioneer study analyzes the linguistic landscapes of Cotonou and Abomey-Calavi (Benin), two contiguous cities; in order to verify the status and the vitality of the languages used and spoken in the country as well as seeing if it is possible to exploit didactically this written modality. For this purpose, a quantitative analysis of written language productions in public space was carried out. The results reveal the languages used in the urban scene of both cities as well as the linguistic contact in their diverse aspects. They also indicate that the linguistic landscape doesn’t take into account the local multilingual practices in all their complexity. It appears as a context of learning which can be used as a didactic resource in the teaching of foreign languages.

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