Language Choice and Preferences: Mapping the linguistic landscape of Sentul, Malaysia

Abstract

The study attempts to map the linguistic landscape of Sentul, the new urban area of Kuala Lumpur. It aims to examine the preferred language of shop signs in the area. Data were collected primarily from visible shop signs and categorized through a sign coding scheme based on Sunwani’s (2005) model. The analysis indicates that the area preferred a mixture of English, BM, and Chinese for the shop signs. The findings show diverse factors govern the choice of language use on the shop signs attributed to identity, nature of business owners, and shop location. Keywords: Linguistic Landscape; Shop sign; Multilingual; Language Learning eISSN: 2398-4287© 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bsby e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v5iSI3.2529

Language Choice and Preference in The Linguistic Landscape of Teluk Batik, Malaysia

“…Furthermore, this is another strategy to maintain the Malay language's position, mostly for patriotic and political reasons (Omar, 1987, as cited in Mansoor et al, 2023. Apart from that, it is important to note that the choice to display texts in BM also implies a readership skilled in the language (Omar et al, 2020). Writing in BM presumes that the intended readers will be able to comprehend and engage with the text.…”