Mapping the Linguistic Landscape of Kuala Lumpur

Abstract

Linguistic landscape (LL) refers to the visibility and salience of languages on public and commercial signs in a given territory or region. The highest density of signs can be found in cities and towns, particularly in the main shopping streets and industrial areas. This study is a synchronic analysis of digitally photographed commercial shop signs in three selected regions of Kuala Lumpur that focuses on the patterns of the language use. Findings reveal bilingual shop signs dominated the shopping streets in the areas adjacent to and within Kuala Lumpur and English being more prevalent than the national language or other languages. There was also visibility of foreign languages that offers linguistic diversity in the cityscapes. In summary, multilingualism in the areas boils down to different languages being used and functioning in differing ways.

Muslim majority yet without preference for Arabic: Mapping linguistic landscape studies in Indonesia

“…In the case of Benu et al's (2023) study, the multilingualism is practiced to promote mutual understanding in the multi-ethnic city and avoid hurting other ethnic groups. LL studies conducted abroad are also connected to multilingualism in different ways, but the most notable feature in the multilingualism aspect is the visibility of foreign languages, English as the most densely used, that offers linguistic diversity in the cityscapes (Husin et al, 2019;Munishi, 2018;Zhang & Ou, 2021).…”

Revisiting the English Status in the Outer and Expanding Circles: Insights From Google Street View®

“…Purnawati et al, 2022;Riani et al, 2021;Wang et al, 2020;Yothinsirikul, 2022) and places for religious practices (Ardhian et al, 2021) Higher use of various combinations of local or national languages with English and/or other foreign languages is typically driven by economic motivations and the presence of a multinational consumer base (e.g. Husin et al, 2019;Jazul & Bernardo, 2017;Purnanto et al, 2022;Prasert & Zilli, 2019;Woo & Nora Riget, 2022). While this may help a business flourish and appeal to a wider audience, the presence of English can feel somewhat threatening to national and local languages.…”

Preferred Language in Business: An Analysis of Shop Signs in Kuantan City, Malaysia

“…English words (or other languages) are only permissible if they are not too prominent as compared to BM. However, studies have noted that this is quite wide off the mark (Manan et al, 2015;Hasan et al, 2015;Ariffin et al, 2019;Husin, et al, 2019;Omar et al, 2020). These studies find that other languages, other than BM, are commonly used in the public signs, particularly in the business domains despite the policy solicited.…”