The Mismatches between Minority Language Practices and National Language Policy in Malaysia: A Linguistic Landscape Approach

Wang, Xiaomei; Daming, Xu

doi:10.21315/km2018.36.1.5

Cited by 14 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…On the other hand, English appeared to be the second most prevalent, which shows that English holds secondary significance, following its status as the international language. It also indicates that English is still an important language despite its non-official status (Wang & Xu, 2018). Other recognised local languages with limited number of signs were Mandarin and Arabic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This observation is drawn from their study, which examined the inclusion of ethnic languages and scripts, particularly Chinese and Tamil, on shop signboards situated in two ethnic areas of Kuala Lumpur. BM in this case is employed only to convey national identity, serving a symbolic rather than informative role due to socio-political considerations (Wang & Xu, 2018). Moreover, the dominance of BM over other languages, especially in top-down signs, is mainly due to government policies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Hasni,

Anuarudin,

Sulong

2024

IJARBSS

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The study of linguistic landscape (LL) is an interdisciplinary field that examines the visible presence and use of languages in public space. However, studies on LL in Malaysia are still scarce and have yet to be conducted extensively, especially in the tourism context. To address the lack of LL research in Malaysia, the present study seeks to explore the representation of language use in the public space of Malaysian tourism context. Based on a quantitative approach, pictorial data (64 pieces of signage) along the coastline of Teluk Batik beach were photographed and analysed as data samples. The frequency of language use was collected using the frameworks described by (Huebner, 2009; Cenoz and Gorter, 2010). This study also looked into the language choice and preferences, as well as the type of sign employed in Teluk Batik. The research identifies Teluk Batik as a tourism destination with multilingual inequality. The LL of Teluk Batik is still dominated by Bahasa Melayu (BM), even though it is known to be one of the most famous tourist sites in Perak. English, occupying a secondary position in monolingual signs is still lacking in its presence as the number is limited, whereas bilingual signs incorporating Mandarin and Arabic are comparatively less numerous. The findings of this study may contribute to a better understanding of the LL and tourism readiness in Teluk Batik, which are vital for a successful and sustainable tourism industry.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Hasni,

Anuarudin,

Sulong

2024

IJARBSS

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“…Linguistic landscape studies have mostly been carried out in bilingual and multilingual settings and has come out with very interesting research findings as far as multilingualism is concerned. It has been carried out in many parts of the world like Israel (BenRafael et al, 2006;Isleem, 2015), Japan (Backhaus, 2006;Rowland, 2013;Sebba, 2010), China (Lai, 2013), India (Agnihotri & McCormick, 2010), East Timor (Taylor-Leech, 2012), Germany (Dressler, 2015), Malaysia (Coluzzi, 2017;Manan et al, 2015;Xiaomei & Daming, 2018) Spain (Bruyel-Olmedo & Juan-Garau, 2015) and Pakistan (Abid et al, 2016;Manan et al, 2017). Researchers have usually studied it in regions where there is language rivalry or ethnic groups living amidst a constant struggle of promoting their local languages.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In another study from Malaysia, Xiaomei & Daming (2018) tried to explore the mismatch present in the government's policy of prioritizing Malay on signboards and the contrasting picture of two neighborhoods in Kuala Lampur, where local languages find their place more in the linguistic landscape than standard Malay. These languages were Chinese, English and Malay in China Town and English whereas Malay and Tamil in the neighborhood of Little India.…”

Section: Current Research On Linguistic Landscape From 2016-20mentioning

confidence: 99%

Research on Linguistic Landscape: Observing the Minute in the Bigger Picture

Tahir

Bidin

2020

GJOES

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very new and fresh area where scholarly world is focusing its attention on is linguistic landscape. Linguistic landscape is ‘the language of public road signs, advertising billboards, place names, street names, commercial shop signs and public signs on government buildings of a given territory, region or urban agglomeration’ (Landry & Bourhis, 1997, p.25). Linguistic landscape can be taken as observing the minute words present in the public space in the bigger picture of the landscape of an urban area. It is becoming an interesting phenomenon to uncover social realities. It can be used to observe and analyze the changing trends and discourses in a given territory. Research on linguistic landscape started in late 1970s and sped its pace from the year 2006 onwards and now has become a proper field of study in applied linguistics, having a total of more than three hundred research papers to date. Linguistic landscape has been used to analyze jargons and register of different types of institutions for example, a hospital, a disco club, a restaurant or a Church etc. It has been used to analyze the semiotics of a particular area. The study of linguistic landscape has shown which languages are popular in one area and which are getting abandoned in another area. It has also focused on the negative attitudes of people related to one language and positive perceptions linked with another language. This conceptual paper will trace its history and reach conclusions on how this thriving field of study can be further extended.

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“…As far as Italy is concerned, articles have been published on the presence of German varieties in South Tyrol and Piedmont (Plank, 2006;Dal Negro, 2009), of Slovene in Friuli Venezia Giulia (Tufi, 2013;Blackwood &Tufi, 2015;Mezgec, 2016), and of various regional languages in different Italian coastal cities Tufi, 2012 and and on-road signs in Northern Italy (Puzey, 2012). As for Malaysia, most of the published research so far has concentrated on Kuala Lumpur, the capital, and its surrounding area, looking at Malay and English, but also at minority languages, particularly Chinese and Tamil (Syed Abdul Manan et al, 2014;David & Syed Abdul Manan, 2015;Supramani et al, 2013;Wang et al, 2016 and2017;Wang & Xu, 2018). With regard to Brunei, only one article on the linguistic landscape has been published to date (Susilawati Japri, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Signs in the linguistic landscape as markers of an ethnic group’s identity and ownership

Coluzzi¹

2020

Southeast Asia: A Multidisciplinary Journal

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Whereas the geography of a certain area is certainly linked in many ways to the ethnic group occupying it (or who used to occupy it), the link between the land and the language/s spoken (or that used to be spoken) can only become visible through the linguistic landscape, which not only asserts identity and ownership but can also help to reinforce prestige and vitality of the languages employed. The problem is that if the local heritage language is a minority or regional one, only in few cases can it be used to affirm the identity and ownership of its speakers. There are two sine qua non conditions for the local language to appear in the linguistic landscape: 1) The language must have gone beyond the 'threshold of literacy', i.e. it must have developed as a written language, with its own orthography and literature; 2) The language must be allowed to be used in the linguistic landscape and/or enjoy a degree of official recognition. This article presents five case studies on the presence of local minority/regional languages in the linguistic landscape based on the author’s research: two in Italy (Udine and Milan) and two in Southeast Asia (Kuala Lumpur and Bandar Seri Begawan, the capitals of Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam respectively). The very interesting situation in Macao will also be touched on, where the colonial language, Portuguese, has been given prominence in the linguistic landscape in spite of the fact that only a tiny percentage of the population can speak it. In this case, Portuguese is portrayed as a kind of heritage language (as well as an international language) that does not need to be mastered as its main function is symbolic, i.e. to help Macao retain its special status as a Special Administration Region of China.

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The Mismatches between Minority Language Practices and National Language Policy in Malaysia: A Linguistic Landscape Approach

Abstract: The paper takes a linguistic landscape (LL)

Cited by 14 publications

References 14 publications

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

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

Research on Linguistic Landscape: Observing the Minute in the Bigger Picture

Signs in the linguistic landscape as markers of an ethnic group’s identity and ownership

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