Badanie zmian językowych na szyldach sklepów w Malezji: studium diachroniczne w George Town w stanie Penang

Abstract

According to Pavlenko (2010), linguistic landscape (LL) studies cannot be fully understood without considering the past. Consistent with this idea is conceptualising LL research as a diachronic process. In this study, we explore the LL of George Town, Penang (UNESCO World Heritage Site), which is filled with evidence of historical changes from the past until its current state. A unique characteristic of George Town is its blending of different languages, which are displayed on shop signs and can be traced back to the late 18th century. To understand the social and historical changes that have taken place in George Town, data was gathered from several resources, including personal narratives by shop owners and historical artefacts such as postcards, books and brochures obtained from the heritage centre. A geosemiotic approach is adopted to categorise, analyse and interpret the subsequent collection of shop signs. In terms of the materiality of signs and their linguistic content, the findings reveal that old shop signs from the British colonisation period were engraved on wooden board and mostly written in Chinese or English. After Malaysia’s independence, metal signboards and non-standard Malay was used. In 1975, several Malay terms were changed, and shop owners started using Modern Standard Malay on signs. Currently, shop signs are more multimodal, colourful, and most likely made of polycarbonate. More recent signs also light-up at night. Through a diachronic examination of the LL, we reflect on how phenomena such as globalisation and technological innovation are progressively impacting on the nature of George Town’s shop signs, and the materiality of these signs.