The Languages to Sell in Two Commercial Sites in an Indonesian Small Town

Shierlynda Winnindya Riyandi,Khristianto K

doi:10.32528/ellite.v6i2.6108

Shierlynda Winnindya Riyandi, Khristianto K

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.32528/ellite.v6i2.6108

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Abstract

The primary goals of this research are to determine the language patterns of the signs, characterize the employment of different languages in these patterns, and explain the language situation reflected by the LL signals in the two locations. It applied a mixed method (Cresswell: 2018). The subject of this research includes shop signs, slogans, and also some of the advertising signs displayed in the sites. The signs were then seen from the number of languages displayed and their source. For the analysis, it adopted the view of Scollon and Scollon and Scollon-Wong (2003). Based on the results of the analysis, the signs can be classified as monolingual, bilingual, or multilingual. The languages displayed there are Indonesian, Javanese, English, Japanese, Arabic. The first three languages are the dominant in any kind of signs collected from these sites. The presence of more than a language in sign has proved that the languages displayed tend to be complement to each other as they bear different information (and sometimes) functions. English is taken for its commerciality and prestige, Indonesian is employed for its communicative role, and Javanese is relied for its shared identity and closeness.

Highlights

The primary goals of this research are to determine the language patterns of the signs, characterize the employment of different languages in these patterns, and explain the language situation reflected by the LL signals in the two locations
Landry and Bourhis (1997) have provided some information about their data, which includes texts written in public road signs, street names, advertising billboards, commercial shop signs, place names, and public signs on government buildings, which combine to form the linguistic landscape of a given territory, region, or urban identity
This study is to reveal the use of languages in the public sites where they play an important role in marketing their commodities

Summary

Introduction

The primary goals of this research are to determine the language patterns of the signs, characterize the employment of different languages in these patterns, and explain the language situation reflected by the LL signals in the two locations. English is taken for its commerciality and prestige, Indonesian is employed for its communicative role, and Javanese is relied for its shared identity and closeness This reflects the position of English as a global language, and it makes a concern about the position of local language in our public signs. Linguistic landscape, since it was coined by Landry and Bourhis in 1997, has initiated a new study pattern which really attracted considerable attention of many researchers. In line with Gorter (2006), linguistic landscape is a study of signs in public spaces, looking at language displayed on store windows, business signs, posters, government notices, traffic signs, and so on. The strategy is defined as “a structured function and the process of designing, introducing, presenting, and delivering a message and value to customers in order to pique their attention, thereby benefiting the organization” (Rajan, 2009)

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