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Multilingualism at historical and heritage sites in Surabaya: A study of Linguistics Landscape
Last modified: 2024-01-09
Abstract
This research aims to examine the language used at historical and heritage sites in Surabaya. The method used is descriptive-qualitative research, which aims to describe and analyze language context at historical and heritage sites. The data are taken from nineteen historical and heritage sites in Surabaya. This research limits the data in three categories: as an information guide, prohibition and warning, and advertisement. A hundred and eighty-three public signs are collected in the form of photos. This research is analyzed by using the theoretical framework of Landry and Bourhis’s (1997) linguistics landscape theory. This research found that the use of languages in these historical areas encompasses three main patterns: monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual. The variations found are Indonesian, English, Javanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Dutch, Arabic, and Japanese. Nevertheless, Indonesian stays with most languages used as a monolingual variety. However, Indonesian-English is the most frequently used as a bilingual variation. Meanwhile, Indonesian-English-Mandarin-Cantonese-Japanese is also found as a multilingual variety. The finding also indicates that Muhammad Cheng Ho mosque is the place with the most significant usage of language variations among the nineteen sites in Surabaya. The pattern of language variations used are Indonesian - English - Cantonese - Mandarin – Japanese. These findings provide an intriguing insight into the complexity of languages used in the historical areas of Surabaya, reflecting diverse cultural and historical heritage.
Keywords
historical and heritage site; linguistic landscape; multilingualism; public signs
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