Linguistic Landscape of Languages Used in Signboards in Larkana, Sindh

Abstract

The present study investigates the use of local, official and national languages and the incessant use of English on the localized Sindhi Roman script. Linguistic landscape is the study of written language on public road Signs, advertisements, billboards or front shops. Bilingualism is very common on the public signboards of Larkana city, where English language is used as market language. Many local people consider it as foreign language still English is used on every local and public signboard of Larkana city. The study used semi-structured interviews from different businesspeople, shopkeepers and owners of the institutions. The results show that Romanized Sindhi language/ Sindhlish and Bilingualism is influenced and dominant on the linguistic landscape of Larkana. In the comparison of English language the local/ native languages of the particular area of Larkana city seem missed or least used on signboards. The study focused on the linguistic landscape of Pakistan’s particular area Quetta, they explored the usage of languages and the ubiquities usage of English in localized non-Roman script. As English remained foreign language for many parts of Pakistan, however it covered most of the signboards of Pakistan. Researchers used framework of Gorter and Cenoz (2008: 343) for the analysis of linguistic landscape. They used multiple data collection instruments such as conducted the interviews of businesspeople and captured the pictures of signboards and billboards. The results showed the great impact of Englishized Urdu and Urduized English on the linguistic landscape of Quetta, Pakistan where the local and indigenous languages impact was missed and absent on the signboards.