Legalities of language use in linguistic landscaping

Abstract

Linguistic landscapes, according to Backhaus (2009: 170), are “consciously shaped and controlled by official rules and regulations.” However, the current body of Philippine linguistic landscape research – under-studied as it already is – lacks a close examination of Philippine national laws governing the (re)production of public signage. This paper therefore investigates the linguistic and ideological underpinnings of select […] national sign laws by situating these not only within the context of their legal precedents, mandates, and history but also through an examination of 600 public signs collected from six diverse region centers in the Philippines. It examines how national laws prefer English in public signs over local and Indigenous languages, thereby perpetuating what Phillipson (1992) calls “English linguistic imperialism” and exacerbating the unequal power dynamics between those who speak English and those who do not in the Philippines.