PATTERNS OF LANGUAGE USE IN SHOP SIGNS IN MALAYSIAN TOWNS

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe Malaysian subsidiaries of the Local Council by-laws (Undang-undang kecil Majlis Perbandaran) and the National Language Act (Akta Bahasa Kebangsaan) stipulate that Bahasa Malaysia (BM) must be used for the public signboards and road names. However, the use of foreign words and phrases, especially English, for the local name places such as residential areas, streets and shops has become a very common practice in this country. This paper examines the language use in store fronts of four town centres in Malaysia. The analysis indicates that English is the preferred language for the store signs in larger cities while those in the smaller and provincial towns are in favour of 1) Bahasa Malaysia (BM), 2) a mixture of BM and English, or 3) a mixture of these two and another native language. The findings show that the language chosen for the store signs is related to the type of the township, store location, and the targeted customers. The analysis also reveals that the store signs in the larger cities portray sophisticated language use in terms of English or foreign names, foreign loanwords and language play. On the other hand, the store signs in the smaller towns contain simple BM, English, or a native language.Keywords: shop signs, language use, unilingual, bilingual, multilingual.(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)INTRODUCTION:The Malaysian subsidiaries of the Local Council by-laws (Undang-undang kecil Majlis Perbandaran) and the National Language Act (Akta Bahasa Kebangsaan) stipulate that Bahasa Malaysia (BM) must be used for the public signboards and road names. English words are only allowed if they are not too prominent as compared to BM. However, it is an observable fact that such language policy has not been fully adhered to in this country. The use of foreign words and phrases for the local name places such as residential areas, streets and shops has become a very common practice. This suggests that languages are no longer belonging to the domains of nationalism and culture. Languages are now moving into the domains of global communication, global business and personal freedoms. Thus, despite the language policy, other languages besides BM are chosen and used in these domains.This paper specifically examines the language use in commercial store/shop signs or store/shop fronts in the Malaysian towns. It is hoped that this paper will contribute toward the understanding of the use and roles of different languages in both the business establishments and advertisements.LANGUAGE USE IN SHOP SIGNS - AN OVERVIEW:There has always been a wide interest on language use in the business domain. Of late, language use in store/shop signs has caught the attention of linguists. The pragmatic of language use in this sphere provides a very rich context for language research. For example, a study on shop signs the use and roles of different languages in the business establishment in Bhubaneswar, India found that there are unilingual signs of English, Hindi, Bengali and Oriya; bilingual signs of English and Hindi, and English and Oriya; trilingual signs of Oriya, Hindi and English. Other varieties of language use include acronyms, such as NALCO for 'National Aluminium Company, Anugul'; old English, such as 'Ye Olde Shoppe'; and hybrid forms, such as 'Pratidin News' (Sunwani, 2005). The analysis reveals that English is the dominant language of the shop signs in Bhubaneswar as the shop owners claimed that it is a trendy language and has all the positive values. On the other hand, the combination of English and Hindi in the shop signs is to lure the growing population of Hindi-knowing speakers in the city and its neighbours. It is also found that in more conservative places, Oriya is the preferred language.Along the same line, another study looked into the escalating use of English in Turkish shop signs (Selvi, 2007). It was found that English dominates the window displays and exterior signs of many business entities in the country. …