dc.description.abstract |
Multilingualism is one of the features of language contact that characterise language use in
the public space of cosmopolitan areas like Ibadan. Existing linguistic studies on landscape
mostly focused on semiotic analysis as well as the underlying motivations of power and
solidarity communicated through signs. However, little attention was paid to multilingualism
on signs in the public spaces of Ibadan. This study was, therefore, designed to investigate how
multilingualism is reflected in the linguistic landscape of Ibadan. This was with a view to
determining the languages used on signs, their patterns and statuses in relation to the
sociolinguistic context of Ibadan.
Peter Backhaus‘s Sociolinguistic Framework and Bernard Spolsky and Robert Cooper‘s
Preference Model served as the framework. The descriptive design was used. Ibadan was
purposively selected owing to its urban dynamics and metropolitanism. Seven communities in
Ibadan (Challenge, Dugbe, Mokola, Iwo Road, Ring Road, Olodo and Sango) were
purposively selected because of the strategic presence of different signs in them. Two
hundred and eighty signs (40 from each location) were purposively sampled owing to their
thematic relevance. These were made up of 10 public road signs, 10 advertising billboards, 10
commercial shop signs and 10 signs of inscriptions on buildings. The signs were
photographed using a digital camera. The data were subjected to sociolinguistic and
descriptive statistical analyses.
Seven languages (English, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Arabic, French and Nigerian Pidgin) were
employed on the signs. English and Yoruba appeared in all the communities. Hausa was
found in Challenge, Sango, Mokola and Ring Road. Igbo was used in Dugbe, Mokola, Ring
Road, Sango and Olodo. Arabic occurred in Iwo Road, Mokola, Ring Road and Olodo.
French and Nigerian Pidgin were employed at Sango. There were four patterns of
multilingualism on the signs: monophonic, homophonic, mixed-part and polyphonic. English,
Arabic and Yoruba on the monophonic signs were used to show language dominance and
distinctiveness. English, Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa were used on the homophonic signs to
suggest distinctiveness, language hierarchy and facilitate communicative efficiency. Arabic,
Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Nigerian Pidgin and English were mostly used on the mixed-part signs
to show distinctiveness and for economic motivation. Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Arabic and
French were used on the polyphonic signs to express multiculturalism and ethnolinguistic
vitality. Seventy per cent of the signs were couched in monolingual English, Yoruba or
Arabic; 27.9% were bilingual (English/Yoruba, English/Igbo and English/Arabic; while 2.1%
were multilingual (English/Hausa/Yoruba, English/Yoruba/Igbo/Hausa, English/Arabic/Yoru
ba, English/Yoruba/French and English/Yoruba/Hausa/Igbo/Nigerian Pidgin Monolingual
language use had a high status in all the communities, except in Olodo where bilingualism
prevailed. There were pervasive use of English, visibility of French, Arabic and Nigerian
Pidgin and marginalisation of indigenous languages on the signs. These were due to the sign
writers‘ skill condition, the presumed readers‘ condition and the symbolic value condition.
The multilingual configuration of languages on signs in Ibadan, their patterns and statuses
reflect the heterogenous and cosmopolitan nature of the city. |
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