ERIC Number: EJ1468603
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0143-4632
EISSN: EISSN-1747-7557
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Linguistic Landscape in Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia
Wai Sheng Woo1; Patricia Nora Riget2
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, v43 n5 p404-423 2022
This article presents the results of a small-scale study on the linguistic landscape in the two terminals of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Thirty-one digital photos of non-identical signs out of a total of 368 'top-down' signs identified in the public space were collected, and questionnaires were administered to airport users to gauge their attitudes towards the languages used on the multilingual signs in the two airports. The findings showed that (1) Malay, which is the sole national and official language of the country, is displayed in the dominant position in all the multilingual signage. (2) English, which is displayed below Malay, indexes English as the second most important language after Malay besides being the language for international communication. (3) The display of Japanese, Arabic, and Chinese at the same level and in the same-sized font indicates that these languages are given equal priority in a top-bottom system. (4) Most of the two airport users agreed that a combination of Malay and English should be used on the signage in Malaysian airports and are happy with its multilingual environment. However, some local Malaysians strongly feel that Tamil should be added to the signage.
Descriptors: Second Languages, Multilingualism, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian Languages, English (Second Language), Language Planning, Air Transportation, Language Usage, Foreign Countries, Photography, Signs, Language Attitudes, Dravidian Languages, Intercultural Communication
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Department of Asian and European Languages, Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 2Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia