Linguistic Landscape of Hawassa City Language Use in Shop Signs in Focus

Abstract

This study mainly aimed at describing the various types of language uses in the linguistic landscape of the study
areas focusing on shop signs and taking different socio-linguistic perspectives. The study was conducted on
shop signs in five selected areas of the city. Data for the study were collected using photography and in-depth
interview. The results revealed that Amharic and English are the dominant languages that appear on
monolingual (Amharic only or English only) and bilingual (Amharic and English) shop signs. Amharic was
found to be the most dominant language in the shop signs of the city, followed by English. Language choice
was found to be dominantly customer oriented. Amharic is chosen mostly because it is the language of
wider communication in Ethiopia, whereas English, an international language, is chosen mainly to target
foreigners and for the purpose of attracting business. The pattern of using languages on the bilingual shop
signs, including the font size differences, indicated that showing the power difference between the two
languages was not the intention of shop owners; rather it was a haphazard choice. The Amharic at the top and
English at the bottom pattern in the bilingual signs seemed to have been copied from the public signs on
government buildings. As Sidama people holds the highest population size in the city, it would be fair to
include Sidaamu Afoo in the city's shop signs.