Abstract:
The study of signs in public sphere either in writing or in symbolic forms is termed as linguistic
landscape. Landry and Bourhis (1997) for the first time coined and defined the notion as “the
language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial
shop signs and public signs on government buildings combines to form the linguistic landscape
of a given territory, region or urban agglomeration” (p.22). The intention behind this research
work is to examine shop signs in Kumasi, the capital city of Ashanti Region because it is one
of the most popular cities in the country and it has not yet been explored adequately. These
shop signs are entirely collected from Kronom to Kedjetia stretch of road, Kumasi. The signs
on the selected shops were captured using a modern/standard digital camera after a thorough
interview had been conducted, one-on-one with the shop owners/keepers. In addition, the
approach to the study is qualitative in design. The study attempts to highlight themes featured
in the inscriptions on the shops, the intention behind their usage by the shop owners/keepers
and functions of the shop signs at the chosen research area. The languages featured in the
inscriptions on the shops included; the in-group language, Akan (Twi), Ga, Ewe, Fante, and
the “omniscient” global language, English. The findings proved that English (been the global
language) is a dominant language but it was realized that the in-group language, Akan (Twi)
was competing with it. That shows how serious the ethnic group (speakers of that language)
cherish their language. The study in addition analyzed themes identified to be dominant in the
inscriptions used. It was established that theme of religion/faith was the most dominant theme
because the chosen research area is a place where people pay much attention to their object of
worship, God. The study further concludes that through the inscriptions featured on the shops
at the chosen research site, shop owners/keepers are able to express and share their experiences,
sentiments, thoughts and opinions to others/the general public.
Description:
A Thesis in the Department of Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Foreign Languages
Education and Communication, submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial
fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree
Master of Philosophy
(Applied Linguistics)
in the University of Education, Winneba
