Mapping sounds in the commercial linguistic landscape of Kuwait: A workable solution

Abstract

The field of linguistic landscape research has shown considerable interest in visual communication in the urban global landscape in recent years. This paper explores Kuwait's linguistic landscape through an examination of shop signs displayed in commercial streets. A total of five hundred and ninety-nine photographs of shop signs on three streets in three different areas were taken and categorized. The streets were selected based on traffic and diversity. The linguistic landscape framework facilitates an understanding of the progress of the urban space as well as the relevance and dominance of language(s). The present study considers not only the signs' content but also the language(s) covered and their hierarchy, location and function in the urban community and space. The findings indicate that the linguistic landscape formed by Kuwait's signs is influenced by the shops' geographical location, prestige, and ethnolinguistic composition. While the major focus of mainstream research is the collection and analysis of (shop) signs, the present project goes beyond that to offer a solution to the problem of proper sound production of Arabized English shop names that uses designated individual orthographic symbols in Arabic to represent both the consonants and vowels of English. The solution foregrounds and eases the process of pronouncing businesses' names as well as understanding their nature and the services they offer with minimal effort.

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