Language, Space, and Cultural Identity in the Bilingual Landscape of Amman
Abstract
This study explores how Arabic and English are symbolically and visually represented in commercial signage across Amman, with particular attention to the interaction between language variety, visual design, and spatial placement. Despite growing interest in bilingual landscape research, Arabic-dominant urban contexts interspersed with English, such as Jordan, have received comparatively little attention, especially regarding how visual signage contributes to the construction of cultural identity in a globalised city. Drawing on Scollon and Scollon’s (2003) geosemiotic framework, this study adopts a qualitative linguistic landscape approach, using photographic documentation of storefronts and billboards from major commercial streets in Amman. First, the analysis illustrates how street signs function not only as channels of communication but also as semiotic resources through which identity, belief, and cultural context are expressed. Second, the findings reveal a semiotic distinction between local (informal) Arabic and English languages on shopfronts, which target local and immediate interaction, while the use of Standard Arabic alongside English or Romanised Arabic on billboards aims at a broader, more cosmopolitan audience. By focusing on Amman's bilingual signage, the negotiation of cultural identity through Arabic and English public space interactions that construct multi-layered, globally- informed urban communication forms can be presented.
Keywords: Arabic and English signage; bilingual landscape; geosemiotics; Jordan; language and identity
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