Linguistic landscape in a city of migrants: a study of Souk Naif area in Dubai

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the first in-depth analysis of linguistic landscape (LL) of a migrant area in Dubai. While Arabic is the official language of the country, few foreigners learn it and English has become the lingua franca that allows migrant communities to communicate. Nonetheless, English and Arabic are mother tongues to a minority of resident population. A multitude of other languages are spoken among expatriates. Despite that variety, the visibility and salience of particular languages in LL is a reflection of, most often, their differing social standing. As such, this research shows how multilingualism, language contact, social hierarchy as well as official policies with regards to language use in UAE, have led to the minimisation of third languages use in LL. Through a multilingual analysis of signs in Souk Naif area, this research provides important insights on the meaning of linguistic landscapes in cosmopolitan cities in the Arabian Gulf, specifically, how bottom-up sign makers negotiate the public space, why English is the primary language used, and finally, why high levels of multiculturalism lead to deterritorialisation and commodification of languages in LL.

KEYWORDS:

• Dubai
• UAE
• languages
• linguistic landscape
• public space
• Souk Naif

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The rules change, however, from one municipality to the other or from one developer to the other. The DMCC Free Zone, for instance, does not require Arabic translations on display boards.

2 The researcher did not insist on visiting the Dubai Municipality and seeking explanation for these differences on site since this could have a negative impact on the shop owners.

3 Interestingly, newer advice on company names mentions that Dubai is a restricted name and cannot be used in company names.

4 Some examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hkd3fntceEE, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmWZzOunMiQ

5 TripAdvisor site.