The Use of English on Linguistic Landscape in Tulungagung: The Initial Evidence of Language Battle in Public Space
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e-Journal of Linguistics
Available online at https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol/index
Vol. 17, No. 1, January 2023, pages: 76--92
Print ISSN: 2541-5514 Online ISSN: 2442-7586
https://doi.org/10.24843/e-jl.2023.v17.i01.p10.
The Use of English on Linguistic Landscape in Tulungagung: The Initial Evidence of Language Battle in Public Space
1Sasa Lailatul Fitria
Universitas Negeri Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia, [email protected]
2Slamet Setiawan
Universitas Negeri Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia, [email protected]
Article info
Received Date: 24 June 2022
Accepted Date: 4 July 2022
Published Date: 31 January 2023
Keywords:
linguistic landscape, globalization, language variation, English
Abstract-[
The widespread use of English is depicted in the Linguistic Landscape (LL) in Tulungagung competes the Indonesian language (the national language) and Javanese language (the local language). The present study is aimed (1) to view the position of English language among the existing languages, (2) to investigate what motive that urges a signage owner in acquiring English, and (3) to explain the role performed by English in society. A descriptive qualitative method in research is carried out to explain the phenomenon. Data were collected from an observation of languages appear on signage and an interview to the signage owner. This study is set up in Tulungagung Regency that characterized as the Central Business District (CBD). From the total 460 photographed signages observed and the interviews done, it is shown that English in society is not more dominant than the Indonesian language in use as explained by Landry & Bourhis (1997) but as the interviews done with the signage owner, it narrates that English carries some characterization proposed by Piller (2001) that urge a party to acquire English and it also plays significant roles in society, specifically in business field as stated by Lee (2019). Thus, it challenges the use of local language, the Javanese language, since English appears within its excellence.
English has become the worldwide language since globalization plays a significant role in developing culture and languages as a means of communication worldwide. Abdalgane (2020) defines globalization as "a process of the integration of different cultures, languages, organizations, and countries, from across the globe" therefore, it can be stated that English is getting integrated worldwide. The use of English can be found anywhere, such as on public signs, the name of a shop, product branding, in a particular place and in a particular society. It can be found in every part of Indonesian territory nowadays. One of the reasons why this phenomenon happens is because English-language education has a significant role in developing the business market in Indonesia (Zein, 2019). Another supporting reason is that since many foreign companies entered Indonesia, the process of language integration ̶ especially English, has had a significant influence on its use for communication in the society. Therefore, it can be stated that the business market had a major influence on its use and it performs as a language in broader communication circumstances.
English is depicted in Tulungagung City, part of Indonesian territory located in East Java province, which can be seen in many signs, product branding, and the name of a
shop as its chosen language. Surprisingly, English is not included as the daily language used by the majority. A study conducted by Setiawan (2013) explains that people speak the Javanese language in East Java. He also added the previous report from Kartomihardjo in 1981 that the Javanese population in this area is also Indonesian speakers in the majority. By that statement, Indonesian and Javanese languages are the most often used in daily communication. Other languages that exist alongside those languages are Arabic, Mandarin, and Korean. This becomes interesting to investigate the development of a variety of languages used, especially English, for a particular purpose primarily depicted in the business field in Tulungagung.
Figure 1. The use of English on linguistic landscape in Tulungagung City
Regarding this phenomenon, Linguistic Landscape (LL) is used to investigate how language is used in specific areas within a particular society (Landry & Bourhis, 1997). Over time, the meaning of linguistic landscape can be seen as viewing an urban area as a text, meaning that a specific language is used widely by wider society in an urban area (Sahril et al., 2019). In other words, LL can view the existence of a specific language in space. Therefore, languages appeared can be described in their importance since the relative power and status of competing for the existing languages are shown by the dominance of the specific language displayed in public (Landry & Bourhis, 1997). This, later, can view the phenomena of the language shift that may happen for indigenous languages as the research done by Setiawan (2001). Its result shows that the Javanese language is shifted in society since the development of the Indonesian language was promoted by the government as the national language (Setiawan, 2001). Moreover, the study's result also explains that the trend toward the Indonesian language is because of generational differences (Setiawan, 2001). This becomes more interesting that another language may also shift the existence of a particular language in this current situation. The question later arises since English is well-known as the worldwide language and has become a trend of language used in the globalized era would shift the existing languages.
Linguistic landscape research is easiest way to find what language is used in public spaces is to view the language appearing on signs around the main streets (Cenoz & Gorter, 2008). They also stated that how language is represented in certain areas shows different languages' status in a specific context related to sociolinguistics. Previous research performed by Rao (2019)completely examines the role of English used worldwide due to the level of inter-connectivity and globalization that continues to grow around the world. His research reveals that English plays the dominant role in scientific fields, business, education, tourism, press, and media. He states that the use of English in most aspects of life because English has some qualities that can be accepted by all the speakers of many different languages used in the world.
While the previous researches on LL in Indonesia, especially pointed in East Java Province, such as in Surabaya City (Rusnaningtyas, 2014; Kartika, 2019), Malang City (Yannuar & Tabiati, 2016), Sidoarjo City (Fakhiroh & Rohmah, 2018) show that English is positioned after the Indonesian language. English as the second language shows that English shifted the local language and became more popular, especially in business fields, because English has been represented as the picture of globalization and modernization; furthermore, it has been such a symbol of success (Yannuar & Tabiati, 2016). The primary language will always dominantly appear in public spaces. The spread of English used as the other language in society has become a picture of globalization and a trend that plays a significant role. That is why people are getting involved in integrating and interpreting different cultures in today's globalization era (Duizenberg, 2020). On the other hand, English can affect national identities in an urban area (Aristova, 2016). Many linguistic landscape researchers in Indonesia recognized that English competes with the Indonesian language (the national language) and the Javanese language (the local language).
The phenomenon explained above is portrayed from the languages appear on public signage in Tulungagung City, such as the language used on signs, names of shops, and advertisements that especially perform English to be the language chosen though it is considered as foreign language. Therefore, as the first LL study conducted in Tulungagung City, the present research analyses English's position among other languages depicted in public signage such as road's name, shop's name, public signs, billboard (Landry & Bourhis, 1997). In addition, since the world has become integrated, the form of signage has been upgraded such as mobile text, graffiti text, and text on clothing (Guy, 2016) that will enrich the scope of the present study. Other than many previous LL research done in Indonesia, this study investigates what motives urge society to use English displayed in the signage as proposed by Piller (2001) and it also explains the role performed by English in society mentioned by Lee (2019) that is not well-explained in the previous LL research.
In the present research, a descriptive qualitative analysis was used to analyse the phenomenon of the language battle happens in Tulungagung LL. The analysis is done by using the theory of language visibility and language interaction between different languages in linguistic landscape (Landry & Bourhis, 1997; Guy, 2016), factors in acquiring English to be displayed in public signages (Piller, 2001), and language functions (Lee, 2019).
An observation of the language depicted the name of a shop, name of a road, product branding, billboards, mobile text, text on vehicle, and text on clothing was done as the source of data of variety of languages that appear on Tulungagung LL. Another source of data were the structured interviews with the signage owner, whose signage includes English to be the language displayed, in order to investigate factors of acquiring English and what role English performed to appear in public signages.
Kinds of languages that were depicted in the 460 photographed signages and the utterance that were stated by the four informants become the data of the present study. The four informant’s utterances were labelled as I-(n) stands for Informant number n. The present research was set up in Tulungagung City, West Java, Indonesia, with 19 districts. Data taken was specifically in Tulungagung District since it was characterized as Central Business District (CBD) where the facilities are ultimately served. This kind of situation showed the level of inter-connectivity and globalization that continue to grow where the language, one of the crucial aspects of communication in the globalized era, appears in
public and showing the variation. The data of the present study was presented as in research done by (Setiawan, 2013)
This research often finds the use of English in Tulungagung's public spaces depicted from the billboards, the name of a shop, the product branding, and the graffiti text. Overall, the popular languages to have appeared in public are Indonesian, English, and Javanese. Other languages, such as Arabic, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, have also appeared in public yet are limited in number since they are foreign languages. Landry & Bourhis (1997) stated that a particular language on public signage has an informative purpose, which indicates that the displayed language can be utilized to communicate and obtain services within public and private establishments located in the relevant region.
In this globalized era, the language situation depicted in Tulungagung LL shows the urgency of language variety displayed in public. As the national language, the Indonesian language has the highest position of language used in every part of Indonesia's territory. Besides, the Javanese language is spoken mostly by the Javanese, including Tulungagung’s society (Setiawan, 2001). There is also the appearance of English that has been integrated worldwide within the spread of globalization nowadays (Abdalgane, 2020).
The data collected from the research shows that English is more popular to appear in signage displayed in public than any other foreign languages exist. The appearance of English is found in monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual signages of Tulungagung LL. The following table is the data of research conducted in Tulungagung LL based on the languages that appear in each signage. It is taken from 458 pictures of signage that appear in Tulungagung's public sphere within 252 monolingual signages, 199 bilingual signages, and 7 trilingual signages. The following table shows how each language is viewed by its appearance in Tulungagung LL.
Table 1
Language Visibility on Monolingual Signage
|
Language(s) Appear in Monolingual Signage |
Frequency of Appearance (n) |
|
Monolingual Indonesian |
148 |
|
Monolingual Javanese |
8 |
|
Monolingual English |
92 |
|
Monolingual Chinese |
2 |
|
Monolingual Korean |
1 |
|
Monolingual Japanese |
1 |
The data given in the table above proof that monolingual signage written in Indonesian has an enormous amount than any other monolingual signage written in other languages. According to Landry & Bourhis (1997), it runs as expected that "the dominant language of public signs is often the language of majority group". Moreover, as the national language, the Indonesian language has the first position of language choice done by the Tulungagung's society since it has been evidenced by the previous research done in other cities of East Java Province (Rusnaningtyas, 2014; Kartika, 2019; Yannuar & Tabiati, 2016; Fakhiroh & Rohmah, 2018). The current data also supports that the appearance of English on monolingual signage shows a larger amount than the appearance of the Javanese language as stated in previous research done in East Java. This becomes
interesting since it is already known that the Javanese language is commonly spoken by Javanese society, yet it is not more popular than English to be used in public signage.
The early explanation of this phenomenon is that English as the foreign language chosen cannot be separated from the era of globalization. Globalization that occurs through various aspects currently has a significant influence on the choice of language used on signs that appear in public spaces. Integrated language may occur in this society (Abdalgane, 2020); therefore, the language choice cannot be separated from the language used by the people in a specific area to convey a particular message from one party to another. Later, it is interesting to investigate the most popular co-occurrence language in signage. The following table shows the appearance of kinds of languages combined in bilingual signage found in Tulungagung's public sphere.
Table 2
Language Visibility on Bilingual Signage
|
Language(s) Appear in Bilingual Signage |
Frequency of Appearance (n) |
|
Bilingual Indonesian-Javanese |
4 |
|
Bilingual Indonesian-English |
177 |
|
Bilingual Indonesian-Arabic |
4 |
|
Bilingual Indonesian-Chinese |
2 |
|
Bilingual Indonesian- Japanese |
1 |
|
Bilingual Indonesian-Thai |
1 |
|
Bilingual Javanese-English |
2 |
|
Bilingual English-Chinese |
1 |
|
Bilingual English-Korean |
3 |
|
Bilingual English-Arabic |
1 |
|
Bilingual English-Japanese |
3 |
To the result shown in Table 2, bilingual signage written in the Bilingual Indonesian-English is the most frequent language combination that appears in Tulungagung's public spaces. This result also happened in previous linguistic landscape research done by Zakiyyatul Fakhiroh (2018). As the global language, she argued that English takes an essential role in delivering messages and meaning done by society (Zakiyyatul Fakhiroh, 2018).
The popularity of English that co-occurs with the Indonesian language in the bilingual signage observed in Tulungagung LL is followed by Indonesian-Javanese signage and Indonesian-Arabic signage with the same total amount of appearance in public. Surprisingly, the comparison between number of occurrences of these two types of bilingual signage is conspicuous. The prevalence of a particular language and/or the cooccurrence of two languages appear on public signage can reflect competing languages' relative power and status (Landry & Bourhis, 1997). Thus, the following table shows trilingual signage within the languages displayed. Therefore, it can clearly state how English is positioned in Tulungagung LL.
Table 3
Language Visibility on Trilingual Signage
|
Language(s) Appear in Trilingual Signage |
Frequency of Appearance (n) |
|
Trilingual Indonesian-Javanese-English language |
4 |
|
Trilingual Indonesian-English-Japanese language |
2 |
|
Trilingual Javanese-English-Japanese language |
1 |
From Table 3, it can be seen kind of languages that visible on trilingual signage. The languages that appear are Indonesian, Javanese, English, and Japanese. The data shown in monolingual signage, bilingual signage, and trilingual one is still dominated by the appearance of Indonesian, English, and Javanese. It is known that language becomes an identity of a group of people (Setiawan, 2001; Huebner, 2016). Indonesian and Javanese languages well acquired, by people in East Java Province —including Tulungagung's society (Setiawan, 2001). However, the appearance of English is in question whether the society has been well acquired. Its application is under a particular consideration taken by the signage owner. Thus, the appearance of English, which follows significant language, also indicates that the occurrence of the language used in Tulungagung LL has been integrated. The use of English becomes the language variation of communication to convey a message. From the data obtained in an urban area of Tulungagung City, indicated as CBD, English is one of the languages widely used after the Indonesian and is more frequently used than the Javanese.
The language situation happening in Tulungagung's public sphere shows the variety of language displayed in signages. The appearance of English, known as the foreign language, becomes evidence that English is acquired and refers to the speaker's or author's proficiency (Setiawan, 2001). Therefore, the co-occurrence of languages displayed in public shows the implication of language choice. A variety of factors may influence language choice in bilingual or multilingual communities (Setiawan, 2013).
In choosing this particular language is motivated by some reasons that a foreign language has —English. The data obtained shows that most of the signage found in Tulungagung's public sphere, written bilingually within English in it. Regarding this, a research done by (Piller, 2001), explains that the bilingual narratee on the bilingual signages has some characteristics that urge the narratee to construct signage bilingually; international orientation, future orientation, success orientation, sophistication, and fun orientation elaborated as follows:
The amount of Indonesian language co-occurs with English in bilingual signage found in Tulungagung's public sphere shows that both the signage owner and the consumers are bilingual (Piller, 2001). This is related to the language proficiency to deliver a message from signage owner to consumers, meaning that these parties can use the same language. It is strongly evidenced as follows:
Table 4
The Evidence of Motives in Acquiring English: International Orientation
No
Informant’s Utterance
Informant’s Utterance (in English)
1. Kemampuan Bahasa Indonesia saya ini oke ya, lancar. (Penggunaan Bahasa Inggris) sedikit sedikit saya bisa, ya basic conversation gitu lah, tentang kegitan sehari hari saya masih bisa faham vocabnya apa aja. Lagian selama ini sekolah selama 12 tahun sudah ada Bahasa inggrisnya, … kan generasi kita ini kan udah mulai go internasional ya, semuanya serba berbau Bahasa Inggris gitu. (I-3)
My Indonesian language skills are okay, fluent. I can use English a little bit, about the basic conversation, about daily activities, I can still understand what the vocabularies are. Well, it is for the whole time of school in which 12 years has had English (to be taught), … our generation has started internationally oriented, right, everything is related to the English usage. (I-3)
According to the information given, it is known that the signage owner has acquired both Indonesian and English, despite his limited language proficiency level in acquiring English. It is also stated that English language learning has been taught in school over time, proving that he has acquired English besides the Indonesian language, as Zein (2019) stated. Furthermore, it is informed that the younger generations are closely related to the international values reflected by the use of English as the chosen language. This characterization implies that they are not addressed as citizens of a monolingual national society but as members of a worldwide community based on shared lifestyle, consumption values, elitism, and language choices that directly reflect internationalism (Piller, 2001). Therefore, the first reason for acquiring English is motivated by the international orientation closely related to English.
Besides the international orientation, another characteristic that English has to urge the signage owner to put English displayed in the signage is the future orientation. Piller (2001) explains that the implied reader of a language written multilingually in signage or advertisement is someone who intends to shape the future. This situation has happened since English has become a lingua franca (Rahman et al., 2018). Thus, English is a general symbol of globalization, modernity, and progress (Piller, 2003). Therefore, it correlates to the picture of the global future and a younger generation; later, this situation urges the narrator of English to display this language in the signage as stated below:
-
Table 5
The Evidence of Motives in Acquiring English: Future Orientation
No
Informant’s Utterance
2. Niki (alasan memilih Bahasa Inggris) ya karena anak muda, kepriye carane tempat saya ini bisa matuk (sesuai) sama anak muda yang sekarang ini kemenggres. Istilahnya biar nggak
Informant’s Utterance (in English)
This (the reason for choosing English) is because of young people, how can my place be convenient to the young people who are currently ‘keminggris’ (acting as a fluent English speaker).
ketinggalan zaman sama situasi zaman sekarang dan sampai kedepannya begitu. (I-2)
3. Bahasa Inggris kan sudah jadi trend ya mbak menurut saya. Saya lihat social media, di Instagram, twitter, face book, kan saya main tuh, nah beberapa sudah pakai Bahasa Inggris, nah tujuan saya pakai Bahasa inggris buat di papan depan itu ya biar kesan yang diberikan tuh modern gitu, dah mengikuti zamannya anak muda sekarang. (I-1)
Shortly, it is not to be out of date with the current situation and until the future.
(I-2)
In my opinion, English has become a trend. I saw social media, on Instagram, twitter, face book, in which I used, now some of them (the users) already use English, so my purpose on using English for the front board over there is the impression that is given is modern, it has followed the times of today's young people. (I-1)
From the information given above, it can be stated that the signage owner has considered the language was chosen to be displayed in public. By looking at the present situation, the signage owner has prepared the future impression to the customers (readers of signage) within the use of English. Both informants hold the need to maintain customer engagement through the language, as a means of communication (Sirbu, 2015). It is detailed to the situation in the younger generation that commonly uses English for daily. Another informant stated that the use of English is influenced by the social media platform. It is closely related to the way of communication in nowadays era.
The role of social media takes a massive transformation for some fields in the current situation worldwide, and so does Indonesia. Through social media, people worldwide are easily connected where an interactive dialog to share knowledge and information among the users is mediated (Baruah, 2012). English unifies the gap of language occurred. English has become the world's lingua franca (Rohmah, 2005). People in practically every part of the world currently speak English. Rohmah (2005) also explains that the future trends of English challenge the local language. The appearance of English becomes essential; therefore, other languages' appearance only complements English. This can explain why the signage owner uses English to be the language chosen. The westernization of language occurs in the younger generation since English has a connotation of westernization and symbolizes modernity (Lee, 2019). In sum, the urgency of acquiring English is based on future orientation.
Concerning the globalization era, the appearance of English cannot be secluded. People have begun to acquire English as a foreign language since its worldwide usage. Its use in various marked fields, such as international trade and industry, media, commerce, diplomacy, science and technology, and popular culture, underpins the current status of English as the worldwide language (Lauder, 2008). Its special status of a wide range of its use can be a valid reason why Indonesian people acquire English. The following informant's point of view regarding the use of English displayed in public shows why English is more popular than other languages.
|
Table 6 The Evidence of Motives in Acquiring English: Sophistication | |
|
No |
Informant’s Utterance Informant’s Utterance (in English) |
|
4. |
Kesannya “wah” menawi (kalau) The impression given is "wow" if you pakai Bahasa inggris yang identik use English which is identical to the sama cara bicara orang luar sana way foreign people talk who are smart. yang pintar pintar. (I-1) (I-1) |
The information given above shows how English is valued. English is viewed as carrying a certain amount of prestige (Lauder, 2008). He added that many people see English as an essential matter, and knowing the language is required for many types of roles and is viewed as a representation of education, modernity, and sophistication. This can be related to the nowadays era when mastery of national and regional languages is not enough since people are required to be excellent in some competition in this sophisticated era (Alrajafi, 2021). Therefore, in realization, people are engaged within language that facilitates the need for communication in expressing ideas widely. English is labeled as high culture marker and civilization (Piller, 2001), and its use is connected with the value of a thing and shows its power (Lanza & Woldemariam, 2014). In other words, the use of English displayed in public is related to the sophistication value.
The current study of LL in Tulungagung City depicts the language choice in the text on clothing. The number of ideas is expressed in English. This can be easily found among youngsters who wear those designs within English as the language chosen for text on clothing. This must come for a reason, and it is stated as follows:
Table 7
The Evidence of Motives in Acquiring English: Fun Orientation
No
Informant’s Utterance
Informant’s Utterance (in English)
5. Oh iki buat entertain diri sendiri ae. Aku merasa tulisan di kaos ini relate sama apa yang kurasakan. Sangat memotivasi biar kalau aku lagi down, setidaknya ini bisa menghibur … Lucu-lucuan ae ngga sih. Biar wow juga, pakai Bahasa inggris bos. “Relax your mind” (the text appears on clothing) kan mantab. (I-4)
Oh, this is just for self-entertainment. I feel the writing on this t-shirt relates to what I feel. It's very motivating so that when I'm down, at least it can be entertaining… Isn't that funny. It’s also something ‘wow’ to use English.
"Relax your mind" (the text appears on clothing) is great, isn’t it?. (I-4)
The informant states that the value of the text appearing on the clothing design is related to his feelings. He thinks that the text is entertaining and motivating. He also adds that it is for fun, and the use of English is fascinating, which is shown by the expression "wow" stated above (Kulzer, 2018). Regarding the language given in the text, English is chosen by the designer to engage the reader. This could be a marketing strategy applied by the producer who targeted the youngsters, identified as multilingual parties who can acquire more than one language.
Success orientation becomes one of the characteristics that urges people in acquiring English to be displayed in public. The current era of globalization, the use of certain occurring English words are linked to a success life (Piller, 2001). It is further explained that English leads opinion for the implied readers to the global class of society who can make a step forward to move across continents and cultures especially for those who are in a non-English speaking country (Piller, 2001). The element of executive-businessman picture and the use of some English words urge the implied readers to lead their opinion towards success that is mostly found in a professional executive career advertisement. However, from the 460 photographed signages obtained in Tulungagung LL does not show this characteristic within the theory explained. It means that English is not used to depict someone’s success or giving the readers a success life orientation in Tulungagung’s society.
As the interviewed done, the reason why English that is depicted in public signage in Tulungagung is not used for a success orientation implies below:
-
Table 8
The Evidence of Motives in Acquiring English
No
Informant’s Utterance
Informant’s Utterance (in English)
6. Istilahnya biar nggak ketinggalan zaman sama situasi zaman sekarang. (I-2)
(The reason of English used) is not to be out of date with the current situation. (I-2)
7.
Supaya menimbulkan unsur modern ketika orang baca nama toko ini. (I-3)
In order to create a modernity when people read the name of this shop. (I-3)
According to the informant’s utterances above, it can be seen that both of them agree that they need to be engaged within the current situation of the globalized era can be realized with the use of English words and/or phrases but none of them mention that the reason in acquiring English to be displayed in public is for a success orientation. The reason given by the informants is as simple as they are intended to be engaged with the era of high inter-connectivity within the wider society and the language used can fulfil the need to be enrolled in a wider communication circumstance. This reason can be strengthened the business field that has been observed in Tulungagung does not show the prototype of “success” with its executive career advertisement. In other words, the present research does not find executive career advertisement, within the elements given, therefore the success orientation proposed by Piller (2001) cannot be proved.
The communication function displayed from English in Tulungagung LL is to deliver the message that the author (the signage owner) wants to convey. As we know that communication through languages is essential for delivering various messages (Rabiah, 2018), it is caught in Tulungagung LL within the language variation appears. Numerous
signages that appear in public spaces using English are aimed to convey information, warnings, and directions that are addressed for broader communicative circumstances. This is related to the language choice that is used in the signage. Landry & Bourhis (1997) explains that the language chosen can be used as a reflected marker of language power in a specific area within bilingual or multilingual environments occur. Many of these signages appear around the shopping centre and train station where the interaction between communities with cultural background differences happen. Noted that these two locations are considered a public area where the language chosen to be displayed must be reasonably understood by the society.
Figure 2. Bilingual Indonesia-English Signage found in Tulungagung's Train Station
Figure 3. Monolingual English Signage found in Tulungagung Shopping Centre
From the data collected, it was found that the English used is another way of communication. The bilingual signage Indonesian-English found in Tulungagung train station is in the form of trans-language. It serves as informational signage addressed to both speakers of the languages displayed. It comes for an understanding reason that the train station has become a prominent public transformation service that opens the door for people to come to Tulungagung —not only for domestic but also for international. Another signage, found in Tulungagung shopping centre, uses English for its directional marker. It shows that spread of English used in urban areas is commonly used (Abdalgane, 2020). This happens because of the integration of various fields due to the influence of the globalization era; language skills are included.
The display of competing languages in society cannot be separated from the current era of globalization. English, which has become the lingua franca, is a choice for people when the Indonesian language is not enough to bridge the differences in society. The broader communities occur, the more excellent language is used. Therefore, the use of English indicates that there are foreign cultures that have entered society. The use of English illustrated in Tulungagung LL indicates that many parties have used English as the medium of communication between integrated community.
In this era of globalization, the use of English by society is considered prestigious. English is placed between power and prestige in society (Lanza & Woldemariam, 2014). In this statement, communities and/or individuals who use English daily are considered people with prestige. The widespread use of English has become a reference for the public to assess a person's level in society because learning foreign languages, especially English, has existed in the world of education in Indonesia for a long time (Zein, 2019). It is also evidenced by the informant's narration as stated below:
-
Table 9
The Function of English in Tulungagung’s Society: As Social Prestige
No
Informant’s Utterance
Informant’s Utterance (in English)
1. Lagian selama ini sekolah selama 12 tahun sudah ada Bahasa inggrisnya, dilanjutin saya kuliah 4 tahun ini di matematika ya banyak term di teorinya yang pakai Bahasa inggris. Belum lagi trend campur campur Bahasa kayak anak jaksel itu yang bikin saya tambah tahu vocab apa aja yang lagi in sekarang ini. (I-3)
After all, during 12 years of school there has been English language teaching, I continued my 4 years course of college in mathematics, there are so many terms in theory which use English. It is also because the trend of language mixing like the people in South Jakarta done, which makes me know more about what vocabularies are in right now. (I-3)
The information above shows that Tulungagung's people are familiar with English vocabulary. This is explained that the education system that builds an English environment supports an individual to gain more English vocabulary (Rahman et al., 2018). Furthermore, language shifting in daily conversation popular among youngsters helps to acquire more English vocabulary. On the other hand, based on the current research data, the use of English is commonly found for naming a shop and the motto used. The underlying reason for this is that with the use of English, readers (consumers) may be impressed by the picture of modernity served in a particular word given in the signage. This is emphasized by Setiawan (2013) that the language displayed in public is closely related to language attitudes, meaning that people's perception of a particular language values the language.
An example is the phenomenon of giving a name to a shop that sells some clothes packaged in a modern way by including English in its elements on signage appearing in public, namely "MAYANG COLLECTION." The word "collection" in naming the shop gives the impression of modernity and up to date since it is written in English. Even though the word "collection" has been adapted in an appropriate Indonesian version as "koleksi", the impression created by naming this place by including English gives prestige. In addition, this also occurs for naming several menus in several food stalls and coffee shops placed in urban areas. Naming the food and beverage menus mostly uses English. Certain parties want a good impression in society and have high social prestige, so the menu includes English as the language used.
An urban area that becomes the center for all activities of various parties in various sectors makes economic activity becomes one of the sectors that shows the urgency of using a foreign language, especially English, is product branding. Branding in other languages and adopting foreign language writing or pronunciation may create a favourable association that influences the customers' attitude toward the product's quality and benefits (Kohler and Amstrong, 2014, as cited in Rachmawati et al., 2016). This can be seen from the number of people using English as a media for promotion and product introduction to the public.
The strategy to use English in commercial text is aimed to attract the attention of the customer (Lee, 2019). The shop owner takes advantage of the symbolic marker indexing
consumer's modern, global, and internationalized orientation within the use of English to name a particular product as stated below:
Table 10
The Function of English in Tulungagung’s Society: Economic Strategy
No
Informant’s Utterance
Informant’s Utterance (in English)
-
1. Ya karena alasan strategi promosi bagi saya. Bahasa inggris tuh seperti apa ya, kayak Bahasanya anak muda sekaang gitu lo. Saya berharapnya biar orang tertarik karena terlihat modern. (I-1)
-
2. Yang pertama modern dan yang kedua lebih cocok dengan konsep toko yang kita yang playful, penuh warna begitu. Kalau pakai kata di Bahasa Indonesianya kesannya jadi kurang menarik. Jadilah pakai Bahasa inggris. (I-3)
Well it is promotion strategy for me. English is something like the language of young people nowadays. I hope that people will be interested because it looks modern. (I-1)
The first reason is that it is modern and the second one is that it fits better with our playful and colourful concept. If it uses the term in Indonesian language, the impression given will be less interesting. So that English is used. (I-3)
With the reasons underlying this phenomenon as stated above, language is one of the main factors in the strategy to increase the sales of a product. English has become the language used in public within its value that represents the product. Gorter, (2006) stated that since globalization is interconnected to using a particular language, its concept emerges language as a globalization marker in LL. It covers some aspects such as modernization, product branding strategy, the expansion strategy, and introductory culture (Gorter, 2006). Therefore, since English is labelled as a lingua franca, it can be stated that English is a marker of globalization that values modernization and product branding.
The information given, shows both informants agree that English has a modern value affecting product branding. Other than that, one of the informants argues that the use of English terms is more attractive than in the Indonesian language. This relates to the statement stated by Lee (2019). In other words, this becomes a strategy of the signageowner to attract the customer's intention to get to know and be willing to buy the products that they offer.
The appearance of products from the international brands that expand their business area out of their original country intends to maintain the product's identity by delivering the message given through the language that the broader communicative circumstances can understand. It aims maintaining the product's identity regarding its quality and the product originality conveyed in the message given. English as the language that serves the needs in this situation proves the concept of language as a marker of globalization proposed by Gorter (2006) for expansion strategy. Other than that, the status of English as a lingua franca which refers to the use of English among speakers whose mother tongue is not English takes a role in facilitating communication (Rogerson-Revell, 2007).
From the data obtained in the current research in Tulungagung LL, two foreign brands opened branches in the given research setting in Tulungagung City; Pizza Hut and Domino's Pizza, which all of those brands are originated from the United States (US). As
we already know, the language used in the US is English (Rohmah, 2005). Similarly, as in Tulungagung City, both Pizza Hut and Domino's Pizza use English in naming their products. This will be the same wherever these two brands expand their scope. The name used in naming the place and the products offered will remain the same wherever it is. There will be no interpreters in this brand. This shows that the use of language, English, is for maintaining the identity of the products. Thus, these two foreign brands carry the cultural identity of the US, including the language used. Therefore, it can be concluded that the function of using English in foreign products aims to maintain the identity and characteristics of a product that also reflects its quality.
This research is under linguistic landscape study that is first conducted in Tulungagung City, East Java where Indonesian (the official language) and Javanese (the local language) are the most often language used in society. Interestingly, the situation described depicts the language variation where the use of English is widely appeared in public space, especially in business field. The result of present study depicts the use of English among other languages. This can be the first indicator of language shift that happen in a particular circumstance, especially the existence of Javanese in use, since it is shown that English is positioned right after Indonesian as the language chosen to be displayed in public space. This also means that English has power and status of competing for the existing languages that is shown by the dominance of the specific language displayed in public (Landry & Bourhis, 1997). Besides, the renewing object of the study enriches the scope of the research since the form of signage is integrated to be displayed digitally that later shows factors that someone choose English rather than any other languages exist which have not been done in the previous research. In sum, English appears in Tulungagung LL within its excellences that facilitates society to have better communication.
The present study describes the Linguistic Landscape (LL) that appears in Tulungagung City and focuses on the use of English in public areas. The research setting is characterized as a Central Business District (CBD), specifically in Tulungagung Regency, which best describes the language situation in a globalized era. This is regarding the appearance among languages that takes a special status in society (Landry & Bourhis, 1997). Since the status of English as the lingua franca of worldwide society, the present study highlights 3 points: (1) The position of English places right after Indonesian language usage, and it is more popularly used than the Javanese language. Since language represents culture, it affects other languages underpinned by its special status in Tulungagung's society, shown in many signage that includes English as the language chosen. (2) There are four out of five motives that urge people to display English in the signage appear in public signage besides other languages exist are the international orientation, future orientation, sophistication value, and fun orientation that mostly happen in business field. Business people do this as an excellent marketing strategy for selling a product. The success orientation does not become the motive that urges people in using English since it is characterized as an executive business that offered to the implied readers. This can be explained by the business situation in Tulungagung City that cannot depict the prototype of “success” that has been explained. (3) English serves a significant
role in broader society for communication, social status, economic strategy, and identity maintenance. English exists in society as a language that has emerged due to the globalization era, which has enabled integration in various aspects of life, including language.
By the present situation described, the popularity of English among business-doer depicted from the numerous private signages using English, explicitly shows a thread of local language in the future. The excellent functions served by English slowly shift the urgency of the Javanese language to be displayed in Tulungagung LL. Even though it is necessarily engaged in the globalized era, the Javanese language represents the identity of its native speaker. Later, the position of these competing languages depends on how society intends its use. Therefore, it becomes a severe concern of what language would win this 'language battle'.
The author would like to thank for all parties who facilitated this research and for at University of Surabaya which has supported the research.
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Sasa Lailatul Fitria, a student of English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Surabaya. Majoring in English Literature, cohort 2018.
Prof. Dr. Slamet Setiawan, M.A., Ph.D. He is a Professor of Linguistics and currently a lecturer of English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Surabaya. He has published 144 scientific articles during his career.
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