A Look into the Linguistic Landscape of Kumasi: The Case of Shop Names

Abstract

This study investigates the linguistic landscape of Kumasi Metropolis, the second largest city in Ghana, to determine the languages displayed in the ‘texts’ of shop names. A total of 285 signs were photographed and analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. According to the findings, a significant number of shops employed English other than Akan, either monolingual or in combination with Akan, resulting in a written bilingualism environment with English emerging as the strongest language player. The findings also showed that the bilingual character of business signs is more symbolic than being informative, implying a desire to project a global, sophisticated, and fashionable image.  The study revealed that although Akan is a lingua franca and the main language used in transacting business in Kumasi, Akan monolingual text in shop names in the linguistic landscape is rare. This has dire consequences for the future of the indigenous languages in Ghana since Akan was the only indigenous language displayed in the business signage. This calls for proper language planning to consciously promote the indigenous languages as it is done for English.