Maintenance of social order through public signage in the linguistic landscape of Pakistan

Linguistic landscape, the visibility of languages in public spaces has largely focused on the display of words in the street with respect to multilingualism. Maintaining social order through signboards has very limited research in the linguistic landscape. This study examined the maintenance of soci...

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Main Author:	Tahir, Samia
Format:	Thesis
Language:	eng eng eng
Published:	2023
Subjects:	P Philology Linguistics
Online Access:	https://etd.uum.edu.my/10550/1/depositpermission-embargo%2024month_s901991.pdf https://etd.uum.edu.my/10550/2/s901991_01.pdf https://etd.uum.edu.my/10550/3/s901991_02.pdf
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id	my-uum-etd.10550
record_format	uketd_dc
spelling	my-uum-etd.105502023-06-21T03:44:25Z Maintenance of social order through public signage in the linguistic landscape of Pakistan 2023 Tahir, Samia Bidin, Siti Jamilah Awang Had Salleh Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Awang Had Salleh Graduates School of Arts & Sciences P Philology. Linguistics Linguistic landscape, the visibility of languages in public spaces has largely focused on the display of words in the street with respect to multilingualism. Maintaining social order through signboards has very limited research in the linguistic landscape. This study examined the maintenance of social order through public signboards in eight public areas in the linguistic landscape of Pakistan. As a mixed-method study, it first explored linguistic structures on 502 photographed signboards; secondly, linguistic structures beyond the sentence were examined by analysing the interview data obtained from eight local people and data obtained from 64 observation checklists. Thirdly, the discourse of language and power was discussed by scrutinising interview data obtained from the eight authorities. Mediated discourse analysis, as given by Scollon and Scollon in 2003, was used as the theoretical framework. Among the 12 textual genres identified, prohibitory, warning, command and restrictive signboards were found to be highly influential in maintaining social order in a strict way. Though such signboards are necessary to maintain social order but anything domineering hinders rather than helps to achieve the objective. The other two sources of data collection triangulated the study and reaffirmed the results of the primary research. The authorities of the signboards portrayed an ideal picture and put all the blame on the local people, saying they were the ones not following signboards, which elucidated their power as authorities. The local people believed that excess of negation on public signboards had the opposite effect. It makes them even more to disregard what is written on signboards. Conclusively, this study can help to bridge the communication gap between the authorities and sign makers in improving the language of public signboards as it recommends minimising the content of harsh words and replacing them with indirect wordings. It will help authorities to gain their target of maintaining social order more efficiently. 2023 Thesis https://etd.uum.edu.my/10550/ https://etd.uum.edu.my/10550/1/depositpermission-embargo%2024month_s901991.pdf text eng staffonly https://etd.uum.edu.my/10550/2/s901991_01.pdf text eng 2026-05-31 staffonly https://etd.uum.edu.my/10550/3/s901991_02.pdf text eng staffonly other doctoral Universiti Utara Malaysia
institution	Universiti Utara Malaysia
collection	UUM ETD
language	eng eng eng
advisor	Bidin, Siti Jamilah
topic	P Philology Linguistics
spellingShingle	P Philology Linguistics Tahir, Samia Maintenance of social order through public signage in the linguistic landscape of Pakistan
description	Linguistic landscape, the visibility of languages in public spaces has largely focused on the display of words in the street with respect to multilingualism. Maintaining social order through signboards has very limited research in the linguistic landscape. This study examined the maintenance of social order through public signboards in eight public areas in the linguistic landscape of Pakistan. As a mixed-method study, it first explored linguistic structures on 502 photographed signboards; secondly, linguistic structures beyond the sentence were examined by analysing the interview data obtained from eight local people and data obtained from 64 observation checklists. Thirdly, the discourse of language and power was discussed by scrutinising interview data obtained from the eight authorities. Mediated discourse analysis, as given by Scollon and Scollon in 2003, was used as the theoretical framework. Among the 12 textual genres identified, prohibitory, warning, command and restrictive signboards were found to be highly influential in maintaining social order in a strict way. Though such signboards are necessary to maintain social order but anything domineering hinders rather than helps to achieve the objective. The other two sources of data collection triangulated the study and reaffirmed the results of the primary research. The authorities of the signboards portrayed an ideal picture and put all the blame on the local people, saying they were the ones not following signboards, which elucidated their power as authorities. The local people believed that excess of negation on public signboards had the opposite effect. It makes them even more to disregard what is written on signboards. Conclusively, this study can help to bridge the communication gap between the authorities and sign makers in improving the language of public signboards as it recommends minimising the content of harsh words and replacing them with indirect wordings. It will help authorities to gain their target of maintaining social order more efficiently.
format	Thesis
qualification_name	other
qualification_level	Doctorate
author	Tahir, Samia
author_facet	Tahir, Samia
author_sort	Tahir, Samia
title	Maintenance of social order through public signage in the linguistic landscape of Pakistan
title_short	Maintenance of social order through public signage in the linguistic landscape of Pakistan
title_full	Maintenance of social order through public signage in the linguistic landscape of Pakistan
title_fullStr	Maintenance of social order through public signage in the linguistic landscape of Pakistan
title_full_unstemmed	Maintenance of social order through public signage in the linguistic landscape of Pakistan
title_sort	maintenance of social order through public signage in the linguistic landscape of pakistan
granting_institution	Universiti Utara Malaysia
granting_department	Awang Had Salleh Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
publishDate	2023
url	https://etd.uum.edu.my/10550/1/depositpermission-embargo%2024month_s901991.pdf https://etd.uum.edu.my/10550/2/s901991_01.pdf https://etd.uum.edu.my/10550/3/s901991_02.pdf
_version_	1776103840571981824

Maintenance of social order through public signage in the linguistic landscape of Pakistan

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