Linguistic diversity and inclusion in Abu Dhabi’s linguistic landscape during the COVID-19 period

In Abu Dhabi, multilingualism amongst its highly diverse population is typical. However, with Arabic as the official language and English as the lingua franca, the population’s other languages are subordinate on public signage. Those proficient in English or Arabic have more access to information th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Multilingua 2022-03, Vol.41 (2), p.201-232
Main Authors: Hopkyns, Sarah, van den Hoven, Melanie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access to Information
Arabic language
Audiences
Bilingualism
Computational Linguistics
Corpus analysis
COVID-19
COVID-19 signage
crisis communication
diversity and inclusion
English (Second Language)
English language
Ethnography
Foreign Countries
Health
Inequality
Korean
Korean language
Language diversity
Language Planning
Language Role
Language Usage
Lingua francas
Linguistic landscape
linguistic landscaping
Linguistics
Monolingualism
Multilingualism
Municipalities
Official languages
Pandemics
Public signs
Semitic Languages
Signs
Sociolinguistics
Spacing
United Arab Emirates
Warnings
Work Environment
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Summary:In Abu Dhabi, multilingualism amongst its highly diverse population is typical. However, with Arabic as the official language and English as the lingua franca, the population’s other languages are subordinate on public signage. Those proficient in English or Arabic have more access to information than those who are not. While effective communication is important in ordinary times, it is especially vital during a crisis. This study looks at COVID-19 signage in two Abu Dhabi live-work contexts: A beachside community and an industrial site. The study takes an ethnographic approach to linguistic landscaping in which a corpus of 326 top-down and bottom-up signs are investigated in terms of languages used, spacing, prominence and location, as well as intended audience and sociolinguistic implications. Key findings revealed that bottom-up handmade COVID-19 signage was mainly monolingual (English only) and municipality-produced warnings were predominately bilingual (Arabic and English). Despite the multilingual composition of both contexts, only one third language (Korean) appeared on COVID-19 signage. The findings shed light on existing inequalities in linguistically diverse contexts, and the need to ensure access to information for all at a street level. The article concludes with practical suggestions for greater linguistic inclusion in the COVID-19 period and beyond.
ISSN:0167-8507
1613-3684
DOI:10.1515/multi-2020-0187