Linguistic Landscape in Kota Lama Surabaya

Abstract

This research aims to identify the linguistic landscape in the European Zone of Kota Lama Surabaya by using quantitative methods to determine the number, frequency, and percentage of the linguistic landscape displayed in the area. The researchers found variations in public signs ranging from local, national, and international languages. The result consisted of Javanese (2%), Madurese (0,5%), Indonesian (64%), English (17%), Dutch (16%) and Japanese (0,5%). Indonesian public signs are found in two types: old spellings (1%) and new spellings (99%). Furthermore, the public sign is shown as monolingual (64%) with the specification that Indonesian is the most frequently used, and bilingual (33%) with Indonesian-English being the most widely featured, as well as multilingual (3%) where Javanese-Indonesian-Dutch is in the first place. The findings above show that Indonesian is still the dominant language in tourism due to its urgency as the national language. Kota Lama also features the use of Dutch, apparently as a form of historical heritage as well as language preservation. Despite these views, further research is suggested to analyze the function of top-down and bottom-up or uncover the reason for the in-depth use of English or Dutch.