Urban Studies: Border and Mobility – Kerr et al. (Eds) © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-58034-3 Linguistic landscapes: A study of human mobility and identity change Ketut Artawa Udayana University, Denpasar, Indonesia Ni Wayan Sartini Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia ABSTRACT: The focus of this paper is on the Linguistic Landscapes (LLs) of Kuta Village as one of the tourist destinations in Bali. The data for this study are in the forms of photos of outdoor signs taken from the research location, and the data obtained by interviewing a community leader and other informants were analyzed based on the LL theory and then interpreted based on the concept of ‘market ideology’. The results of the analysis showed that the languages used in these outdoor signs revealed a diglossic situation. In this context, the Balinese language as a symbol of local ethnic identity is marginalized. The results also showed that Balinese people in the research location tend to choose Indonesian and foreign languages to communicate in everyday life. This can be seen as a sign showing how strong is their desire to have the image, prestige, and power owned by those people who can speak those languages. This phenomenon can have two impacts: positive and negative. One of the positive impacts is that the young Balinese have a strong desire to master foreign languages. In this way, the young Balinese will have a better linguistic capital. With this linguistic capital, it is easier for them to find a job and get material benefit (money) that can be used to build image and power in many arenas of life. One of the negative impacts is that their knowledge of the local wisdom expressed in the local language is decreasing. Keywords: linguistic landscape, linguistic capital, public signs 1 INTRODUCTION The fast advancement in communication and technology has turned our present world into a global village. Nowadays, communication has become much easier than it was before. In this context, language plays a vital role in such communication. In any global society the use of foreign words is inevitable. One of the most influential international languages is English. English has a kind of influence on most aspects of everybody’s daily life. English language is translated, borrowed, or used as it is in business. Thus, language is a key instru- ment for human social interaction. It is a means of direct communication between partici- pants of communication either as a written or spoken language. It seems that many of us are not aware of the situation where language has also become a means of communication between human beings and their environment. We communicate with a variety of signs that we encounter in our environment. Signs that we have created serve as an integral part of our lives. The signs may include street names, place names, traffic signs, billboards, or other signs. If we look carefully at our environment, it is clear that our environment is able to speak to us all through the languages that are used in each of these signs. People involved in business use their shop signs, as they constitute a vital area in their business, to display the names of goods and services they deal with. The research location is Kuta district, which is located 165 in Badung Regency Bali Province. Kuta district is divided into three sub-districts, namely NorthKuta sub-district, Kuta sub-district, and SouthKuta sub-district. North Kuta has six villages, which are Kerobokan Kelod, Kerobokan, Kerobokan Kaja, Canggu, Dalung, and Tibubeneng. Kuta sub-district has five villages, namely Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Tuban, and Kedonganan; and SouthKuta sub-district has six villages, Benoa, Jimbaran, Kutuh, Pecatu, Tanjung Benoa, and Ungasan. The research location is in Kuta Village, known as Desa Adat Kuta, which is located in Kuta sub-district, and the focus is to elicit and identify the presence of commercial outdoor signs. Kuta has been chosen to be the research location because Kuta Village is the most famous tourist destination. There are two types of data used in this study: the data obtained through an interview with a traditional community leader and other informants and other data in the form of photos of outdoor signs taken from the research location. The data in the form of photos of outdoor signs include street names, traffic signs, place names, and billboards. The location of these signs is all the main streets of Kuta, namely Jalan Raya Kuta, Jalan Kartika Plaza, Jalan Pantai Kuta, Jalan Bakung Sari, and Jalan Legian. The data were collected through direct photo documentation from the streets of Kuta Village. After all outdoor signs were documented, the next process was the classification process. The collected data were divided into two groups: commercial signs and non-commercial signs. Outdoor signs have two main types; they are non-commercial signs and commercial signs. The non-commercial sign is used by charitable organizations and government, which mainly aim to provide information or motivate people to react as a response to the information served without any profit orienta- tion. On the other hand, the commercial sign is used by producers to promote their product to gain profit. The analysis of the data obtained begins with the description of both types of data, and it is followed by an interpretation based on the concepts of linguistic landscapes (LLs) and the ideology of globalization associated with the language as part of culture. In relation to the problems discussed in this research, the following are brief descriptions of the data obtained through interview and the photos data, which showed the process and ideology behind the marginalization of the Balinese language and the implication of this marginalization. In general, this paper is about the outdoor signs of Kuta as one of the tourist destinations in Bali. However, the focus is on answering these questions: what languages are used in these signs and in which settings or contexts are those languages used, and what can be interpreted from the use of languages in these outdoor signs? 2 DISCUSSION As a tourist destination, Kuta Village is visited by tourists, either domestic or foreign. The tourists sometimes stay longer in the village. In this situation, many people from that village involved in tourism activities make contact with them over a longer period. This is done, for instance, by those who own accommodations or restaurants, and their employees. The domestic tourists do not speak Balinese; the language used is Indonesian, and for foreign tourists, a relevant foreign language is used like English, French, or Japanese. With regard to the language choice, an informant, who is a security guard in Kuta Market, stated that he used a language relevant to the person he was speaking to. Similar information was also gained from other security informants. In addition, we were informed that beggars used English when they were begging in order to get money from the tourists in Kuta Art Mar- ket. This phenomenon showed that the use of relevant language is a way of getting some benefit. This reflects ‘capitalism ideology’. Capitalism ideology served as the background of the marginalization of Balinese people. Communication that occurred among Balinese also showed a language preference. This information was obtained from the interview with another informant. He stated that when Balinese people are talking about business, they use mixed language (Balinese, Indonesian, and English). An observation of Balinese soci- ety in general is that the phenomenon of using mixed language is not limited to talking 166 about business matters, but that mixed language is also used by the Balinese for different purposes. It is not only used in informal encounters, but it is sometimes used in a formal situation. For instance, we can also see that a televised program given by ‘priests’, which mainly talks about Balinese ceremony, uses mixed language. In the tourism area, the use of mixed language in a family domain is quite obvious. An interview with the head of the tra- ditional Village of Kuta revealed this situation. He said that the Balinese language in Kuta is not lost, but it is not thriving because the Balinese language used is basa Bali pasaran. He himself admitted to having been using basa Bali pasaran. It is also said that many Balinese people find it difficult to speak ‘high Balinese’. Problems like these are found not only in everyday conversation but also in the dialogues during the meeting in the traditional vil- lage, desa Pakraman, especially in the villages that belong to the area of tourism. Thus, this indicates that the marginalization of Balinese is currently and continuously happening. In addition to this, in Denpasar, there are places where ‘young parents’ can send their children to attend ‘play groups’. Favorite places are those that offer English as a means of com- munication. This also contributes to the marginalization of Balinese. The marginalization of Balinese is also due to the strong influence of the use of the Indonesian language. The collection of photos of all outdoor signs on the main streets of Kuta showed that there are 1132 outdoor signs there; 796 (70.32%) signs are commercial signs and 336 (29.68%) signs are non-commercial signs. The languages used in these outdoor signs are English and Indonesian. The dominant languages used are a combination of English and Indonesian. Only two outdoor signs are in the Balinese language. From the perspective of LLs, the languages used in outdoor signs can be interpreted as having two functions: the informational and the symbolic. The most basic informational function is that it serves as a distinctive marker of the geographical territory inhabited by a given language community.