Studies in Linguistics and Language Education
Volume 2, Numéro 1, Pages 60-69
2026-06-30

Digital Mapping Of Nairobi’s Linguistic Landscape: Interrogating How Commercial Signage Reflects Language Status And Communicative Appeal In Kenya’s Urban Multilingual Context



Authors : Mudogo Benard . Wangari Stella .

Abstract

The linguistic landscape of a city consists of an urban visual space that reflects the languages, multiplicities in cultures and linguistic representation of identities of societies, making them an interesting area for research. In this paper, we interrogate the display of multiple languages on commercial building names in Nairobi. Based on Spolsky’s (2008) Sociolinguistic Theory of Public Signage, we examine the status and communication appeal of languages used based on their commercial function in the cityscape. From a mixed method perspective, purposive sampling is used to select a total of 200 signs, to assess their implications in the cityscape. The findings reveal a high incidence of English in the cityscape, though Kiswahili is the preferred code on bilingual and multilingual signs and tends to be used to represent the primary commercial. The results provide further insights into the impact of globalization, the place of indigenous languages and the spread of English language in the urban cityscape.

Keywords

Commercial function ; communication appeal ; multilingualism ; cityscape ; virtual mapping

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