Balinese transliteration in public space: Error analysis in linguistics landscapes

Abstract

Public space is one of the most accessible areas to the public eye. Placing any sign in a public space within a given territory creates a linguistic landscape environment. One of the essential functions of a linguistic landscape is representing a certain given territory’s symbolic meaning. This symbolic meaning may represent local ideology or identity and local/national authority’s power. This phenomenon occurs in Kuta village, Badung Regency, Bali Province, Indonesia. Due to a lack of local identity, all public sign in Bali is oblique to put Balinese scripts transliteration above all Latin scripts as mandated by Bali’s Governor Regulation no. 80/2018. This authority’s power of language use over public space is one of Bali’s government’s efforts to gain its local identity in public space through public signs. This study aims to further analyse the transliteration of Latin script to Balinese script in public signs in Kuta village, as previous research indicates some mistakes and irregularity. This analysis is needed to identify, refine and regulate the transliteration procedure since Balinese script is a syllabic system different from Latin script. The finding showed that some issues must be maintained and regulated to have a good transliteration of Balinese script in public space as a landmark of Balinese identity in Bali’s public spaces.