Religious Identity Representation of Arab Diaspora in the Linguistic Landscape of Shop Signs in Sydney, Australia

Abstract

One of the fascinating issues concerning the Arab diaspora is the way they represent their identity in the new environment in which they live, interacting with the indigenous and other communities. This identity representation can be expressed through language and religion. This study aimed at describing the language use and religious identity representation of Arab diaspora depicted from shop signs in Sydney. The data consisted of pictures that were collected from commercial shops along the Haldon Street of Sydney, Australia. The findings demonstrated that language choices are varied in the linguistic landscape of shop signs. English is the predominant language used, while Arabic is used in the domain related to religion. This study also found the use of Islamic expressions in commercial signage is not only informative but also a symbolic function. The use of Islamic expressions is intended to assert their Islamic identity representation through the linguistic landscape of shop signs.