Analysis of Linguistic Landscape of Selected Towns in Oromia The Case of Policy and Practice Gap

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Alemayehu Fekede
Wondowsen Tesfaye

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to investigate language use practices in thelinguistic landscape (LL) of purposively selected towns in Oromia focusing on policydivergenceand convergence, de facto and/or de jure.The study employed atheoretical concept called structuration principle from sociology.The main datasources were signs collected from purposively selected towns, policy relateddocuments and interview with owners of signs and government bodies.Accordingly,visual data consisting of 1500 photographs of signs were collected from the mainstreets of Adama, Jimma and Sebeta towns, 500 from each town.The data collectedwere systematically recorded, organized andclassified for quantitative and qualitativeanalysis.The analysis demonstrated that some top-down and most of bottom-upsigns showed the gap in policy issues.As used by federal government, Afan Oromohas no place on signs, but, Amharic and English.In the same environment, signsrelated to Oromia government use languages, Amharic and Afan Oromo and lessfrequently, English.The absence of clear policy of language use on signs at bothfederal and regional levels has sometimes resulted into conflicts.This is due to thefact that sign owners oppose the LL regulators in the towns.In fact, the municipalityofficials are careful in their monitoring of language use practices.Both forcommunication and symbolic values of the languages on signs, both thefederal andregional governments need to have commitment and clear public policies to avoidlinguistic and diversity marginalizing practices

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How to Cite
Fekede, A., & Tesfaye, W. (2019). Analysis of Linguistic Landscape of Selected Towns in Oromia. The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences and Language Studies (EJSSLS), 6(2), 3-25. Retrieved from https://journals.ju.edu.et/index.php/ejssls/article/view/623
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Articles
Author Biographies

Alemayehu Fekede, Jimma University

Corresponding author:Department of Afan Oromo& Literature, Jimma University, Ethiopia.Email:guurii2006@yahoo.com

Wondowsen Tesfaye, Jimma University

Corresponding author:Department of Afan Oromo& Literature, Jimma University, Ethiopia.Email:guurii2006@yahoo.com