The Strategic Use of Language in Commercial Signage: A Linguistic Landscape Study on Jalan Margonda, Depok

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-938-4_48How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Commercial Signage; Depok; Language Branding; Linguistic Landscape; Market Segmentation

Abstract

In increasingly globalized and multicultural urban societies, language plays a strategic role not only as a means of communication but also as a tool for marketing, a symbol of status, identity, and market value. This study explores how business owners along Jalan Margonda in Depok utilize language in commercial signage to target different consumer segments. Employing a linguistic landscape approach, data were collected through photographic documentation of 639 storefronts across 52 business categories, semi-structured interviews with 40 business owners, and field observations. The findings reveal a pattern of language-based market segmentation: Indonesian is used as the national unifying language to foster emotional proximity and local credibility; English is employed to appeal to younger consumers, international students, and those aligned with a digital-global lifestyle, while bilingual signage is adopted by premium service providers to reach a broader market. English carries high symbolic value, signaling modernity and professionalism, yet also poses the risk of linguistic exclusion for segments of the population less familiar with foreign languages. This study highlights that urban language use is an ideological arena representing social hierarchies, cultural aspirations, and commercial strategies. This study recommends the importance of more inclusive and context-aware language planning that reflects the diverse identities of urban communities in Indonesia.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Supriatnoko Supriatnoko
AU  - Nur Hasyim
AU  - Taufik Nur Hidayat
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/31
TI  - The Strategic Use of Language in Commercial Signage: A Linguistic Landscape Study on Jalan Margonda, Depok
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Applied Science and Technology on Social Science 2025 (iCAST-SS 2025
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 416
EP  - 424
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-938-4_48
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-938-4_48
ID  - Supriatnoko2025
ER  -