The Linguistic Landscape of Public Tourism Spaces in Baubau City: Function and Identity Representation

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-394-8_45How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Linguistic landscape; Tourism; Identity representation; Sociolinguistic

Abstract

This research examines the linguistic landscape in public tourism areas of Baubau City, Indonesia, focusing on language functions and identity representation. The study analyzes the visible use of language on tourist destination signage, commercial signs, road signs, information boards, and other public texts to understand how language reflects and influences sociocultural dynamics and local identity. This research employs a qualitative descriptive method, including field observations, photographic documentation, and content analysis to uncover patterns of language use, functions, and their implications for tourism and local identity. The study reveals diverse language usage including Indonesian, English, Wolio, Ciacia, Japanese, and Mandarin. Findings show three patterns of language use: monolingual (76%), bilingual (23%), and multilingual (1%), with Indonesian dominating monolingual signs (62%). The linguistic landscape functions as an identity marker, cultural symbol, and means of cultural commodification in the context of tourism. The use of local languages including Wolio and Ciacia affirms efforts to preserve cultural identity, while foreign languages reflect an orientation towards international tourism. This study reveals the complexity in balancing cultural heritage preservation with global tourism demands and enhances understanding of the role of linguistic landscapes in representing identity, culture, and socio-economic dynamics in multilingual tourist areas. The results of this research contribute to the understanding of interactions between language, identity, and tourism in the context of multicultural urban societies.

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  - Sukur Oda
AU  - Akin Duli
AU  - Lukman
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/05/19
TI  - The Linguistic Landscape of Public Tourism Spaces in Baubau City: Function and Identity Representation
BT  - Proceedings of The 5th International Conference on Linguistics and Cultural Studies 5 (ICLC-5 2024)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 396
EP  - 409
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-394-8_45
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-394-8_45
ID  - Oda2025
ER  -