Abstract
Policy statements in Tanzania forbid the use of ethnic community languages but permits Swahili and English in the public space. In this paper, we question the total absence of ethnic community languages in signposts in which previous studies of linguistic landscape attested the presence of unpermitted languages of Arabic, Chinese and Hindi. Under the auspices of the social identity theory, we envisaged the investigation and analysis of personal and place names on privately-owned commercial signposts. It has come out clearly that owners of the businesses represented would no doubt hope that the names they include in their signage would appeal to potential customers because of a shared home area or ethnic affiliation. This is in line with the principle of self-identification in the social identity theory that helps substantiate that Tanzanians recognize and cherish names from their ethnic groups. Irrespective of the choice of names affiliated to ethnic groups and homes of origin, the abundance of both English and Swahili names cannot be ignored. Both Swahili and English hold a prestigious position in Tanzania.
Recommended Citation
Buberwa, Adventina
(2025)
"Swahili and English Sell, But What About Iraqw and Sukuma? Tanzanian Native Languages and Ethnic Affiliations In Bottom-Up Commercial Signage,"
Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences: Vol. 10:
No.
1, Article 5.
Available at:
https://commons.udsm.ac.tz/jhss/vol10/iss1/5