ENGLISH REPRESENTATION IN BUSINESS-SCAPE IN PADANG CITY: A LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE EXPLORATION

This study was purposely done to investigate the representation of English on the business signboards in Padang along with business owners’ reasons and customers’ attitudes towards the use of English on the business signboards. The study was seen through a linguistic landscape perspective by applying Fairclough’s three-dimensional model and Kress and Leeuwen’s composition theory. A qualitative approach was employed in conducting this study as the researcher wanted to have an in-depth analysis of the data. Moreover, this research was a field study in which the researcher obtained the data by walking along and taking pictures of the business signboards that had English on them in Padang. Mahsun’s MPE was utilised as the data are both linguistics and non-linguistics signs. The three�dimensional model including textual analysis, Discourse practice, and socio�cultural practice were the stages for the researchers to analyze the news. The findings of this current study showed that there were 687 signboards that used English in Padang. Moreover, 40 business owners and 45 customers are involved in this study. The study revealed that the business signboards in Padang represented English as an ancillary language as it mostly put on the bottom (26%) and right (23%) positions. The main purposes of using English on the business signboards in Padang were to attract customers and to make the business signboards looked sophisticated. Despite the fact that English was believed as significant on the business signboards by the customers, it did not affect their decisions to buy things or to use the services