The language of the public spaces in Tanzanian universities during the covid-19 Pandemic
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Date
2021
Authors
Lusekelo, Amani
Alphonce, Chrispina
Nyinondi, Onesmo Simon
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sciendo
Abstract
The state of bilingualism in the education system in Tanzania is reported to involve
the utility of Kiswahili even in environments in which English is expected (Puja 2003;
Lema 2021). The presence of English is narrowed down to involve formal settings,
mainly classroom teaching (Lema 2021). But even during classroom teaching, code-
switching is the norm of the day (Shartiely 2016). To understand the way information
is communicated to the public by the universities' administrations, we investigate the
language used in the signposts and notice boards placed for public consumption
during the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country.
The linguistic landscape of the education institutions in Tanzania represents a
bilingual situation. The primary usage of Kiswahili in regular conversations
outnumbers the use of English, even though English is the medium of instruction
(Legére, Rosendal 2019; Lusekelo, Mdukula 2021; Mdukula 2018). This is a
common phenomenon reported in the studies of linguistic landscape in urban
centres in the country (Lusekelo, Alphonce 2018; Peterson 2014). However, the
prevalence of COVID-19 altered the socialisation in universities worldwide, and
consequently, the communication structure changed (Basch et al. 2021; Mohlman,
Basch 2021; Uwiyezimana 2021). Therefore, the current investigation assumes that
the language of public space in universities in Tanzania, which was reported in
Mdukula (2018) and Legére, Rosendal (2019), has changed due to COVID-19
protocols. This article makes a representation of the linguistic landscape in
universities during the COVID-19 crisis in the country.
his investigation focused on four public universities located in three places in the
country, namely, the University of Dar es Salaam and the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in the ancient commercial city of the country 1 , the
University of Dodoma in the centre of the country, and the Sokoine University of
Agriculture in Morogoro region. Images about COVID-19, which are shared by the
university authorities with the public, had been photographed by the authors. Based
on the analytical procedures in linguistic landscape (Backhaus 2007; Huebner 2006),
we focused on three aspects, namely, (i) the language choice in the COVID-19
banners, signposts, and public notices; (ii) the lining and font choices for the
deliverance of the intended messages, and (iii) extra-linguistic information
embedded in the signposts of COVID-19.
Description
Journal Article
Keywords
Choice of words, COVID-19, English, Kiswahili, linguistic landscape, Tanzanian universities