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Multilingualism in the linguistic landscape of Istanbul
Author(s) -
İnal Dilek,
Bayyurt Yasemin,
Özturhan Münir,
Bektaş Sezen
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/weng.12514
Subject(s) - multilingualism , linguistics , linguistic landscape , translanguaging , turkish , world englishes , context (archaeology) , sociology , variety (cybernetics) , code mixing , sociolinguistics , scripting language , code switching , history , computer science , philosophy , archaeology , artificial intelligence , operating system
Situated in the Expanding Circle, Turkey has become a setting which offers vibrant linguistic landscapes fascinating to linguists. Underlying this vibrancy is the prevalent use of English for a wide variety of instrumental purposes and multilingualism that is becoming increasingly tangible. This paper explores how diversity brought about by globalization and migration has generated an interesting mix of languages, scripts and modalities led by English in the Turkish context. The data collected from the streets of various districts in Istanbul indicate an interplay of Turkish, English and Arabic, and a sociolinguistic analysis reveals practices of code‐switching and translanguaging. The pedagogical implications highlight the importance of promoting a WE/ELF‐aware English language teaching through a framework that considers both the plurilingual view of English and the entailing sociolinguistic processes.