Title : A Linguistic Landscape Study of Advertising Signage on Skytrain

Author(s) : Kritnucha Sutthinaraphan

Pages : 53-71

Abstract in English : The aim of this study is to examine to
what extent and in what ways Thai and
other languages, especially English, are
used in the rapid transit system in
Thailand and to describe the bilingual
strategies used. The data were collected
through photographs of advertising
signage in the BTS2 Skytrain system and
open-ended interviews. Three stations,
Mochit, Payathai and Siam, were selected
to be analyzed. The results revealed that
the majority of the signs (65%) are in
bilingual Thai and English by script. On
the whole, the Thai language is used for
informational purpose, while English is
used for symbolic function to express
senses of luxury, technological advancement
and internationalism. It is found that there
are many types of code-mixing, the
combination of English and Thai script,
lexicon, syntax and phonology. To
supplement the quantitative data, key
players (i.e., advertising employees)
were interviewed, who stated that the
reasons for inclusion of English
language in advertising are stylishness
and flamboyance.