Glocalisation of English in Kupang Linguistic Landscape, Timor, Indonesia

Abstract

This paper aims to describe the glocalisation phenomena of English expressions found on minivans as a means of public transport in Kupang city of Indonesia. This is a linguistic landscape study. The use of English on public minivans is an easily observable thing for people of Kupang because, basically, the public vehicles in Kupang are attractively designed with a lot of symbolic and linguistic objects. The data in this study were collected through picture-taking techniques and interviews. The data were analysed using an interdisciplinary approach under linguistics studies. Results show that English use on public minivans is predominantly characterized by language errors (38%) and variations (62%). The high percentage of language errors and variations on the minivans probably indicates both low English proficiency among those involved in the transportation business and Kupang people as a creative but careless society. Moreover, the appearance of the English expressions serves a number of functions such as English attractiveness, Pragmatics, Social criticism, fashionability, customers’ ease with vehicles’ identification, and religiosity. Although English in this domain shows a typical style developed by Kupang people, for a number of reasons, it cannot be assumed as a new English variety that is coming into existence.