The question of language use in multilingual contexts is never neutral. Languages exist in a complex, hierarchical system influenced by political, economic, attitudinal, religious, and other factors. This study explores language choices and practices in the linguistic landscape of Ambo town, Ethiopia, employing the Multilingual Inequality in Public Spaces (MIPS) framework (Gorter, 2021; Gorter & Cenoz, 2020; 2024). Utilizing the "one main street" approach (Rosenbaum et al., 1977), a corpus of 231 signs, consisting of 28 governmental (top-down) and 203 non-governmental (bottom-up) signs, was analyzed to understand the dynamics of language use in public signage. Interviews with five sign makers provided insights into the motivations behind language choices. The findings reveal a bottom-up dominance in the linguistic landscape, with non-governmental signs reflecting local language preferences.

Eredeti fellelhetőség: mtmt.hu