Cover not available

In:Applied Linguistics in the Middle East and North Africa: Current practices and future directions
Edited by Atta Gebril
[AILA Applied Linguistics Series 15] 2017
► pp. 115–160

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Chapter 6
The linguistic landscape of Cairo from the Rosetta Stone to the Ring Road billboards: Signs of their times

 | The American University in Cairo
Published online: 18 July 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.15.06plu
Abstract
Linguistic Landscape (LL) studies, i.e. the study of multi-lingual signage in public places, move our understanding of multilingualism and linguistic diversity beyond spoken forms of languages in contact into a realm blending social interaction with semiotics. The paper analyzes tokens from four categories of Cairo’s contemporary linguistic landscape: (1) vestiges of bygone eras, (2) signage in multi-ethnic neighborhoods, (3) emerging appearance of chat script in public signage, and (4) symbolic uses of English on billboards. The paper thus portrays Cairo less as an urban center displaying signs of a new-found super-diversity than as a city already rich in multilingual signage, but a city in which new patterns displayed in the LL reflect ongoing changes in the contemporary social context.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Egypt as site of a multilingual written landscape since antiquity
  • Introduction to linguistic landscape studies
  • Scope of the study
  • Features of Cairo’s linguistic landscape
    • Cairo’s multi-ethnic, multilingual legacy observable in the linguistic landscape
    • Contemporary multi-ethnic, multilingual neighborhoods: Maadi and Nasr City’s 10th District
    • Maadi
    • Nasr City, 10th District (Hay al Asher)
    • Emergence of romanized Arabic chat script (franco-arabe/arabizi) into public usage domains
    • Tokens of English used for aspirational and symbolic purposes on advertising billboards on major roadways (Ring Road and 90th Street in New Cairo)
  • Conclusion
    • Future lines of investigation
  • References
References (58)
References
Abu-Lughod, J. (1971). Cairo: 1001 years of the city victorious. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Al-Ismailia for Real Estate Investment. (2010). Revitalization strategies for Khedivial Cairo. Atlas. Cairo: Institute for International Urban Development, in association with Dr. Mona Zakaria. Retrieved from <[URL]>Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Al-Khatib, M. A. & Sabbah, E. H. (2008). Language choice in mobile text messages among Jordanian university students. SKY Journal of Linguistics 21, 37–65.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Backhaus, P. (2006). Multilingualism in Tokyo: A look into the linguistic landscape. In D. Gorter (Ed.), Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism, (pp. 52–66). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Badawi, A-S. M. (1973). mustawayat al-lugha al-‘arabīya al-mu`āṣira fi misr [Levels of contemporary Egyptian Arabic]. Cairo: Daar al-ma`aarif.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bassiouney, R. (2009). Arabic sociolinguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2014). Language and identity in modern Egypt. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ben-Rafael, E., Shohamy, E., Amara, M. H., & Trumper-Hecht, N. (2006). Linguistic landscape as symbolic construction of the public space: The case of Israel. In D. Gorter (Ed.), Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism, (pp. 7–30). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. Also appeared in the same year in International Journal of Multilingualism , 3(1), 7–28. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blommaert, J. (2013). Ethnography, superdiversity and linguistic landscapes: Chronicles of complexity. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2014). Infrastructures of superdiversity, conviviality and language in an Antwerp neighborhood. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 17(4), 431–451. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blommaert, J. & Huang, A. (2010). Semiotic and spatial scope: Towards a materialist semiotics. Working Papers in Urban Language & Literacies, Paper 62. Universiteit Gent, State University of New York at Albany, Tilburg University and King’s College London.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blommaert, J. & Rampton, B. (2011). Language and superdiversity. Diversities: 13 (2), 1–20. Retrieved from <[URL]>
Bruyèl-Olmedo, A. & Juan-Garau, M. (2009). English as a lingua franca in the linguistic landscape of the multilingual resort of S’Arenal in Mallorca. International Journal of Multilingualism, 6(4), 386–411. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cairo Lab for Urban Studies, Training, and Environmental Research. [CLUSTER]. (2015). Cairo downtown passageways: Walking tour. Cairo: CLUSTER.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Calvani, D. (2003). Initial overview of the linguistic diversity of refugee communities in Cairo. Working Paper no. 4. Forced Migration and Refugee Studies. Cairo: The American University in Cairo. Retrieved from <[URL]>
Capresi, V. & Pampe, B. (Eds.). (2015). Discovering downtown Cairo. wast albalad. Berlin: Jovis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cenoz, J. & Gorter, D. (2006). Linguistic landscape and minority languages. In D. Gorter, (Ed.) Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism, (pp. 67–80). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cenoz, J. & Gorter, D. (2008). The linguistic landscape as an additional source of input in second language acquisition. IRAL: International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 46(3), 267–287. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Collins, J. & Slembrouck, S. (2007). Reading shop windows in globalized neighborhoods; Multilingual literacy practices and indexicality. Journal of Literacy Research, 39(3), 335–356.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coulmas, F. (2009). Linguistic landscaping: Seed of the public square. In E. Shohamy & D. Gorter (Eds.), Linguistic landscape: Expanding the scenery, (pp. 13–24). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2013). Writing in society: An introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coupland, N. & Garrett, P. (2010). Linguistic landscapes, discursive frames and metacultural performance: The case of Welsh Patagonia. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 205, 7–36. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Doss, M. & Miller, C. (1996). Les langues en Egypte: Introduction. Egypte/Monde arabe. Premiѐre série, 27–28, Les langues en Egypte: 7–24. Retrieved from <[URL]>
Ferguson, C. (1959). Diglossia. Word, 15, 325–340. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Garvin, R. T. (2010). Responses to the linguistic landscape in Memphis, Tennessee: An urban space in transition. In E. Shohamy, E. Ben-Rafael, & M. Barni (Eds.), Linguistic landscape in the city, (pp. 252–272). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gorter, D. (2006a). Introduction: The study of the linguistic landscape as a new approach to multilingualism. In D. Gorter (Ed.), Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism, (pp. 1–6). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2006b). Further possibilities for linguistic landscape research. In D. Gorter (Ed.), Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism, (pp. 81–89). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Graddol, D. (2006). English next: Why global English may mean the end of ‘English as a foreign language’. London: British Council. <[URL]>
Haeri, N. (1997). The reproduction of symbolic capital: Language, state, and class in Egypt. Current Anthropology, 38(5), 795–816. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Holes, C. (2004). Modern Arabic: Structures, functions and varieties. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huebner, T. (2006). Bangkok’s linguistic landscapes: Environmental print, codemixing and language change. In D. Gorter (Ed.). Linguistic landscape: A new approach to multilingualism, (pp. 31–51). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. Also appeared in the same year in International Journal of Multilingualism , 3(1), 31–51. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2009). A framework for the linguistic analysis of linguistic landscapes. In E. Shohamy & D. Gorter (Eds.), Linguistic landscape: Expanding the scenery, (pp. 70–87). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Landry, R. & Bourhis, R. Y. (1997). Linguistic landscape and ethnolinguistic vitality: An empirical study. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 16, 23–49. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leeman, J. & Modan, G. (2009). Commodified language in Chinatown: A contextualized approach to linguistic landscape. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 13(3), 332–362. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maly, I. (2016). Detecting social changes in times of superdiversity: An ethnographic linguistic landscape analysis of Ostend in Belgium. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1–21. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marsh, D. (2006). English as a medium of instruction in the new global linguistic order: Global characteristics, local consequences. Proceedings, 2nd Annual Conference of Middle East Teachers of Science, Mathematics and Computing (METSMaC), 29–38. <[URL]> (Accessed March 20, 2012).
Mehrez, S. (2009). From the hara to the `imara: Emerging urban metaphors in the literary production on contemporary Cairo. In D. Singerman (Ed.), Cairo contested: Governance, urban space, and global modernity, (pp. 145–173). Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). Introduction: Cairo, mother of cities. In S. Mehrez, (Ed.), The literary atlas of Cairo: One hundred years on the streets of the city, (pp. 1–15). Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(Ed.). (2010). The literary atlas of Cairo: One hundred years on the streets of the city. Cairo/New York, NY: The American University in Cairo Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mejdell, G. (2012). The elusiveness of Luġa Wusṭā-or, Attempting to catch its “true nature”. In R. Bassiouney & E. G. Katz (Eds.) Arabic language and linguistics, (pp. 157–167). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Palfreyman, D. & Al Khalil, M. (2007). “A funky language for teenzz to use”: Representing Gulf Arabic in instant messages. In B. Danet & S. Herring, (Eds.), The multilingual internet: Language, culture, and communication online, (pp. 43–63). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Orig. appeared in 2003 in Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 9(1). <[URL]>
Papaconstantinou, A. (Ed.). (2010). The multilingual experience in Egypt, from the Ptolemies to the `Abbāsids. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Parkinson, D. (1992). Good Arabic: Ability and ideology in the Egyptian Arabic speech community. Language Research, 2(8), 225–253.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pennycook, A. (2010). Landscape as a local practice. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Raymond, A. (2001). Cairo: City of history. (Willard Wood, Trans.) Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rodenbeck, M. (1999). [1998]. Cairo: The city victorious. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rowland, L. (2016). English in the Japanese linguistic landscape: A motive analysis. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 37(1), 40–55. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schaub, M. (2000). English in the Arab Republic of Egypt. World Englishes, 19(2), 225–238. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scollon, R. & Wong Scollon, S. (2003). Discourse in place: Language in the material world. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shohamy, E. & Ben-Rafael, E. (2015). Introduction: Linguistic Landscape: A new journal. Linguistic Landscape, 1(1), 1–5. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shohamy, E., & Gorter, D. (Eds.). (2009). Linguistic landscape: Expanding the scenery. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shohamy, E., Ben-Rafael, E. & Barni, M. (2010). Introduction. In E. Shohamy, E. Ben-Rafael, & M. Barni, (Eds.), Linguistic Landscape in the city, (pp. 1–10). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sims, D. (2012). Understanding Cairo: The logic of a city out of control. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stroud, C. & Mpendukana, S. (2009). Toward a material ethnography of linguistic landscape: Multilingualism, mobility and space in a South African township. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 13(3), 363–386. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vertovec, S. (2007). Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30(6), 1024–1054. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Warschauer, M., El Said, G. R., & Zohry, A. (2007). Language choice online: Globalization and identity in Egypt. In B. Danet & S. Herring, (Eds.), The multilingual internet: Language, culture, and communication online, (pp. 303–318). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zeitlian, S. (2006). Armenians in Egypt: Contribution of Armenians to medieval and modern Egypt. Los Angeles, CA: Hraztan Sarkis Zeitlian.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Almahdi, Mohamed
2025. The linguistic landscape of post-Gaddafi Libya through storefront signage: a case study of foreign language use. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Lewko, Alexander M.
2025. Egypt, English in. In The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of World Englishes, ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Raish, Michael
2019. YaskoT 7OKM EL3aSKaR. Linguistic Landscape. An international journal 5:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 march 2026. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue