A ‘disjunct’ in the linguistic landscape: Messages about food and nutrition in Indonesian school environments

Abstract

In Indonesia’s schoolscapes, messages regarding food and nutrition abound. The researchers conducted descriptive, evaluative research on the nature and scope of the linguistic landscape around 20 primary school grounds in Jakarta and Depok education districts. The purpose of this study was to gather (digitally) and analyze food/nutrition signs/texts in order to determine which languages are represented in which places, and the kinds of messages for each language. As well, the study explored other non-food images relating to health found in these schoolscapes. Data were analysed using open and axial coding. The study found that the majority of the texts and images are found to be in Indonesian and only a small percentage are in Sundanese, Arabic, Japanese and English. Texts relating to food and nutrition were found inside and outside the school environments. Each language was responsible for a particular type of message. Official (top-down) messages inside the schoolscapes advocate for healthy food and nutrition. Texts found outside the schoolscapes convey a variety of messages, healthy and otherwise: from food labels, and flavor, to cigarette advertising. There is a ‘disjunct’ between the overtly health-oriented linguistic landscape inside the school perimeter and the less healthy linguistic landscape outside the schoolscapes, an issue which may be of concern to schools and their communities.

The Position of English in the Linguistic Schoolscapes in an Indonesian Islamic Boarding School

“…These patterns were arranged from greatest to least frequent. LL study about Messages in food and nutrition in Indonesian school environments by Harbon & Halimi (2019) aimed at gathering (digitally) and analyzing food/nutrition signs/texts. The study found that Indonesian is the majority language in the texts and images, while Sundanese, Arabic, Japanese and English (monolingual) are in small percentages.…”

“…Bates (2021) looked into the varying uses of languages on signs within a multicultural university setting in Tokyo, Japan. Food nutrition signs and texts were gathered (digitally) and examined by Harbon and Halimi (2019) to determine which languages were used where and what kinds of messages were conveyed in each language. Muriungi & Mudogo (2021) questioned the language distribution of public signage in the multilingual context in Kenyan universities and the students' attitudes towards public signs.…”

Capturing Social Issues Through Signs: Linguistic Landscape in Great Malang Schools, Indonesia

“…Monolingual frequency in Bahasa Indonesia is very dominant compared to English and Javanese. Ardiyanti [4], Harbon and Halimi [27] stated that the application of the Bahasa Indonesia as the official language indicates that it is easy to understand.…”

“…It was also carried out in multilingual cities such as in Lita, Uganda [16], Rome [17], Bangkok [2], and Tokyo [3], Kuala Lumpur [18,19], Dilli, Timor Leste [20], Singapore [21,22] and Bangkok, Thailand [23]. LL studies were further examined city setting in Indonesia carried out by [4,[24][25][26][27][28][29]. Only two study conducted in Indonesia that focus on school sign, that is [4] and [27].…”

“…LL studies were further examined city setting in Indonesia carried out by [4,[24][25][26][27][28][29]. Only two study conducted in Indonesia that focus on school sign, that is [4] and [27]. There are differences between this study and the previous.…”