THE LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE OF ADVERTISEMENT IN SOROTI CITY: A CASE STUDY OF MTN UGANDA AND AIRTEL UGANDA TELECOMMUNICATION COMPANIES
Loading...
Date
2026-10-13
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Gulu University
Abstract
This study examined the linguistic landscape of advertisement in Soroti City, focusing on MTN Uganda and Airtel Uganda telecommunication companies. Business domains in Soroti City display multilingual practices that are reflected in commercial signage. (Hu, 2022), offers a broad conceptual synthesis of linguistic landscape scholarship but leaves insufficiently theorized role of commercial advertising as a multimodal space where linguistic resources jointly construct meaning. This study extended that conceptual understanding by examining the patterned deployment of such resources in MTN Uganda and Airtel Uganda advertisement in Soroti city. The study was sought: to examine the patterns of the linguistic landscape of telecommunications advertising in Soroti City; to assess the stylistic features of the language used in their advertisements; and establish the relationship between the linguistic landscape in Soroti City and Uganda’s language policies and practices. Anchored in the Linguistic Landscape Theory by Landry and Bourhis (1997), the study employed a qualitative approach supported by descriptive and comparative designs. The findings for Objective One showed that patterns of the linguistic landscape of telecommunication advertising were evident in terms of dominance, with English more widely used than Ateso and other indigenous languages, and in the distribution of signage, MTN was more prominent than Airtel. Multilingual practices were also noted among others. For Objective Two, the study established that advertisements employed stylistic features such as code-mixing, humor, imagery, syntactic variations, and typographic choices. Regarding objective three, results revealed a correlation between Uganda National Language Policy and advertising practices, including the reflection of cultural context, recognition of English as the official language, and the incorporation of indigenous languages. The study recommends the promotion of indigenous languages in advertising, the enforcement of ethical standards, and strengthening awareness of Uganda’s language Policy among advertising stakeholders, while also suggesting that future research adopt quantitative or mixed methods to complement qualitative findings.
Description
Keywords
Citation
EBOGU FRANCIS (2026) THE LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE OF ADVERTISEMENT IN SOROTI CITY: A CASE STUDY OF MTN UGANDA AND AIRTEL UGANDA TELECOMMUNICATION COMPANIES