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Article published In:
Australian Review of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 40:1 (2017) ► pp.40–70

Road sign romanization in Oman

The linguistic landscape close-up

| Sohar University
| Southern Cross University

Throughout the Arab Gulf States, bilingual road signs are the norm, employing both Arabic and a romanized counterpart for the large expatriate population. The existing romanization is inconsistent, with potentially misleading variant spellings of place names signposting the region. This study provides a linguistic analysis of signs on the arterial road running from Muscat, Oman, toward Dubai in the United Arab Emirates in an effort to identify linguistic factors leading to discrepant renderings. The authors identify the wavering between transcription and transliteration and the hesitancy between the local and the standard language varieties as the main sources of discrepancies. These findings constitute the groundwork for initiatives intent on addressing the situation. Guidelines are provided for policy makers indicating the various aspects remedial work on signage in Oman should take into account.

Keywords: romanization, Arabic script, road signs, language policy, transcription, transliteration
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methodology
  • 3.Data analysis
    • 3.1Word level variations
    • 3.2Sound level variation
      • 3.2.1Consonant sounds
        • 3.2.1.1Common consonant sound variation
        • 3.2.1.2Specific consonant sound variation
      • 3.2.2Vowel sounds
        • 3.2.2.1Short vowels
        • 3.2.2.2Long vowels
      • 3.2.3Diphthongs
      • 3.2.4The sukun
    • 3.3The definite article
      • 3.3.1The non-assimilated definite article
      • 3.3.2The assimilated definite article
    • 3.4Gemination
    • 3.5Feminine case
    • 3.6Dialectal variation
    • 3.7Romanization or translation
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1Transcription or transliteration
    • 4.2Language management: Which Arabic?
    • 4.3Institutionalized names
  • 5.Conclusion and recommendations
  • Funding
  • Notes
  • References


This article is currently available as a sample article.

Published online: 1 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.40.1.04jam
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