Schoolscaping: Forms and Functions of Public Signs at University of Cape Coast

Abstract

Language has made it possible for humans as individuals and groups to communicate in diverse forms among themselves. The public space has been one of the key avenues for such an interaction. University of Cape Coast (UCC) authority, through the public space communicates several messages or information to its members. The present study aimed to investigate the Linguistic Landscape (LL) of UCC focusing on the range of public signs and their communicative functions, drawing on Scollon and Scollon’s (2003) Geosemiotics or The Place Semiotics Theory and Landry and Bourhis’ (1997) Informational and Symbolic Functions of LL. Observations and picture taking were used to gather data within one month. Four hundred (400) photographs of public signs were taken on UCC campus. Using qualitative content analysis complemented by descriptive statistics, the study revealed names of public and private structures, navigational signs, notices, clothing and souvenirs as categories representing the range of public signs at UCC. Apart from the known informational and symbolic functions of LL, the study further revealed that these public signs performed identificatory, memorializing, directional, advertising/marketing/promotional, invitational, regulatory, and pedagogical functions. Closely related to the second research finding was the multifunctional nature of these public signs. The findings of the study contribute to the scholarship on linguistic landscape in educational institutions (also referred to as ‘schoolscape’) and further research.