The visibility of language ideologies: the linguistic landscapes of the University of Yaoundé

Abstract

This paper explores the linguistic landscapes of the University of Yaoundé 1, Cameroon. The paper highlights the visibility of language ideologies. The main aim of this paper is to show how the language ideology of an institution or a community is reflected on its landscape. It therefore attempts to show how the language ideology of an institution is reflected on its landscape (signs, billboards, notice boards, buildings). It also argues that there is a mismatch between the policy put in place and the actual practice.At the core of this paper are the prevailing language ideologies revealed by the linguistic landscape. The findings from this study are examined using studies on language ideologies and linguistic landscapes. The paper suggests that the linguistic landscape of an institution or a community should be an actual representation of the people’s language practices and should tie or match with the language policy put in place which is of course not the case with this paper