Introduction:
Ozone Park is a neighborhood in Queens, New York. It is in the southwestern section of Queens. Historically this place is known for the aqueduct racetrack, which is a famous spot for thoroughbred racing. The northern border of ozone park is Atlantic Avenue; the southern border is South Conduit Avenue, and the eastern border is 108th Street and Aqueduct Racetrack. The area The place is is consist of parks, middle schools, doctors’ offices, grocery markets, cultural restaurants, and other small businesses. Moreover, The neighborhood includes people from diversified backgrounds, including Italian, Bengali, Indian, Guianese, Hispanic, and a lot more. To support the claim, The New York Daily News stated that: “For 60 years, people of color have moved to this South Ozone Park community, where parents can garden while their children play in the yard. Many of the working-class and middle-class neighbors are members of Black families who fled the Jim Crow South. Others have migrated from the Caribbean and South Asia for economic opportunity and political stability” (“South Ozone Park, after the Flood: The City Has Failed This Working-Class Black Neighborhood”). The signs of the street and stores also include a variety of languages depending on the part of ozone park as the north side has more Bengali population so most of the signs include Bengali translation. The linguistic landscape of ozone park is characterized by Bilingual signs, Muslim-based, the presence of the Bengali culture, etc.
1st linguistic Landscape theme of OzonePark:
The pattern that we can see in the linguistic landscape of Ozone Park is the Bilingual sign. In the First picture of a food cart in figure 1, It made sure that the food is halal which indicates it is for Muslims and all the people. The name is written in the Bengali language, as “Fuchka Bari”. Fuchka is a traditional Bengali food and “Bari” means home. Together it means “House of Fuchka’s”. But the business also includes other kinds of Bengali, American, and afghani food as the stickers also posted pictures of fast foods, such as burgers. On the other side of the stickers, it includes Gyros, Chicken over rice, etc. This cart establishes the market for Muslim and general people, adding Bengali, middle-eastern, and American food cultures. Most of the items on the menu are also translated into Bengali and Arabic language. In addition, the other sign is (figure 2) “Bismillah Boutique Inc”. The name is written in Bengali, I, and English, which indicates that they are focusing on mostly Bengali people. The banner also includes pictures of Asian clothes which includes Burqa, Salwar-Kameez, Panjabi, etc. On the bottom, it states that “We take orders for weddings, eid collection, etc”. This banner is for south Asian people’s clothing. Moreover, another image in figure 3 shows the front banner of a barbershop named “Rocky Barber Shop and beauty salon”, which is also written in the Bengali language. On the side of the banner they added pictures of different countries and at the bottom of the banner it says “For the service of all nationalities”. This clearly shows that the owner of all these businesses (Fig.1,2,3) is counting on bilingual people as their customers. In addition,
2nd linguistic Landscape theme of OzonePark:
The pattern that we can see in the linguistic landscape of Ozone Park is the Muslim-based businesses. In the figure 4, it shows a banner of a deli store, named “Sylhet Deli and Grocery”. Sylhet is a state in Bangladesh, which indicates that this store is in the Bengali neighborhood. Besides that, on top of the banner, it states in the Arabic language “Bismillah-Hir-Rahman-nir-Rahim” which means “Starting in the name of Allah, The Most Gracious and most Merciful”. This shows that the business owner is holding his business to attract Muslim customers. Moreover, figure 5 shows the front banner of a supermarket. It is called “Dubai SuperMarket”. It is also written in the Bengali language with English. It includes their inventory of Halal foods for American, Bangladeshi, Indian, and Pakistani Products. Halal means that the animal is slaughtered in the name of Allah, and this is the meat that Muslims can eat. This store clearly states the food they have is for regular customers and Muslim people. The store has another small banner with pictures of south Asian models with traditional clothes which indicates they have clothing collections as well for south Asians, the small banner is also translated into Bengali and Arabic from English. Moreover, In another banner (figure 6) in front of a supermarket stated that “We take kurbani order”, written in Bengali and English. The work “Kurbani” is specifically used in Bengali culture to indicate “Eid al Adha”, which is an event observed by Muslims all over the world. The reason behind the supermarket stating this statement on the banner is that they want to attract Muslim customers, which also indicates that there are a lot of Muslims living nearby this supermarket. A news website stated that the number of mosques is increasing every day in ozone park. A lot of other people are also converting to Islam. (Ozonepark murder, Personal Pain, and Bangladeshi Community).
3rd linguistic Landscape theme of OzonePark:
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- Lastly, the pattern that we can notice in ozone park is the presence of Bengali culture. In figure 7 we can see that the banner is fully written in the Bengali language. Clearly indicating there is no need for translation. The banner stated “Free Mehedi O Shangskritic Shondha”, which means “Free Henna and Cultural Evening”. Applying henna to hands is a big cultural beauty, specifically for women. This is an event for socialization with other Bengali people. It is also a part of Bengali culture as stated in the newspaper: “Bengali socialization refers to the process by which individuals are inducted into Bengali culture and society” (CBC News). In figure 8, the banner of the restaurant stated “Boishakhi Restaurant”. Boishakhi is a season in Bangladesh. On the first day of this month, men and women wear yellow colors Sari and Panjabi (cultural clothes). To highlight the culture, the restaurant declared the name “Boishakhi” and also painted the inside with yellow color. Moreover, in figure 9, a banner of a restaurant claimed its name as “Fulkole”, which means the first stage of growth of a flower. In Bengali cultures, the students of first grade are called the “Fulkole” which deeply meant they are going to shine brightly in the future just like a flower. The restaurant named itself “Fulkole” like the cultural meaning, they want to shine bright in the future for their customers. On another poster (Figure 10 with a red circle) in front of a restaurant posted a picture of “Paan”, which is an after-meal light food like a desert for Bengali adults. It can be eaten with beetle nuts or just by itself. It is only in Bengali culture that people eat paan. It is highly addictive as well. By posting this picture the restaurant indicated it supports the Bengali cultural people and its foods. This explicitly shows that the owner of all these businesses (Fig.7,8,9,10) is based on the Bengali culture.
Conclusion
OzonePark is a place where people from different backgrounds can find their homes. If we dig deeper we can surely find other themes which connect with more cultures. It is a place of diversified immigrants with their dreams of making the world a better place.