In my linguistic landscape, I’ll be talking about Kings Highway in Brooklyn New York. This place is very dear to me because it was where I grew up. On Kings Highway, there are many shops that I’ve frequented and enjoyed going to some of these include a pizzeria, a bakery, a location that used to be a McDonalds, a family member’s laundromat, and even a gaming cafe. When I grew up here I tend to frequent the parks near my schools and play basket on the courts with my friends. Kings Highway has a great sense of community and because I lived on the street by the schools I had many of my classmates wave goodbye to me right outside my door. Signs are a great showcase of linguistic landscape study. In Kings Highway, I’d like to think that the signs here are different from what you’d see in many places in New York. This linguistic landscape here feels much different from the busyness of typical New York hustle and bustle. The landscape of Kings Highway is filled with signs galore. These signs show many themes from the theme of schools, the word “Kings”, businesses, language, food, and promotion of the businesses.
Community
The emphasis on the theme of community is focused on two of the pictures. The pictures of the schools known as p.s.255 and the picture of I.S.234 both focus on the sense of community because they are schools. These are elementary and middle schools that serve the community through their services as public schools. They provide education to the children of Kings Highway and its neighboring areas and these signs let parents know that these schools focus on informing parents and its location.
Language
One theme that is consistent in all the pictures that are taken from Kings Highway is the language on all the signs. Yes, all the signs have English and only English this is because the neighborhood is because this avenue has origins going back to the oldest English neighborhoods back since the late 1600s. English is predominantly the spoken language in this part of New York and the signs here clearly show that there hasn’t been a great need for signs with other languages on them. These signs promote an English-speaking community and although there are many people from different cultural backgrounds living in Kings Highway a shared feature among its majority is the ability to speak and understand some amount of English.
Kings
It is absolutely one of the expected features you would expect when you come to Kings Highway, businesses here are named with the word “Kings”. The word “Kings” is on many businesses in the pictures shown such as Kings Meats, Kings News & Grocery, Kings Gourmet Food, Kings Games, and Kings Pizza. This name makes the businesses iconic and representative of the avenue they reside on and marks their importance. The fact that these businesses are named “Kings” also entails that these businesses are to stay in Kings Highway as something that is only exclusive instead of a business that is looking to branch out and expand outside of this area. The word Kings gives a powerful impression and heightens the association of the business and royalty which the name Kings implies.
Businesses
The theme of businesses is seen through a large majority of these pictures. In pictures of Beans & Bagels, Kings Meat, Kings News & Grocery, King’s Gourmet Food, Kings Games, King’s Pizza, CVS Pharmacy, and the Laundromat these all showcase a variety of businesses that is part of the economy in this avenue. These businesses sell food, miscellaneous items, games, and services. In these businesses, an idea that is consistent with all their signs is the fact that they label what their business is and some go into detail about what they do and what they have available. The businesses that go into detail on their business are Kings News & Grocery, Kings Games, and the Laundromat. In the picture of Kings News & Grocery, Kings Games, Laundromat, and King’s Pizza they all include contact information such as phone numbers and the times in which these businesses open and close.
Food
Many of the businesses are of food in Kings Highway, the linguistic landscape here has Beans & Bagels, Kings News & Grocery, Kings Meat, Kings Gourmet Food, and King’s Pizza. Food is a popular business on Kings Highway and it is clear through the many signs that are from my pictures of the avenue. There are so many extravagant choices such as high-quality goods, pastries, meats, pizza, and just plain groceries. Food is something that you won’t have a shortage of on Kings Highway, where you can buy plenty of good quality food for very fair prices. Many business owners clearly show their interest in providing food to the community through the vast amounts of these openings, and the proof is in how old some of these businesses also date back to. some businesses here go back generations such as King’s Pizza, Kings Meat, and Kings Gourmet Food.
