LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPING IN BANGLADESH: A PRACTICAL STUDY IN SYLHET CITY PERSPECTIVE

This is a well comprehensive study which examines a new attempt to expand the scope of linguistic landscape study in Sylhet City of Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s official language is known as Bangla or Bengali and is spoken by the vast majority of the population. There are a number of different Bangla dialects that are generally grouped according to the various regions in Bangladesh. Due to the British colonization of the country, English is also a widely spoken and commonly understood language in Bangladesh. The people of Sylhet are very fond of their dialect. They hardly use any language other than their own dialect for a conversation with the people of their own district. The findings indicate that most of the billboards are bilingual because both Bengali and English Language have been used. The street signs are written both in English and Bengali It may be pointed out that twenty-five percent signboards are monolingual written in English especially for English Schools and ten percents are bilingual written in English and Bengali. Rest sixty five percent is monolingual which are written in Bengali. In public places both the Bengali and English have been used. In some areas, multilingual boards were found which were written in Bengali, English and Monipuri Language. No nameplate or signboard was written in another language. There were two places (New Nation Library and Ragib Rabeya Nagri Institute) where Nagilipi was written in their Signboard.