Language Encounters in Public Parks: Mapping the Linguistic Landscape of Davao City, Philippines

As the most visible expression of language in everyday life, the linguistic landscape (LL) captures the interplay of a community’s linguistic diversity, sociocultural dynamics, and underlying language policies. While there is growing interest in these dynamics in both global and national contexts, LL often goes unnoticed and underexamined in local contexts, such as public parks in Davao City, Philippines. Thus, this study explores the linguistic landscape of Davao City public parks, which plays a crucial role in shaping identity and social interaction in the city. The researchers examined the types of signs, the languages or codes present in the signs, and their functions within the nine parks across downtown Davao City. Employing qualitative content analysis, the findings reveal that top-down signs were structured and standardized, while bottom-up signs were informal and diverse. Regarding the codes, the signs were displayed in English, Cebuano, Filipino, Spanish, and Japanese, and were either monolingual, bilingual, or trilingual, serving both informational and symbolic functions. The interaction between the informational and symbolic functions of signs illustrates how language operates as both a tool for regulation and a marker of identity in public recreational spaces. The study highlights how signs serve both regulatory and identity functions in public spaces, thereby recommending the inclusivity of signage policies that enhance cultural representation, particularly of indigenous languages. This research contributes to the understanding of the role of multilingualism in public spaces, identity, and accessibility.