The use of english at the bottom-up level of the linguistic landscape in algeria and perceptions about it: the case of bifa's food packaging

Abstract

English enjoys a prestigious position in the Algerian context. Decisions have been made by the authorities to introduce it in public spaces and at the bottom-up level, it has been chosen by many persons and businessmen to use it in their private businesses. The present thesis aims to explore the use of English in the bottom-up linguistic landscape with a particular focus on the packaging of Bifa which is one of the leaders in the agri-food sector in Algeria. The study attempts to answer the following research questions: 1- How is the English language represented in Bifa’s food packaging in comparison to the other languages in the linguistic landscape in Algeria? 2-What are the linguistic phenomena that have occurred through the interaction of English with other languages used in Bifa’s food packaging? 3- How is the use of English in Bifa’s food packaging perceived by its customers? Our corpus consists of 71 products selected from the brand’s catalogue exhibited on its site. We have opted for two research tools; content analysis and a questionnaire which was randomly administered to the English students at the University of Bejaia The results have shown that English is represented in Bifa’s packaging and that although French is the dominant language but the company’s designers have adopted some marketing strategies to make English more visible. Concerning the interaction of English with other languages in Bifa’s packaging, transliteration is found to be the most commonly used linguistic phenomenon. Finally, the results of the questionnaire have shown that the consumers of Bifa’s products perceive positively the use of English in their packaging. Keywords: Bifa’s brand, Bottom-up approach, consumers’ perceptions, English language, food packaging, language research tools; content analysis and a questionnaire which was randomly administered to the English students at the University of Bejaia The results have shown that English is represented in Bifa’s packaging and that although French is the dominant language but the company’s designers have adopted some marketing strategies to make English more visible. Concerning the interaction of English with other languages in Bifa’s packaging, transliteration is found to be the most commonly used linguistic phenomenon. Finally, the results of the questionnaire have shown that the consumers of Bifa’s products perceive positively the use of English in their packaging.