Investigating the Linguistic Landscape of Hausa in Urban Markets of Kano: Signage, Language, and Identity

Linguistic landscape research examines the language of public signs, notices, and textual displays as a window into language use patterns, language prestige, and community identity construction in multilingual urban environments. This study investigates the linguistic landscape of selected urban markets in Kano, analysing the language choices, literacy conventions, and identity functions of commercial and public signage. A linguistic landscape research design was employed, systematically photographing and coding all public signs in Dawanau grain market, Kurmi market, and Singer market in Kano over a four-week period. A corpus of 1,200 signs was coded for language(s) used, signage type, placement, translation patterns, and script choices. Interviews with 40 business owners on signage language choices and 20 market administration officials provided motivational data on sign production. Findings reveal a complex linguistic landscape in which Hausa appears predominantly in hand-produced commercial signs while English dominates officially produced regulatory and institutional signage, reflecting a language prestige hierarchy in formal public communication. Arabic script is present in religiously inflected signage and Islamic business names. Code-mixed Hausa-English signs are particularly common in electronic goods and fashion retail sections. Business owners report pragmatic rather than ideological motivations for language choices in commercial signage, prioritising reach to Hausa-reading clientele. The study contributes the first systematic linguistic landscape analysis of Kano's major markets and highlights the visible but unofficial status of Hausa as the functional language of commerce. Keywords: Linguistic landscape, Hausa, Urban markets, Kano, Language and identity.