The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic Linguistic Landscapes on Lifestyle, Health Awareness and Behavior

Abstract

The recent COVID-19 pandemic created a plethora of new challenges for the world and affected all aspects of human life. This research aimed to look further into the sociolinguistic aspects of the COVID-19 Linguistic Landscape (LL) and assess the extent to which public signs affected people’s behaviors and lifestyles during the COVID-19 outbreak in the Saudi context. A semi-structured questionnaire was developed to collect data related to the study. A total of 215 participants from different regions of Saudi Arabia participated in the survey. The study results provide evidence of language as a critical element in reflecting the social realities of the Saudis. The data confirmed that the COVID-19 Linguistic Landscape (CLL) served several functions at both individual and institutional levels in Saudi Arabia. Key findings emerged about the role of the linguistic landscapes set up in public spaces in changing people’s thoughts and behavior as well as how they reacted to urgent and exceptional conditions such as COVID-19. In sum, the pandemic-associated signs led to remarkable positive changes in the daily routine of people.