Journal of Language Development and Linguistics (JLDL) 2962-6528 https://doi.org/10.55927/jldl.v5i1.16518 Multicultural Performance in the Linguistic Landscape of Sampit City, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia (Anthropolinguistic Study) LestariErma LaksonoKisyani SodiqSyamsul 22 10 2025 24 12 2025 26 02 2026 5 1 79 96 This study examines multicultural performance in the culinary linguistic landscape in Sampit City using Landry and Bourhis's linguistic landscape theory framework and Duranti's anthropolinguistics concept of performativity. Studies on linguistic landscapes generally focus on representational and symbolic functions, while the performative role of language in constructing multicultural realities remains underexplored, especially in a multicultural context. This study uses a descriptive mixed- methods approach through visual ethnography, and simple data qualification in the form of public culinary texts such as business names, menus, and signboards collected in 2025. The results show that language in the culinary linguistic landscape functions performatively through four main dimensions, namely representing cultural identity, becoming strategic and commercial symbols, forming language hybridity, and actively conveying and displaying multiculturalism in public spaces. Empirical data from "Soto Lamongan", "Coto Makassar", "Kopi Wong Nusantara", and "Sate Madura Cak Nuzul" show that language not only reflects diversity but also produces the presence of ethnic identity in social spaces. This finding confirms that landscapes are not just a reflection of social reality, but also depict the performance of multiculturalism. Linguistic Landscape Performativity Multiculturalism Ethnic Identity Culinary Indonesia INTRODUCTION

Linguistic landscape as an interdisciplinary study has developed rapidly in the last two decades, especially in understanding how language is used in public spaces to represent social and cultural identities (Landry & Bourhis, 1997; Ndlovu, 2023; Shohamy & Gorter, 2009). In the context of a multicultural society, the linguistic landscape not only functions as a medium of information, but also as a symbolic arena that reflects power relations, diverse identities, and complex social dynamics. This phenomenon is increasingly relevant in today's global society characterized by high mobility, migration, and cross-cultural interactions. The fundamental question that arises is how language in the public space not only represents, but also shapes the social reality of a multicultural society, especially in local contexts with specific social histories such as Sampit City. Material objects in study This is landscape linguistics in the realm culinary in Sampit City, Central Kalimantan, which includes various text public such as business names, menu boards, and culinary signage documented in the 2025-year period. Landscape linguistics the show practice multilingual through use Indonesian as a lingua franca, language area such as Javanese and Banjarese, as well as Language foreign like English that works as a symbolic and commercial strategy. The phenomenon This No only reflect diversity ethnicity society, but also shows How Language used for build identity, interesting consumers, and affirms position social in room public (Huebner, 2019; Landry & Bourhis, 1997; Lestari et al., 2023).

Problems the related close with context social public Sampit as a multicultural region that has background behind history conflict ethnicity. In situation post-conflict, language No only become tool communication, but also function as a medium of reconstruction social and symbols harmony (Duranti, 2015b; Lestari et al., 2024). In perspective anthropolinguistics, language understood as practice social in nature performative, namely actions that are not only describe reality, but also creates it. Therefore that, landscape linguistics culinary can viewed as space where identity culture No only displayed, but also practiced and negotiated in a way sustainable in life public. (Artawa & Sartini, 2020; Benu et al., 2023; Biró, 2022)A number of studies previously has study landscape linguistics in various context. Showed that landscape linguistics in Bali reflects interaction between globalization and identity local in sector tourism (Artawa et al., 2023)Found that landscape linguistics in Girona is related close with dynamics politics and identity local (Artawa & Sartini, 2020; Benu et al., 2023; Biró, 2022). Revealed that use Language foreign in landscape linguistics can functioning as symbol prestige and global identity (Coluzzi, 2020; Langer, 1957; Plautz et al., 2022). Third study the own equality in see landscape linguistics as representation identity, but study This different Because emphasize dimensions performative Language in context multicultural post-conflict, which has not yet Lots reviewed in a way deep.

Study This important done Because a number of reasons. First, in general theoretical, research This fill in emptiness in study landscape linguistics that has been This more dominant in function representational compared to performative. Secon, in a contextual, research This give understanding about How Language play a role in build harmony social in society multicultural post- conflict. Third, in general practical, results study This can become base in development policy language and education more multicultural inclusive in space public. With Thus, research This No only relevant in a way academic, but also has implications broad social. Study This use theory landscape linguistics proposed by Landry and Bourhis, which differentiates function informational and symbolic language in space public, as well as theory performativity in anthropolinguistics by Duranti who views Language as action social. Assumptions base theory This is that Language No nature neutral, but rather own role active in form reality social. Concept performance in theory Duranti emphasize that use Language is practices that present identity and meaning in context social certain. The second integration theory This allows more analysis comprehensive in understand How landscape linguistics No only represent, but also build reality multicultural in Sampit City.

LITERATURE REVIEW Linguistic Landscape Theory

The concept of linguistic landscape (LL) was formally introduced by Landry and Bourhis (1997), who defined it as the visibility and salience of languages on public and commercial signs in a given territory or region. Their foundational framework distinguished two core functions of language in public space: the informational function, which concerns the communicative transmission of content, and the symbolic function, which reflects the relative power and vitality of ethnolinguistic communities. This distinction has since become a cornerstone of LL research worldwide. Subsequent scholars, including Shohamy and Gorter (2009), expanded the field by incorporating multimodal, digital, and auditory dimensions of the linguistic landscape, while Huebner (2019) traced its historical trajectory from a primarily sociolinguistic inquiry to an interdisciplinary domain intersecting semiotics, urban studies, and cultural geography.

In the Indonesian context, Artawa and Sartini (2020) and Artawa et al. (2023) demonstrated that LL in multicultural regions such as Bali reflects the tension between local identity preservation and global market pressures, findings that are directly relevant to the culinary LL of Sampit City examined in Lestari et al. (2025). Benu et al. (2023) further showed that the presence of local languages in urban LL correlates with the vitality of ethnolinguistic identity, while Coluzzi (2020) confirmed that multilingual LL in Southeast Asian cities encodes both official language policies and grassroots community practices. Together, these studies establish that LL is not a neutral spatial phenomenon but an active arena in which language, identity, and power are continuously negotiated — a theoretical premise that underpins the present article.

Multilingualism, Linguistic Hybridity, and Symbolic Commercial Strategies

Research on multilingualism and linguistic hybridity in public space has established that the coexistence and mixing of languages in signage reflects broader dynamics of cultural identity, social negotiation, and economic strategy. Ruan and Lee (2017) found that multilingual LL in tourism destinations is perceived positively by communities as a marker of inclusivity and cultural accessibility, while Plautz et al. (2022) demonstrated that hybrid linguistic forms in minority community contexts function as adaptive identity strategies that preserve cultural memory without foreclosing participation in broader social life. Poyas and Elkad-Lehman (2020) further argued that exposure to multilingual and multicultural texts facilitates active identity negotiation rather than passive reception, a perspective that supports the reading of Sampit's culinary LL as a dynamic space of cultural engagement.

METHODOLOGY

Study This use mixed-method approach with design descriptive, which integrates analysis qualitative and quantitative simple for get comprehensive understanding about landscape linguistics in the realm Culinary in Sampit City, Central Kalimantan. Research location determined in a way purposive in the area canter cities, market areas, and points tour culinary that has intensity interaction social tall as well as reflect diversity ethnicity and culture (Creswell, 2010). Election location This based on assumptions that room culinary is a strategic arena for meeting identity manifested culture through use Language in room public. In framework this location study No only understood as room geographically, but also as room social place practice Language ongoing in a way dynamic and contextual, as confirmed in approach methodological based context empirical.

Data collection was carried out through observation direct and visual documentation of landscape linguistics that includes business names culinary, menu boards, promotional banners, and various form text public others that can accessible in a way open. Every data is documented in a way systematic use digital devices with notice legibility text and context environment surrounding areas. In addition, each data is equipped with with metadata in the form of data code, location, time taking, type business, as well as language used. For strengthen understanding contextual, research this also uses semi-structured interviews with various informants, such as visitors, traders, teachers, students, and public general, to dig perception they to use language and representation multicultural in landscape linguistics. Data collected Then through the selection process based on criteria clarity element linguistics, visual readability, relevance social culture, as well as avoid data duplication. After the selection process, the data is analysed through coding stages consisting of on open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. In the open coding stage, researchers identify elements base like language used, markers identity culture, as well as naming strategies. The axial coding stage is carried out with grouping data into in more categories systematic, including type language (Indonesian, English) region and language foreign), form text (business name, menu, slogan), function text (informational and symbolic), as well as category identity (local, national, global, and hybrid). Furthermore, selective coding is used for identify pattern dominant that appears in overall data.

Data analysis was performed in a way integrated between approach quantitative simple and interpretation qualitatively. In terms of quantitative, researcher count frequency and distribution use Language as well as category identity for identify pattern dominant, such as trend localization, globalization, or hybridization. In qualitative, every text analyzed in a way deep for explain the meaning conveyed, both in function informational and symbolic, as well as How text the represent identity culture and diversity social analysis this also emphasizes How landscape linguistics no only convey information, but also plays a role in present reality multicultural in life public. Next, the results analysis associated with context social through interview data for understand How text in landscape linguistics the accepted and interpreted by society. The approach This allows researchers for see connection between text, space, and practice social in a way more comprehensive, so that landscape linguistics understood as living and dynamic phenomena. Data validation is carried out through triangulation methods, sources, and data, as well as through comparison between results quantification and interpretation qualitative to ensure consistency and validity findings. With Thus, the method This No only describe phenomenon use Language in landscape linguistics in a way descriptive, but also capable reveal patterns and tendencies multicultural in a way empirical. Integration between analysis qualitative and quantitative simple make approach This stronger in a way methodological, as well as relevant for explain dynamics language, identity, and space in context public multicultural.

RESEARCH RESULT Language Performance as a Symbolic and Commercial Strategy

Research result show that use Language in landscape linguistics culinary in Sampit City No only functioning as means communication and representation identity, but also as a symbolic strategy related to close with interest commercial (Darmawan, 2019; Tektigul et al., 2023). Based on coding and quantification results simple, found that use Language foreigners, especially Language English, enough dominant in business culinary that targets urban market segment and generation young. Meanwhile that, use Indonesian remains become Language main in convey information product. This pattern show that election Language in culinary signage No nature random, but rather designed in a way strategic for interesting attention consumers and build image business. In perspective performativity, use Language in context This can understood as action social production meaning symbolic certain, such as modernity, prestige, and professionalism (Duranti, 2015a). Use term such as “coffee,” “cafe,” “fresh,” or “premium” not only functioning as a label, but also as form performance that delivers global and contemporary impression. Foreign language in landscape linguistics with thus No just become tool communication, but also becoming symbols that form perception consumer to quality and class social something business. This is show that Language own role active in build reality symbolic in room economy.

In addition, the use of Language as a commercial strategy is also seen in utilization identity culture local and national as Power market pull (Schwartz, 2018; Sibarani, 2020). Naming such as “Soto Lamongan,” “Coto Makassar,” or “Rumah Makan Sari Bundo” not only give information about type food, but also take advantage of mark symbolic culture for interesting interest consumers. In matter this, language functioning as branding tool that connects product with image culture certain that have been known widely by the community. This strategy show that identity culture No only represented, but also commodified through use Language in landscape linguistics. Further, phenomenon This show that landscape linguistics culinary in Sampit City is space where language play a role as source Power economy that has mark symbolic high. Language used in a way strategic for create differentiation product, build image business, and expand market reach. With Thus, performance Language in landscape linguistics No only related with aspect culture, but also with practice economy that utilizes Language as tool for produce mark commercial.

is part of complex social and economic strategies. Language does not only reflect reality social, but also plays a role in shape and influence behavior consumers. Therefore that, landscape linguistics can understand as a space where language, culture, and economy each other interact in form dynamics public multicultural. This pattern is further reinforced by empirical evidence drawn from culinary signage such as “Soto Lamongan,” “Coto Makassar,” and “Rumah Makan Sari Bundo.” These linguistic forms do not merely indicate the origin of the cuisine, but actively perform regional identities—Javanese (Lamongan), South Sulawesi (Makassar), and Minangkabau (Sari Bundo)—within the public space. Through a performative lens, such naming practices function as cultural indexing mechanisms that evoke authenticity, familiarity, and trust among consumers. At the same time, these labels operate as strategic branding devices that transform cultural identity into symbolic capital with economic value. By mobilizing culturally recognized names, business actors are able to position their products within established culinary imaginaries, thereby increasing market appeal. This demonstrates that language in the culinary linguistic landscape is not simply descriptive, but performative in constructing both cultural meaning and commercial differentiation in a multicultural urban context.

Language Performance as a Symbolic and Commercial Strategy

Research result show that use Language in landscape linguistics culinary in Sampit City No only functioning as a delivery medium information, but also as a symbolic strategy that has orientation commercial. Based on coding and quantification results simple, found that use Language foreigners, especially Language English, appears in a way consistent in business culinary certain aspects that lead to modern market segmentation. On the other hand, Indonesian remains used as Language main for ensure understanding, while Language area appear as marker identity local. This pattern show that election Language in culinary signage is results consideration related strategic with consumer targets and business positioning (Setiawan, 2023). In perspective performativity, use Language the can understood as action social that is not only convey meaning, but also produces image certain. Use term such as “coffee,” “cafe,” “fresh,” or “premium” function for to form modern, exclusive, and global impression. The language in context This Work as symbols that form perception consumer to quality and value something product. With thus, the text in landscape linguistics No only functioning in a way informational, but also as tool for build meaning interest-oriented symbols economy. In addition, symbolic strategies are also visible. in utilization identity culture through Language as part from practice commercialization. Naming culinary such as “Soto Lamongan” or “Coto Makassar” not only give information about origin food, but also take advantage of image culture certain as Power market pull. In matter this, language functioning as branding tool that connects product with identity culture that has own mark symbolic in society. This strategy show that Language No only represent culture, but also package it become commodities that have mark sell.

landscape linguistics is a space where language, culture, and economy each other interact in a way dynamic in context public multicultural. These findings are further strengthened by the visual data in the corpus above. The results of the study indicate that language operates as both a symbolic and commercial strategy in the culinary linguistic landscape of Sampit City. In the data for "RM. Syahyy (Middle Eastern Cuisine)," the use of Arabic-tinged lexicon not only serves as a marker of culinary type, but also depicts a religio- cultural identity that indexes Islamic values and internationalism, thereby building an authentic image and consumer trust. Meanwhile, "Bruynzeel Café" displays the use of foreign language with colonial-modern nuances that produce an impression of exclusivity and cosmopolitanism, while strengthening the business's positioning in the urban market. Furthermore, the writing "Kopi Wong Nusantara" demonstrates a hybrid strategy that combines the local term "Wong" with the national concept "Nusantara," which performatively presents an inclusive identity based on locality and nationalism. These three data points show that language in the linguistic landscape not only represents identity but is actively utilized as a symbolic resource to build image, attract consumers, and strengthen economic value in a multicultural public space.

Performance Language Hybridity in Multicultural Spaces

Research result show that landscape linguistics culinary in Sampit City show trend strong to use Language in a way hybrid, namely the combination of two or more Language in One text. Based on coding and quantification results simple, found that combination Indonesian with Language area and Language foreign appear in a way consistent in various culinary signage, such as business names, menus, and slogans. This pattern show that use Language in room public No nature single, but rather flexible and adaptive to context multicultural social. The presence of forms hybrid This reflect dynamics social open society to interaction cross culture. In perspective performativity, hybridity Language can understand as action social production identity that is fluid and negotiable. Merger Language in One text No only show diversity, but also to reform effort perpetrator business for bridge various group different social contexts (Ruan & Lee, 2017). For example, the use of Indonesian as combined base with term area or foreign allows text the still communicative at a time own mark more symbolic wide. With thus, hybridity Language become a performative strategy for present inclusive identity in room public (Ruan & Lee, 2017).

More continue, performance hybridity language also shows the existence of a negotiation process between identity local and global (Artawa & Sartini, 2020; Plautz et al., 2022; Poyas & Elkad-Lehman, 2020). Use Language area in One side functioning for maintain identity cultural, while use Language foreigners on the other hand reflect orientation to modernity and globalization. When both element This combined in One text, then formed representation identity that is hybrid, which is not fully local both nationally and globally. This is show that landscape linguistics become space where identity culture No is static, but keep going formed through interaction social and practical Language (Artawa & Sartini, 2020; Plautz et al., 2022; Poyas & Elkad-Lehman, 2020). Empirical data further illustrate this phenomenon. The signage “Sate Madura Cak Nuzul” combines the regional identity marker “Madura” with the personal name “Cak,” which indexes Javanese cultural familiarity, creating a layered identity that resonates with multiple cultural references. Similarly, “Kedai Semarang” integrates the Indonesian term “Warung Makan” with the regional marker “Semarang,” producing a hybrid expression that simultaneously conveys accessibility and regional authenticity.

Moreover, this phenomenon has significant social implications, as linguistic hybridity enables broader communication within a diverse society. By combining multiple linguistic elements, business actors are able to reach consumers from different cultural backgrounds while fostering a sense of inclusivity and shared space. In this context, language functions not only as a communicative tool but also as a medium of social integration that supports multicultural interaction. Therefore, the performance of linguistic hybridity in the culinary linguistic landscape of Sampit City highlights the role of language as a dynamic resource in constructing and negotiating identity. The linguistic landscape is not merely a representation of diversity, but an active space where cultural identities are brought together, negotiated, and integrated through everyday linguistic practices.

Research result show that Language in landscape linguistics culinary in Sampit City not only functioning as means delivery information, but also as a medium that presents multiculturalism in room public. Based on results data analysis, texts such as the business name, menu and slogan only give information about type food or services, but also in a simultaneous display diversity living culture in society. Existence various language good Indonesian, language area, as well as Language foreign forming configuration linguistics that reflects plurality social. With thus, the landscape linguistics culinary can understood as space that is real show diversity culture through practice Language. In perspective performativity, language in landscape linguistics functioning as action social that is not only represent, but also present reality multicultural. Text in room public No nature passive, but rather active in “presenting” culture certain through symbols linguistics used. Naming culinary that refers to identity area or use Language certain in signage allows culture the come-onstage in a way real in life daily society. With thus, multiculturalism No only become draft abstract, but realized through practice language that can see, read and experienced in a way direct. More continue, performance Language in convey multiculturalism is also related with function informational and symbolic running in a way simultaneously. In informational text give explanation about product or services offered. However, in general symbolic, text they contain deeper meaning in, namely representation identity culture and values social issues inherent in the language used. Interaction between second function This strengthen role landscape linguistics as a medium of communication at a time as room representation complex social.

Findings research also shows that success performance Language in present multiculturalism is highly dependent on acceptance community. Based on interview data, the people of Sampit City interpret diversity Language in landscape linguistics as something which is reasonable and reflects reality social they. Visitors feel helped in recognize type food through based naming identity area, while perpetrator business look at use Language as method for interesting attention and outreach more consumers wide (Poyas & Elkad-Lehman, 2020; Rezaei & Tadayyon, 2018; Yusuf & Putrie, 2022). This is show that performance Language No only occurs at the level production text, but also at level interpretation and experience social public. With thus, the landscape linguistics culinary in Sampit City can understood as room performative which is active convey and present multiculturalism in life society. Language is not only functioning as tool communication, but also as a medium that builds, strengthens, and maintains diversity culture in room public. Findings This confirm that landscape linguistics own role strategic in form awareness multicultural and supportive creation interaction harmonious society in diverse society.

DISCUSSION Alignment with Previous Studies: Language as Identity and Symbolic Capital

The findings of Lestari et al. (2025) are fundamentally consistent with a substantial body of prior research that positions language in public space as a medium for representing and constructing cultural identity. The core argument that culinary signage in Sampit City performs ethnic identity through names such as Soto Lamongan, Coto Makassar, and Rumah Makan Sari Bundo aligns directly with Landry and Bourhis's (1997) foundational claim that the symbolic function of linguistic landscape signals the relative presence and vitality of ethnolinguistic communities in shared territorial space. In this respect, Sampit's culinary texts function precisely as Landry and Bourhis predicted: they mark the social presence of Javanese, Makassarese, and Minangkabau communities in an urban space shaped by multicultural cohabitation. This alignment confirms the enduring explanatory power of the informational–symbolic dichotomy even when applied to granular, everyday culinary contexts that the original framework did not explicitly anticipate.

The study also converges with Artawa and Sartini (2020) and Artawa et al. (2023), whose analyses of Bali's hotel and restaurant linguistic landscape revealed similar tension between local identity preservation and global commercial orientation. Both studies found that the use of regional and foreign languages in food-related public signage is strategically motivated rather than arbitrary, serving simultaneously as cultural branding and market positioning. Likewise, Coluzzi's (2020) finding in Kuala Lumpur that English functions as a prestige marker and symbol of modernity in multilingual commercial landscapes is corroborated by Lestari et al.'s observation that English terms such as coffee, premium, and fresh appear consistently in Sampit's culinary signage targeting urban and younger market segments. Furthermore, Setiawan's (2023) and Darmawan's (2019) respective studies on culinary linguistic landscapes in Bali and Danau Toba support the present article's conclusion that ethnic food names operate as commodified cultural symbols a mechanism by which identity is converted into symbolic capital with tangible commercial value, confirming Bourdieu's broader framework of symbolic economy as applied to language use in public space.

Points of Difference and Extension: The Performative Turn

While aligned with prior studies at the descriptive level, Lestari et al. (2025) depart significantly from the dominant representational paradigm that has characterized most LL research to date. The majority of existing studies including Landry and Bourhis (1997), Shohamy and Gorter (2009), Ndlovu (2023), and the Indonesian studies by Benu et al. (2023) and Lestari et al. (2024) treat the linguistic landscape primarily as a mirror of pre-existing social conditions: language choices in public space are read as evidence of underlying sociolinguistic realities such as ethnolinguistic vitality, language policy, or power asymmetry. Lestari et al. (2025), by contrast, draw on Duranti's (2015a, 2015b) concept of performativity to argue that language in the culinary LL does not merely reflect multiculturalism but actively produces it. This is a theoretically consequential move: it reframes public signage from a passive index of social structure into an agent of social construction, a distinction with important implications for how linguistic landscape research conceptualizes the relationship between language, space, and social reality.

This performative orientation also distinguishes the present study from Biró (2022), whose semiotic assemblage approach similarly moves beyond pure representation, but remains primarily focused on the structural organization of signs rather than their social-constructive force. Lestari et al. go further by grounding the performative analysis in the specific post-conflict historical context of Sampit a dimension entirely absent from most LL studies conducted in politically stable, tourism-driven settings such as Bali or Kuala Lumpur. The post-conflict context introduces a dimension of social repair and identity reconstruction that transforms the interpretation of linguistic choices: what in a neutral urban context might be read as mere commercial branding (e.g., displaying Madurese ethnic identity through Sate Madura Cak Nuzul) becomes, in Sampit's specific sociohistorical context, a politically and socially charged act of presence and normalization. This contextual specificity is a genuine contribution that existing LL literature, focused predominantly on tourism, migration, or language policy, has not systematically addressed.

Studies that Support and Reinforce the Central Claims

Several prior studies provide particularly strong empirical and theoretical support for the specific findings reported in Lestari et al. (2025). Tektigul et al. (2023), who argue that language functions as a symbol system that carries and reproduces culture in ways extending far beyond denotative labeling, directly underpin the claim that culinary names such as Kopi Wong Nusantara perform cultural meaning rather than simply naming a product. The integration of the Javanese term Wong with the national concept Nusantara illustrates precisely what Tektigul et al. describe as language acting as a cultural carrier that indexes identity, belonging, and shared imaginaries simultaneously. Similarly, Ruan and Lee (2017) and Plautz et al. (2022) support the study's third finding on linguistic hybridity: both confirm that code-mixing in public signage is not a sign of linguistic incoherence but a deliberate adaptive strategy through which multicultural communities negotiate identity across different social groups, a conclusion that resonates with the hybrid naming practices documented in Sampit's culinary landscape.

Poyas and Elkad-Lehman (2020), working in the domain of multicultural literature education, found that encounters with diverse linguistic and cultural texts activate processes of active identity negotiation rather than passive reception. This finding supports Lestari et al.'s argument that the residents and visitors of Sampit who interact with ethnically marked culinary texts are not merely informed about cultural diversity but are drawn into an active, experiential encounter with it a claim that is also reinforced by the interview data reported in the study. Sibarani (2020) further strengthens this by demonstrating, in an anthropolinguistic framework, that language practices in public community spaces carry normative and integrative social functions, aligning with the article's conclusion that Sampit's culinary LL actively supports the construction of multicultural awareness and social harmony in the post-conflict era.

Challenging and Complicating the Theoretical Claims

Despite its substantial contributions, Lestari et al. (2025) also invites several critical interrogations when placed in dialogue with other bodies of literature. The study's central thesis that language in the culinary LL performatively produces multiculturalism rests on an optimistic reading of linguistic diversity as inherently constructive of social harmony. However, Ndlovu (2023), in his analysis of Zimbabwe's post-colonial linguistic landscape, cautions that the visibility of certain languages in public space does not automatically translate into social recognition, equity, or reconciliation; top- down renaming practices in Zimbabwe were found to produce symbolic inclusion while masking ongoing structural inequalities. Applied to Sampit, this perspective raises the question of whether the presence of Madurese, Javanese, and Minangkabau linguistic markers in the culinary landscape genuinely indexes social harmony or whether it represents a superficial commercial normalization that leaves unresolved the deeper socio-historical tensions that produced the 2001 conflict.

A further complication arises from Schwartz's (2018) anthropolinguistic work on dormant language communities, which warns against conflating the use of ethnic linguistic markers in commercial contexts with authentic community language vitality or agency. When Madurese identity is performed through a restaurant name for the purpose of consumer attraction, the performative act is mediated by market logic rather than by community-led language practice — a distinction that Duranti's performativity framework, as applied by Lestari et al., does not fully address. Rezaei and Tadayyon (2018), in their study of Isfahan's linguistic landscape, similarly found that the display of minority language in public space reflects primarily commercial opportunity rather than genuine ethnolinguistic empowerment, suggesting that the commercial performativity of identity and the social performativity of harmony may be analytically distinct phenomena that the present study tends to conflate. These critical perspectives do not invalidate Lestari et al.'s contribution but point to a necessary next step: disaggregating commercial identity performance from community-level language agency in order to produce a more nuanced account of how linguistic landscape functions in post-conflict multicultural urban spaces.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

This research confirms that the culinary linguistic landscape in Sampit City is a performative space that actively constructs and presents multiculturalism through language practices in the public sphere. The use of Indonesian, regional languages, and foreign languages serves not only as a means of communication, but also as a medium for representing cultural identity, a symbolic and commercial strategy, and a form of hybridity that reflects the social dynamics of the community. Empirical data such as "Soto Lamongan," "Coto Makassar," "Rumah Makan Sari Bundo," "Kopi Wong Nusantara," and "Sate Madura Cak Nuzul" demonstrate that language performatively presents ethnic identities within the urban space. From a performativity perspective, language not only reflects social reality but also contributes to the production and negotiation of this diversity in everyday life. Thus, the linguistic landscape not only depicts cultural diversity in Sampit City but also plays an active role in shaping, strengthening, and maintaining multicultural practices in the public sphere. For future research, it is recommended that studies on linguistic landscape in multicultural contexts expand the scope of analysis beyond culinary spaces to include other public domains such as markets, places of worship, and educational institutions, in order to obtain a more comprehensive picture of how language performs cultural identity across different social settings. Longitudinal research designs are also encouraged, particularly in post-conflict cities such as Sampit, to track how the linguistic landscape evolves over time as part of broader processes of social reconstruction and inter-ethnic reconciliation. In addition, future studies should employ participatory methodologies that position community members, including ethnic minority groups and local business owners, as active contributors to the research process, thereby ensuring that the voices and intentions behind linguistic choices in public space are more fully represented in scholarly analysis.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The researcher would like to express his deepest appreciation and gratitude to the Education Fund Management Institute (LPDP) through the Education Financing Service Center (PUSLAPDIK) and the Higher Education Management Agency (BPPT) under the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia for the information, policy, and financing support that has been provided. This support is very meaningful in completing this research. The researcher would also like to thank the parties who have helped provide insight, input, and assistance during the research process, so that these results can be completed properly. Hopefully, the contribution of this research can provide significant benefits for academic and community development.

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