NEW CULTURAL LANDSCAPE CREATED BY SYRIAN MIGRANTS ARABIC VISUALS AND FEATURES IN ŞANLIURFA CITY

According to November 2019 data, there are 429.888 Syrian migrants in Şanlıurfa. Also, a significant part of this number lives in Haliliye (101.696), Eyyübiye (63.760) and Karaköprü (4,545), which constitute the central districts.This intensity also has determined the social, cultural and economic impact of migrants in the city. One of the most important of these influences is their impact on the linguistic landscape in the city. Indeed, the change in linguistic visuals in the city is the result of sudden and intense migrations. In fact, this change is observed in all areas of daily life (transportation services, educational institutions, workplaces, walls, hospitals, various poles, etc.). Therefore, it is necessary to state that this structure has become a new cultural landscape and cultural identity. In this study, the characteristics of Arabic visuals and their distribution in the city are discussed. The first point is about the type of Arabic visuals in the city. In this context, the majority of these images are printed images. As a matter of fact, 83.1% of 1.259 images observed in the city consist of printed posters, signs, labels and advertisements. Other visuals are handwritten (13.3%), electronic signage (2.1%) and graffiti (1.5%). The distribution of these images in the city, especially the concentration areas of the Syrian migrants has been decisive. Accordingly, after the Central Business Area, the second density area are Devteşti, Süleymaniye, Bamyasuyu and Eyyubiye districts. The third feature is related to the language used in the visuals and its features. Accordingly, almost half of the 1.259 images (42.1%) consist only of Arabic. In others, Turkish or English has been used as a second/third language with Arabic. In the ranking of the language in the images, the usage rate of Arabic as the first language is 69.3%. The majority of the visuals (89.9%) are located outside the buildings, there are also various visuals inside the buildings (8.4%) and on vehicles (1.8%). On the other hand, these visuals have concentrated in workplaces.

Keywords

Migration, Syrian Immigrants, Linguistic Landscape, Cultural Landscape, Şanlıurfa