Language competition in the era of globalization : a case study of shop signs in Iraq

الملخص EN

Despite the fact that Iraq is not a bilingual country, English is virtually visible in the Iraqi public sphere.

After 2003, Iraq entered the front line of globalization and English started competing and gaining lands at the expense of Arabic.

The visibility and salience of English language in public sphere is a very growing phenomenon.

Accordingly, the current study aims at exploring language competition in the business sector of Iraq.

It is more concerned with investigating English language status and interference on private shop signs in the city of Diwaniya, Iraq.

The analysis evidences that English language has a prominent status in the field of shop signs in Iraq, and English is mainly used as a token of modernity and fashion to draw the customers attention to shops.