1. Introduction1.1 Background of the StudyThe use of language on signage in public space has been the concern of bilingual and multilingual countries. Officially monolingual countries also paid attention to the languages ​​present in signage (Backhaus). As a result, some countries have approved language use policies on signs in urban environments under the umbrella of the general language policy. International organizations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), have also ratified the issue of sign language use, so that nation states formulate policies that address such linguistic issues as one of the fundamental areas of human rights. To this end, the UNESCO Declaration on the Use of Language is very broad and affirms the right to use one's language in many contexts. Among these contexts of use, it is stated that traffic signs, advertisements, etc. they are written in a language understandable by the users, possibly their own language (UNESCO Article 50). In particular, the UNESCO declaration states that “all linguistic communities have the right to have their language occupy a prominent place in advertising, signage, external signage and the image of the country as a whole” (Article 50.1). This shows that it is an obligation to use signs in a language familiar to the community in various contexts. Broadly speaking, all of these fall within the areas of investigation of the linguistic panorama (LL). In the Ethiopian context, although the country has been multilingual, it was officially recognized and approved very recently. The approval of the multilingual nature of the country was motivated by historical facts, in an attempt to correct a previous history of linguistic discrimination that built a nation on monolingual terrain…… middle of paper……fields such as “ linguistics, geography, education , sociology, politics, environmental studies, semiotics, communication, architecture, urban planning, literacy, applied linguists, and economics” (Shohamy and Gorter 1). From a language planning and policy perspective, it helps to understand how government policies are implemented through linguistic expression in written form in public space, particularly on public signs, by both official and private agencies. Similarly, by using private signs as an indicator of linguistic representation, the LL study can provide details on how government language policies are practiced at a bottom-up level. Using the LL it is possible to investigate multilingualism, language status and language policy. This potential of LL research has been confirmed by many researchers and will be presented extensively in the conceptual review part of