Vol. 74 No. 1 (2026): NAMES: A Journal of Onomastics
Articles

Languages of Food Names and Senses of Place: Translingual Practices of Ethnic Heritage Communities in Penang, Malaysia

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  • Seong Lin Ding,
  • Wee Chuen Pek
Seong Lin Ding
University of Malaya
Wee Chuen Pek
New Era University College
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5195/names.2026.2746

Published 2026-03-10

Keywords

  • food names,
  • sense of place,
  • translingual practice,
  • ethnic heritage,
  • Hokkien,
  • Penang,
  • Malaysia
    • ...More
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Copyright (c) 2026 Seong Lin Ding, Wee Chuen Pek

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This paper examines the languages of food and senses of place revealed through traditional food naming by ethnic heritage communities, such as the Hokkiens, in Penang, Malaysia. This study uses ethnographic data, photographic data, geospatial analysis, questionnaire surveys, and interviews to examine (1) how traditional names pertaining to ethnic foods are presented and (2) how traditional Penang Hokkien food names are maintained or standardized toward English/Mandarin. While there is a notable trend of mainstream food narratives emphasizing state-backed national food and the use of main languages in food naming, the present study offers a different glocal understanding of the diversified and small ethnic foods and their translingual naming that highlights the shift in and maintenance of these practices. This study thus extends beyond an account of changing food names to indicate broader linguistic and social changes, possible underlying inequalities, the blurring of ethnic and identity boundaries, the (in)visibility of small ethnic/heritage cultures amid the rise of consumer society and a mainstream national heritage that tends to represent the dominant and majority perspectives.

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