Singlish

Not to be confused with Singapore English or Simlish.

Singlish
Native toSingapore
RegionSoutheast Asia
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
Glottologsing1272
IETFcpe-SG
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Exaggerated Singlish on an advertising board outside a cafe in Pulau Ubin
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Singlish (a portmanteau of Singapore and English), formally known as Colloquial Singaporean English, is an English-based creole language originating in Singapore.[1][2][3] Singlish arose out of a situation of prolonged language contact between speakers of many different Asian languages in Singapore, such as Malay, Cantonese, Hokkien, Mandarin, Teochew, and Tamil.[4] The term Singlish was first recorded in the early 1970s.[5]

Singlish originated with the arrival of the British and the establishment of English language education in Singapore.[6] Elements of English quickly filtered out of schools and onto the streets, resulting in the development of a pidgin language[7] spoken by non-native speakers as a lingua franca used for communication between speakers of the many different languages used in Singapore. Singlish evolved mainly among the working classes who learned elements of English without formal schooling, mixing in elements of their native languages.[8] After some time, this new pidgin language, now combined with substantial influences from Peranakan, southern varieties of Chinese, Malay, and Tamil, became the primary language of the streets. As Singlish grew in popularity, children began to acquire Singlish as their native language, a process known as creolization. Through this process of creolization, Singlish became a fully-formed, stabilized and independent creole language, acquiring a more robust vocabulary and more complex grammar, with fixed phonology, syntax, morphology, and syntactic embedding.[9][10]

Like all languages, Singlish and other creole languages show consistent internal logic and grammatical complexity, and are used naturally by a group of people to express thoughts and ideas.[11] Due to its origins, Singlish shares many similarities with other English-based creole languages. As with many other creole languages, it is sometimes incorrectly perceived to be a "broken" form of the lexifier language - in this case, English.[12] Due in part to this perception of Singlish as "broken English", the use of Singlish is greatly frowned on by the government. In 2000, the government launched the Speak Good English Movement to eradicate Singlish,[13] although more recent Speak Good English campaigns are conducted with tacit acceptance of Singlish as valid for informal usage.[9] Several current and former Singaporean prime ministers have publicly spoken out against Singlish.[14][15][16] However, the prevailing view among contemporary linguists is that, regardless of perceptions that a dialect or language is "better" or "worse" than its counterparts, when dialects and languages are assessed "on purely linguistic grounds, all languages—and all dialects—have equal merit".[17][18][19]

In addition, there have been recent surges in the interest of Singlish internationally, sparking several national conversations. In 2016, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) added 19 new "Singapore English" items such as "hawker centre", "shiok", and "sabo" to both its online and printed versions. Several Singlish words were previously included in the OED's online version, including "lah" and "kiasu".[20] Reactions were generally positive for this part of Singaporean identity to be recognized on a global level, and Singlish has been commonly associated with the country and is considered a unique aspect of Singaporean culture.[21][22]

  1. ^ Yoon, David. "STANDARD ENGLISH AND SINGLISH: THE CLASH OF LANGUAGE VALUES IN CONTEMPORARY SINGAPORE" (PDF). La Trobe University. Retrieved 29 May 2015. Singaporean English or Singlish, as it is better known to the local populace, is an English creole that has long been a contesting issue between pro–Singlish and anti–Singlish proponents.
  2. ^ "Chinese-based lexicon in Singapore English, and Singapore-Chinese culture" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 November 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
  3. ^ "Events - Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics" (PDF). www.ling-phil.ox.ac.uk.
  4. ^ "Chinese-based lexicon in Singapore English, and Singapore-Chinese culture" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 November 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
  5. ^ Lambert, James. 2018. A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity. English World-wide, 39(1): 30. DOI: 10.1075/eww.38.3.04lam
  6. ^ Gupta, Anthea Fraser (1994) The Step-tongue: Children's English in Singapore, Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, p. 35.
  7. ^ Ong, Kenneth Keng Wee (2017). "Textese and Singlish in multiparty chats". World Englishes. 36 (4): 5,17. doi:10.1111/weng.12245. Historically, Singlish has evolved from an English-based pidgin
  8. ^ Napitupulu, Andi; Simanjuntak, Be. "Singapore English (Singlish)". Yuan Ze University: 3. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. ^ a b Wong, Tessa (6 August 2015). "The rise of Singlish" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  10. ^ Wardhaugh (2002:56–57)
  11. ^ Labov, William (1969). "The logic of non-standard English". Georgetown Monograph on Language and Linguistics (22): 1–44.
  12. ^ CAVALLARO, FRANCESCO; NG, BEE CHIN; SEILHAMER, MARK FIFER (1 September 2014). "Singapore Colloquial English: Issues of prestige and identity". World Englishes. 33 (3): 378–397. doi:10.1111/weng.12096. hdl:10220/38871. ISSN 0883-2919.
  13. ^ Rubdy, Rani (2001) "Creative destruction: Singapore English's Speak Good English movement", World Englishes, 20(3), 341–355.
  14. ^ Jeremy Au Young (22 September 2007). "Singlish? Don't make it part of Spore identity: PM". The Straits Times.
  15. ^ Deterding, David (2007) Singapore English, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 90-91.
  16. ^ "NYT op-ed on Singlish makes light of efforts to promote standard English: PM's press secretary". Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  17. ^ Fox 1999
  18. ^ O'Grady et al. 2001, p. 7
  19. ^ Fasold & Connor-Linton 2006, p. 387
  20. ^ hermesauto (12 May 2016). "Shiok! 19 Singlish items added to the Oxford English Dictionary". The Straits Times.
  21. ^ ABDUL RAHMAN, NOOR ASHIKIN (13 May 2016). "Some find new Singlish terms in Oxford dictionary 'ridiculous'". AsiaOne. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  22. ^ Wong, Theresa (6 August 2015). "The rise of Singlish". bbc.com. BBC News. Retrieved 27 December 2020. Singapore is known for its efficiency and Singlish is no different - it's colourful and snappy. You don't have a coffee - you "lim kopi". And if someone asks you to join them for a meal but you've already had dinner, you simply say: "Eat already." Singlish first emerged when Singapore gained independence 50 years ago, and decided that English should be the common language for all its different races. That was the plan. It worked out slightly differently though, as the various ethnic groups began infusing English with other words and grammar. English became the official language, but Singlish became the language of the street.