the english of singapore

Copula-deletion

Phonetic differences

Topic-comment

• No definition between voiced and voiceless fricatives in spoken Singlish:

e.g: 'rice' and 'rise'

• Voiced and voiceless plosives in final position not distinguished:

'back' instead of 'bag'

• Voiceless stops /p/, /t/ and /k/ are sometimes ‘unaspirated’ which refers to the

forceful puff of air that accompanies the release of these stop

• Dental fricatives such as /t/ and /d/ merge with each other: ‘then’ would sound like ‘den.’

• Glottal stop is inserted at the start of all words with a vowel

• Like German, it results in final consonants running onto the next word

“run out of eggs”

“run-nout-to-veggs.”

Entire verb + noun

phrase deletion

• The deletion of copular verbs - also known as 'copula-deletion' - is one of the more distinct linguistic markers of Singlish

• Copular verbs are special kinds of auxiliaries that are used to join adjectives or noun complements to a subject. Common examples include be (is, am, are, was, were), appear, seem, look, sound, smell, taste, feel, become and get.

• Largely Mandarin influence - Mandarin does not use a copular verb. As such, the copular verb is often omitted from the everyday vocabulary of native Singlish speakers

Ni wèishéme zhèyàng ne?

Literal Mandarin translation: You why like that?

Standard English: Why are you like that?

Why you like that? / Why you like that one?

Standard English/SSE: I am going over to your house now

I going over to your house now (The copular verb am is omitted)

"Yes of course! That shouldn't be a problem in the slightest. In fact, I'd be more than happy to do it!"

"Can"

"I have checked with those necessary and I can assure you without the slightest bit of doubt, that what you have asked for is impossible."

"Confirm cannot, one!"

"Yes, that should be fine."

"Can lah!"

• The topic, or subject, of a sentence is often shifted to the beginning in Singlish and given prominence, then followed by the comment

• Both noun and verb phrases can be shifted to the front

• Largely Chinese and Malay influence

zhè běn shū wo qùnián dú guò

Literal Mandarin Translation: This book I read last year

Standard Mandarin and English Translation:

I read this book last year

"This book I last year then read"

"This book I last year than read one"

Lack of marking and tense agreement in verb forms

Phonology

"Oh, she went to the market yesterday"

"Oh, she go market yesterday"

"She studied really hard yesterday"

"She study very hard yesterday."

"She studies so hard!"

"She study so hard!

• Multiple differences between Standard English and Singlish

• Consonants and intonation

• Known to be spoken at an

extremely quick pace

• Distinct rhythm

• Standard English is spoken

at a much slower pace and

words/phrases are more

pronounced

Morphology

What is Singlish?

• Since the 1970s, the use of Singapore English

has been a widely discussed and debated topic

• Often considered a 'lazy

departure' from Standard

English

• Has become a creole on

its own right

• Distinct morphological

features

• An English-based creole language

• Early waves of ethnic Chinese, Malay and Indian immigrants brought with them their various native languages and dialects such as Hokkien, Cantonese and Teochew

• Singlish eventually developed from a pidgin to a full-fledged creole language to bridge the societal linguistic gap (Trudgill, P 2003) between its multilinguistic population and serve as the main vehicle of inter-ethnic communication (Harada, S 2009)

• A form of English greatly influenced by the native languages of the different races and cultures living in Singapore such as the abovementioned Chinese dialects (e.g: Hokkien, Cantonese and Teochew) as well as Malay and Tamil

• Has become a completely new language on its own with its own set of syntactic, morphological and phonological features

History

Discourse Particles

• Modern Singapore was founded in 1819 and established as a British trading colony by a British man known as Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles

• Large numbers of immigrants from mainly China, India and the Malay Archipelago began flocking to Singapore in search of economic stability (Yeoh, B & Lin, W 2012)

• Melting pot of different cultures and races

• Ethnic Chinese (77%), Malays (14%), Indians (8%) and others such as those of Eurasian descent

The Future of Singlish

• Chinese and Malay influence, but largely from the Chinese dialects Hokkien and Cantonese (eds Lefebvre, C 2011, p. 274)

• Often tacked onto the end of clause types

Lah/La (Hokkien) - Can be used in imperative clause types by speakers to infer camaraderie or to soften a command

Mah (Cantonese) - Used in imperative clause types; similar to the colloquial usage of the word 'duh' in Standard English

• Especially interesting is the unique use of the word 'one'

• Expresses the speaker's view that there is only one way of thinking about something; or as a means of exaggeration

• While we do not impose our viewpoints on others in Standard English, we can in Singlish

"Why you must be so annoying one......"

• The use of 'one' can be used across the whole spectrum of clause types

• Signifies that Singaporeans often do not separate what they think and know

in a way that is routine in Standard English

• Used more in social settings (with friends, at

home, the local markets) than in formal and

corporate situations

• Has naturally infiltrated popular culture

• Television sitcoms and comedies, movies and

books

• Local movie and television productions such

as Ah Boys to Men and Phua Chu Kang

incorporate Singlish

• 'Speak Good English' movement

• Introduced by government to counteract the

infiltration of Singlish into such popular

domains

• Criticised as a poor representation of

Singaporeans on the global stage

• Singlish still remains, however, an important

part of national identity of many

Singaporeans

Presented by: Bella, Teon and Nicole

the english of singapore