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Singlish, a Portmanteau of the words ''' Singapore an''' and ''' English ''', is the English -based Creole spoken colloquially in Singapore . Although it is a Dialect of English, Singlish may be difficult to understand for a speaker of another dialect of English, such as British English or American English . The main difficulties in understanding are Singlish's unique Slang and Syntax , which are more pronounced in informal speech. OVERVIEW Singlish originated with the arrival of the British and the establishment of English Language schools in Singapore. Soon, English filtered out of schools and onto the streets, to be picked up by non-English-speakers in a Pidgin -like form for communication purposes. After some time, this new form of English, now loaded with substantial influences from Indian English , Baba Malay , and the southern varieties of Chinese , became a fully-formed, stabilized, and independent English creole. Singlish shares substantial linguistic similarities with Malaysian English (Manglish) in Malaysia , although distinctions can be made, particularly in vocabulary. One noticeable difference is that "don't know" in Singlish is usually "donno", whereas in Manglish, "don't know" is used more often. However, there is some crossover. When Singapore and Malaysia were a single geographic entity - Malaya - Singlish and Manglish were a single dialect. In old Malaya, English was the language of the British administration, while Malay was spoken as the lingua franca. After Singapore's independence in 1965, and its subsequent "Speak Mandarin" Campaigns , a subtle language shift occurred within the younger generations. Malay idioms were (and continue to be) displaced by phrases borrowed from Chinese spoken varieties, such as Hokkien. The English language in Singapore is a Sociolect continuum. The continuum runs through the following varieties: , with the exception of some pronunciation differences that occur due to the influence of Singlish pronunciation. Acrolectal Singaporean English does exhibit, however, a much smaller degree of Singlish pronunciation features than do Mesolectal, Basilectal, and pidgin variants of Singlish. For example, speakers of acrolectal Singaporean English attempt to restore the Phoneme s /θ/ and /ð/ (as in th'''in and '''th'''en). Mesolect al: This is more "middle-class", and is used in formal and semi-formal situations. At this level, features not found in other forms of English begin to emerge. ''', lexical, and Grammatical features of Singlish. Many of these features can be attributed to Asian languages such as the Chinese languages, Malay , or Indian languages such as Tamil , though some cannot. ''' took place and solidified Singlish as a fully-formed creole. Like all Pidgin s, speakers at the pidgin level speak another language as a first language, and Singlish as a second language. However, since many people today learn Singlish natively, the number of speakers at the "pidgin" level of Singlish is dwindling. (By definition, a Pidgin is not learned natively.) The coexistence of basilectal Singlish and acrolectal Standard English can also be analyzed as a Diglossia , which is a split between a "high" formal language and a "low" informal language. The phenomenon of Code Switching , or the alternation between multiple languages within the same conversation, further complicates the linguistic situation in Singapore. Since many Singaporeans can speak English at multiple points along the sociolect spectrum, code switching can occur very frequently between acrolectal and basilectal Singaporean English. In addition, as many Singaporeans are also speakers of the Chinese languages, Malay , or Indian languages such as Tamil , code switching between English and other languages also occurs very frequently. Usage in society Due to its origins, Singlish shares many similarities with Pidgin varieties of English, and can easily give off the impression of "broken English" or "bad English" to a speaker of some other, less divergent variety of English. In addition, the profusion of Singlish features, especially Loanword s from Asian languages, Mood Particles , and Topic-prominent structure, can easily make Singlish downright incomprehensible to a Briton or American. As a result, the use of Singlish is greatly frowned on by the government, and two former prime ministers, Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong , have publicly declared that Singlish is substandard English that handicaps Singaporeans, presents an obstacle to learning good English, and renders the speaker incomprehensible to everyone except another local. In the interest of promoting equality and better communication with the rest of the world, the government has launched the Speak Good English Movement to eradicate it, at least from formal usage. In spite of this, in recent years the use of Singlish on television and radio has proliferated as localized Singlish continues to be popular among most Singaporeans. Singlish is strongly discouraged in Singaporean Schools at a governmental level as it is believed to hinder the proper learning of standard English. The use of Singlish when speaking in classes or to teachers, however officially frowned upon, is rather inevitable given that teachers themselves are comfortable with the dialect. For many students, using Singlish is also inevitable when interacting with their peers, siblings, parents and elders. In Polytechnic s, students feel the greater need to socialise with their peers in a learning environment less rigid than primary or secondary school, and as a result Singlish is popular. The government continues to wage an uphill battle in discouraging students from developing a Singlish-speaking habit. Singaporean men find speaking Singlish necessary during their time in the military, or National Service , as Singlish has replaced Hokkien as the standard vernacular in the Singapore Armed Forces . The informality of Singlish fits well in stressful training situations, and are used among soldiers regardless of ethnic groups and level of education. Many phrases originating in the military have filtered into the lexicon over the years and they have become a method of distinguishing those who have undergone NS. In most workplaces, Singlish is avoided in formal settings, especially at job interviews, meetings with clients, presentations or meetings. Nonetheless, select Singlish phrases are sometimes injected into discussions to build rapport or for a humorous effect, especially when the audience consists mainly of locals. In other informal settings, such as during conversation with friends, or transactions in Kopi Tiam s (coffee shops) and shopping malls, Singlish is used without restriction. The only exception is that that it may be considered impolite to speak Singlish when a foreigner is present, as it is likely that he or she will have difficulty comprehending what is being said. It should also be noted that Singlish itself consists of a diverse continuum ranging from an Acrolect that is very similar to British or American English, to a Mesolect that is more divergent, to a Basilect that is nearly incomprehensible to the average native speaker of English. In a formal situation, the acrolect may be acceptable, while the basilect would be unacceptable; in an informal situation, the situation may be reversed with the acrolect being too stiff and the basilect more acceptable. PHONOLOGY Singlish Pronunciation , while built on a base of British English , is also heavily influenced by Chinese and Malay. There is variation within Singlish, both geographically and ethnically. Chinese, Malays, Indians, Eurasians, and other ethnic groups in Singapore all have distinct accents. The East Coast area, particularly the districts that stretch from Siglap to Katong, is renowned as a residential and cultural mecca of sorts for the Peranakan and the Eurasian communities. The teaching professions, especially teaching English, was a popular option in the Eurasian community from the beginning of the last century up till the 1970's. As a result, whole generations of school children in the Siglap/Katong districts were taught English with a Eurasian accent. For example, words like "door" and "four" were pronounced as "doe" and "foe". The phonology of Singlish: Consonants (See International Phonetic Alphabet for an in-depth guide to the symbols.) In general:
Vowels Monophthong s Diphthongs The vowel system of Singlish can be generally derived by merging vowel Phoneme s in the British Received Pronunciation vowel system. The following describes a typical system. Some speakers may further merge // and //; other speakers make a distinction between // and //, // and //, or // and //. At the acrolectal level, the merged vowel Phoneme s are distinguished to an extent, and elements from American English are introduced, such as Rhotic Vowels (pronouncing the "r" in bird, port, etc.) // remains // in Singlish, except when followed by a voiced plosive (/b/, /d/, or /g/), in which case it becomes // among some speakers. // remains // in Singlish, except when followed by /l/, in which case it monophthongizes to //. Examples of words have idiosyncratic pronunciations: flour // (expected: // = '''flower''') their // (expected: // = '''there''') Flour/flower and their/there are therefore not homophones in Singlish. In general, Singlish vowels are tenser — there are no lax vowels (which RP has in pit, '''put''', and so forth). The diphthongs are pronounced with less glide than the Diphthong s in RP. The vowels of '''day''' and '''low''' are pronounced as Monophthong s—i.e. vowels with no glide. In addition, where other varieties of English have an unstressed //, reduced from another vowel, Singlish tends to restore the full vowel based on orthography. This is because Singlish de-emphasizes the role of stress. This can be seen in words such as accept //, '''e'''xample //, purchase //, maint'''e'''nance //, pr'''e'''s'''e'''ntation //, and so on. In loanwords from Hokkien that contain Nasal Vowel s, the nasalization is often kept - one prominent example being the Mood Particle hor, pronounced as //—somewhat like the vowel in French '''dent'''. Prosody One of the most prominent and noticeable features of Singlish is its unique intonation pattern, which is quite unlike British or American English . For example:
GRAMMAR The grammar of Singlish has been heavily influenced by other languages and dialects in the region, such as Malay and Chinese , with some structures being identical to ones in Mandarin and other Chinese languages. As a result, Singlish has acquired some unique features, especially at the basilectal level. Note that all of the features described below disappear at the acrolectal level, as people in formal situations tend to adjust their speech towards accepted norms found in other varieties of English. Topic prominent Singlish is Topic-prominent , like Chinese . This means that Singlish sentences often begin with a topic (or a known reference of the conversation), followed by a comment (or new information). Compared to other varieties of English, the Semantic relationship between topic and comment is not important; moreover, nouns, verbs, adverbs, and even entire subject-verb-object phrases can all serve as the topic:
The above constructions can be translated analogously into Chinese , with little change to the word order. The topic can be omitted when the context is clear, or shared between clauses. This results in constructions that appear to be missing a subject to a speaker of British or American English:
Nouns Nouns are optionally marked for Plurality . Article s are also optional:
It is more common to mark the plural in the presence of a Modifier that implies plurality, such as "many" or "both".
To be The Copula , which is the verb "to be" in most varieties of English, is treated somewhat differently in Singlish: When occurring with an adjective, "to be" tends to drop out, and is often replaced by an Adverb , such as "very". The use of an adverb as the copula is strongly reminiscent of Chinese usage:
When occurring with "-ing" to form the continuous Aspect , "to be" may similarly drop out, leaving the "-ing" form as the independent continuous form:
Slightly less common is the dropping out of "to be" when used as an equative between two nouns, or as a Locative :
In general, "to be" drops out more behind nouns and pronouns (except "I", "he", and "she"), and much less behind a Clause (what I think is...) or a Demonstrative (this is...). The past tense Past tense marking is optional in Singlish. Marking of the past tense occurs most consistently in Strong Verb s (or irregular verbs), as well as verbs ending on -t and -d, such as:
Due to consonant cluster simplification, the past tense is unmarked when it is part of a complex Consonant cluster:
The past tense tends to be unmarked if the verb in question goes on for an extended period, rather than as an isolated event (compare French imperfect):
Change of state Instead of the past tense, a change of state can be expressed by adding ''already'' or ''liao'' (//) to the end of the sentence, analogous to Chinese 了 (''le''). This is not the same as the past tense, as it does not cover past habitual or continuous occurrences, and can refer to a real or hypothetical change of state in the past, present or future:
Negation Negation works in general like English, with not added after "to be", "to have", or Modal s, and '''don't''' before all other verbs. Contractions (can't, shouldn't) are used alongside their uncontracted forms. However, due to final cluster simplification, the -t drops out from negative forms, and -n may also drop out after nasalizing the previous vowel. This makes nasalization the only mark of the negative.
Another effect of this is that in the verb "can", its positive and negative forms are distinguished only by Vowel :
Also, never is used as a negative past tense marker, and does not have to carry the English meaning. In this construction, the negated verb is never put into the past-tense form:
Interrogative In addition to the usual way of forming yes-no questions, Singlish uses two more constructions: In a construction similar (but not identical) to Chinese , or not is appended to the end of sentences to form yes/no questions. ''Or not'' cannot be used with sentences already in the negative:
The phrase is it is also appended to the end of sentences to form yes-no questions. It is generic like the French '' n'est-ce pas?'', regardless of the actual verb in the sentence. '''Is it''' implies that the speaker is simply confirming something he/she has already inferred:
There are also many discourse particles, such as hah, '''hor''', '''meh''', '''ar''', that are used in questions. (See the "Discourse particles" section further down in this article.) Reduplication Another feature strongly reminiscent of Chinese and Malay , verbs are often repeated (e.g., TV personality Phua Chu Kang's "don't pray-pray!" pray = play.) In general verbs are repeated twice to indicate the Delimitative Aspect (that the action goes on for a short period), and three times to indicate greater length and continuity:
The use of verb repetition also serve to provide a more vivid description of an activity:
In another usage reminiscent of Chinese, Noun s referring to people can be repeated for intimacy. Only monosyllabic nouns can be repeated:
Adjective s of one or two syllables can also be repeated for intensification:
Due to the frequent use of these repetitions on short words, Singlish expressions often sound as if they are spoken by children, which non-Singlish speakers find quite amusing. This partly explains Singlish's popularity as an informal, simple and sometimes intimate language. ''Kena'' ''Kena'' is used as an auxiliary to mark the passive voice, in addition to "to be" and "to get". It is derived from the Malay word with the same spelling that means to encounter or to come into physical contact. ''Kena'' can be used with either the infinitive or the past participle. It must be used with a verb that affects the subject in a negative way, and is similar in this respect to passive markers in Chinese, such as Hokkien ''tio'' or Mandarin 被 ''bèi'':
Not:
When the context is given, ''Kena'' may be used without a verb:
Other Singlish phrases with ''Kena''
''One'' The word ''one'' is used to emphasize the Predicate of the sentence by implying that it is unique and characteristic. It is analogous to the use of particles like 嘅 ''ge'' in Cantonese, 啲 ''e'' in Hokkien, or 的 ''de'' in southern-influenced Mandarin. ''One'' used in this way does not correspond to any use of the word "one" in British or American English :
Under the influence of southern-influenced Mandarin, ''de'' can also be used in place of ''one''. Discourse particles Particles in Singlish are highly comparable to Chinese . In general, Discourse Particle s occur at the end of a sentence. Their presence change the meaning or the tone of the sentence, but not its grammaticality. Particles are noted for keeping their Tones regardless of the remainder of the sentence. Most of the particles are directly borrowed from southern Chinese varieties, with the tones intact. ''Lah'' The ubiquitous word lah (//) is used at the end of a sentence. Lim (2004) describes it as a particle that simultaneously asserts a position and entices solidarity. Note that 'lah' is often written after a comma for clarity, but there is never a pause before a lah. This is because in the original Malay, 'lah' is appended to the end of the word and is not a separate word by itself. In Malay, 'lah' is used to change a verb into a command or to soften its tone, particularly when usage of the verb may seem impolite. To drink is ''minum'', but 'Here, drink!' is ''minumlah''. Similarly, 'lah' is frequently used with imperatives in Singlish:
'Lah' also occurs frequently with "Yah" and "No" (hence "Yah lah" and "No lah"). The results sound less brusque and facilitate the flow of conversation. ''Lah'' is often used with brusque, short, negative responses:
''Lah'' is also used for reassurance:
''Lah'' can also be used to emphasize items in a spoken list, appearing after each item in the list. Although ''lah'' can appear nearly anywhere, it cannot appear with a yes-no question. Another particle should be used instead:
''Wat'' The particle wat (//), also spelled '''what''', is used to remind or contradict the listener, especially when strengthening another assertion that follows from the current one:
''Mah'' Mah (//) is used to assert that something is obvious and final, and is usually used only with statements that are already patently true. This may seem condescending to the listener:
''Lor'' Lor (//), also spelled '''lorh''' or '''loh''', is a casual, sometimes jocular way to assert upon the listener either direct observations or obvious inferences. It also carries a sense of resignation, that "it happens this way and can't be helped":
''Leh'' Leh (//) is used to soften a command, request, claim or complaint that may be brusque otherwise:
''Hor'' Hor (//), also spelled '''horh''', is used to ask for the listener's attention and consent/support:
''Ar'' Ar (//), also spelled '''arh''' or '''ah''', is inserted between topic and comment (often to give a negative tone):
Ar (//) with a rising tone is used to reiterate a rhetorical question:
Ar (//) with a mid-level tone, on the other hand, is used to mark a genuine question that does require a response: ('or not' can also be used in this context.)
''Hah'' Hah (//), also spelled '''har''', is used to express disbelief or used in a questioning manner.
''Meh'' Meh (//) is used to form questions expressing surprise or skepticism:
''Siah'' //, also spelled Sia, is used to express envy and for emphasis. The term "siah" is derived from the Malay word "sial" which means unlucky or damned. The term sial is still used extensively in the Malay context.
''Nia'' Nia is the short form for "Only ah". Used to show that something is diminutive or of a paltry amount. "Ah" in this case can either be used to question or be used to answer a question.
Summary Summary of discourse and other particles: Miscellaneous "There is"/"there are" and "has"/"have" are both expressed using got, so that sentences can be translated in either way back into British / American English. This is equivalent to the Chinese 有 ''yǒu'' (to have):
Can is used extensively as both a question particle and an answer particle. The negative is ''cannot''.
''Can'' can be repeated for greater emphasis or to express enthusiasm:
The Malay word with the same meaning boleh can be used in place of ''can'' to add a greater sense of multiculturalism in the conversation. The person in a dominant position may prefer to use ''boleh'' instead:
The phrase like that is commonly appended to the end of the sentence to emphasize descriptions by adding vividness and continuousness. Due to its frequency of use, it is often pronounced '''lidat''' (lye-dat):
''Like that'' can also be used as in British or American English :
In British/American English, "also" is used before the predicate, while "too" is used after the predicative at the end of the sentence. In Singlish, "also" (pronounced oso, see phonology section above) can be used in either position.
"Also" is also used as a Conjunction . In this case, "A also B" corresponds to "B although A". This stems from Chinese, where the words 也 (yě), 還 (hái) or 都 (dōu) (meaning also, usage depends on dialect or context) would be used to express these sentences.
The order of the verb and the subject in an indirect question is the same as a direct question.
"Ownself" is often used in place of "yourself", or more accurately, "yourself" being an individual, in a state of being alone.
Not all expressions with the ''-self'' pronouns should be taken literally, but as the omission of "by":
VOCABULARY Singlish formally takes after British English (in terms of Spelling and Abbreviation s), although naming conventions are in a mix of American and British ones (with American ones on the rise). For instance, local media have "sports pages" (sport in British English) and "soccer coverage" (the use of the word "soccer" is not common in British media). Singlish also uses many words borrowed from Hokkien , the Chinese dialect native to more than 75% of the Chinese community in Singapore, and from Malay . In many cases, English words take on the meaning of their Chinese counterparts, resulting in a shift in meaning. This is most obvious in such cases as "borrow"/"lend", which are functionally equivalent in Singlish and mapped to the same Mandarin word, "借" (jiè), which can mean to lend or to borrow. ("Oy, seow-eh, can lend me your calculator?") The following list of examples is far from complete, as new Singlish words appear once in a while, usually due to a certain fad or a casual utterance by an individual. Examples:
Ordering at a coffee shop
English words with different meanings in Singlish
Expressions
SINGLISH IN POP CULTURE Movie
Television
Literature These published works are generally in English, but they describe the prevalence of Singlish in Singapore, and use many Singlish terms such as in dialogue.
SEE ALSO REFERENCES
EXTERNAL LINKS
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