In defence of Singlish
An anti-Singlish editorial in the Straits Time (May 2, 2000) was
yet another attack by a Singapore opinion leader, but the issue
needs a less reactionary approach. Firstly, like nearly all
official campaigns against language issues, there will be little to
show for the money spent. Language change is driven by forces
nearly always well beyond the control of governments and newspaper
editors. Even Stalin failed, and governments more sensitive to
public opinion risk looking foolish. Secondly, the concerns that
Singlish is a danger to the international competitiveness of
Singapore are wrong. Many English speakers around the world speak
non-standard dialects of English as their main language, yet they
are still fluent in standard English. In fact, leading researchers
say that less than 15% of native-born Britons speak standard
English as their everyday dialect1 See the papers linked
below.
Speaking different dialects in different situations is called
"diglossia", and happens everywhere there are dialects of different
prestige. In Singapore, Singlish is the low prestige dialect, and
standard English is the high prestige dialect.
Actually, there is no one "Singlish". At its most extreme, it has
relatively few speakers, just as standard English is Singapore
hardly ever is exactly the same as the English of the Home
Counties. However, it is clear the most Singaporeans who can speak
Standard English also use a different form of English that we call
Singlish, and which of these two forms they use is easily
predictable depending on the social situation. Using two dialects
for different social purposes is called "Diglossia", and it has
been widely researched, in Singapore and in many other places. The
research goes back decades. It can be difficult to find a good way
of explaining to standard English speakers how people can easily
move between different dialects because the variation in English
dialects around the world is usually not very great2 "Grammatical
differences between Standard English and other dialects are in fact
rather few in number, although of course they are very significant
socially" Trudgill . Most people think of "Cockney" as being a
separate dialect, although most of the characteristics of "Cockney"
that make it a "dialect" are pronunciation based, not grammar
based. However, "Cockney" can still illustrate the key points.
First, we need a definition of fluency in standard English using a
few tests, and then we ask if "Cockney" speakers can pass these
tests. My tests are
Cockneys can sustain a ten minute, two-way conversation with a
member of the British royal family (or Hugh Grant, or a job
interview with a bank manager from Brighton. These are
conversations very likely to be in standard English.)
They can comprehend the Daily Mirror, and they can understand a
London BBC news broadcast and the Queen's annual address (to
linguists, these tests are not as important, but I include them to
show how difficult it is to imagine residents of London not having
good standard English skills).
My claim is not that an East Londoner (or Geoffrey Boycott or a
Norfolk speaker (this is a recording) for that matter) can sound
like a member of the royal family, but by passing these tests in
their ability to produce standard English and understand it, they
demonstrate what I mean by fluency in standard English. At the same
time, they are able to speak perfectly acceptable "Cockney" to
other members of that social group. The United States and England
are full of people who can move between standard English and local
versions of English. This is just as well, because one leading
researcher, Trudgill, estimates that only between 9% and 15% of
Britons actually speak standard English as their main dialect, and
that only 3% speak it with the "official" accent. While researching
this article I came across an old Straits Times article, where a
Singaporean mother complained that her daughter was speaking
perfect standard English until she went to playgroup, where she
learned Singlish from her peers. In fact the daughter was smarter
than the mother; how could she have been accepted by the group if
she kept speaking prestigious standard English in the informal
surrounds of the playground. What a miserable childhood she would
have had, since by rejecting the language of her peers she would
have been rejected by them. Children in Singapore must learn
Singlish or whatever else is the language of their peers, and it's
the same the world over.
Another example close to Singapore is Jakarta. Anyone with basic
Indonesian knows how different the native dialect of Jakartans is
from Bahasa Indonesia, even though Bahasa Jakarta is still the same
language3 Jakarta is the only place in Java where Bahasa Indonesia
is spoken as a mother tongue.. Jakartans need standard Indonesian
to talk with Indonesians from outside Jakarta, and for formal
situations, even when everyone present is from Jakarta. You might
think that native Jakartans get confused between the two dialects
and can't speak good standard Bahasa Indonesia, yet after three
years of living there, I can report that every single native-born4
Migrants from rural areas of Java are native speakers of Javanse, a
completely unrelated language, and sometimes struggle with Bahasa
Indonesia Jakartan I met speaks fine standard Indonesian, be they
professionals, taxi drivers, maids, gardeners, drivers, security
guards or whatever. I don't think too much of relying on personal
anecdotes, but all the native Jakartans I've asked report the same
thing. In other words, native born Jakartans speak two quite
different dialects of Indonesian with ease. This would not be a
surprise to people familiar with research in this area.
Singaporeans easily perform the same thing.
English speakers raised in Singapore learn early in their life how
to use different dialects for different situations, just as people
do in all the other places on the planet with different dialects
for different social needs. Many languages have different dialects
for different social situations, and both Singlish and Bahasa
Jakarta (known as 'slang' by its speakers) are used mainly in
informal circumstances between social peers even when both speakers
know the standard form of the language. The important conclusion is
that usage of Singlish does not mean that Singapore speakers will
be impaired in using standard English.
My reference to "Cockney" above may give the impression that
Singlish is restricted to usage in Singapore by less educated
people, since Cockneys are famously lower class residents of a poor
part of London. In fact, as research by Gupta (see also links
below) and others show, Singlish usage is widespread through all
classes in Singapore, including "bank managers, doctors and
teachers"5 private correspondence, groups who have excellent
command of standard English. In Jakarta, Bahasa Jakarta ("slang")
is also used by all classes.
Despite the negative pressure from the authorities, most
Singaporeans are quietly proud of Singlish, and why not? It is a
fun, energetic and dynamic dialect. If Singaporeans wish for a
separate cultural identity, Singlish is likely to grow in
popularity, no matter what the government does. Not so long ago the
editorial pages of the Straits Times were dismayed by surveys
showing that some young Singaporeans really wanted to be
Westerners. Singlish is strong evidence that most young
Singaporeans are actually moving in the opposite direction; they
want "Singaporean" to mean more than living in an air-conditioned
dot on the map.
As for the concern about international English, who could seriously
deny that these same young Singaporeans are first class speakers of
standard English? No country in Asia has better English skills;
among its service economy rivals, only Australia offers serious
competition in overall language skills. But is there a decline in
English here? No. Spending some time among both older and younger
Singaporeans reveals that English in Singapore is getting better
with successive generations, even as Singlish seems to spread
further and further into the mass media.
English recently became the first language in 2000 years to have
more second-language speakers than native speakers. By using
different dialects of English for both international communication
and for local use, Singapore is not joining a world wide
corruption. It is leading a world wide trend; globalisation means
that people are becoming more protective of their identities even
as they spend more time in contact with the rest of the world. This
will drive language change everywhere, but it will not threaten the
requirement for standard English anywhere.
Clearly, Singapore's language education is working well. In an
island speaking so many languages, there is very good and improving
command of standard English. It's odd to think that Singlish is a
threat to this, because evidence from all over the world says it's
not.
Relax, lah. Singlish is cool, it's homegrown and it's no
problem.
Tim Richardson, Singapore.
Draft written in May 2000. Modified Sept 2000 and March 2001.
I am not a linguist nor involved in language education, language
policy or anything connected to the "language industry". My views
are influenced by my undergraduate studies in Linguistics, and by
my own interests, observations and enjoyment of language.
