Multiethnic Influences in Lexion of Singlish and the Dilemma of “Speak Good English Movement＂

Multiethnic Influences in Lexion of Singlish and the

Dilemma of “Speak Good English Movement”
英文科教師 蘇瑞雲、朱秋寧

Introduction

Singlish is a marker for Singaporean English. To trace its’ root, it is necessary to

dwell on the colonial history and ethnicity of Singapore. That is, back to 1819, when Sir
Stamford Raffles first arrived at the island, he only found that under two hundred Malay
and Chinese inhabitants there. However, the situation is different today. Singapore
becomes a multicultural and multiethnic country with a population about 3,002,800,
mainly made up of Chinese, Malays, Indians, Tamil and other races (Lau, 1992) nowadays.
To help those races to have interactions, the formation of a nation language is hard to
avoid. Though English has been set as an official language by Singaporean government, it
is not a native language to this island. The mother tongue for Singaporeans might be
Chinese, Malay or Tamil. Thus, for them, English is a learned language mixed with many
Mandarin, Cantonese, or Malay grammatical structures, phonetic features and lexicon,
deriving the so called “Singlish.” Nevertheless, Singlish recently is criticized by its
international unintelligibility. To remove this disadvantage, Singapore government
initiates a campaign named “Speak Good English Movement”, evoking another
controversial issue, national identity. This paper attempts to uncover the multicultural
influences in lexicon of Singlish and the dilemma of speaking Singlish associated with
international acceptability and national identity.

Literature Review

Code-Switching

Some research on Singaporean multicultural and multiethnic backgrounds showed

that code-switching is a common situation in Singlish. Foley (1998) claimed that
code-switching is obvious in children’s speech in Singapore. He analyzed a few speaking
data from Chinese/Singlish, Malay/Singlish, Tamil/Singlish, Cantonese/Singlish bilingual
children. He found a high frequency of code-switching. That is, in every two or three

39
中正學報 第七期

sentences a code-switch would appear in their speech. Terry (2000) also asserted that the
influences of mother tongue in Singaporean English were significant. He reviewed the
formation of Singlish during the colonial period toward today. He found that native
language transfer become part of Singlish both at home and in public after independence.
However, both researchers just generally studied the formation of Singlish in terms of
colonial history and ethnicity without taking the socioeconomic factors and ethnic
interactions into consideration.

Bilingualism in Cosmopolis

Gupta (2000) proposed the term cosmopolis to refer to a city that had in it a
multiplicity of ethnoliguistic groups, such that there is no single dominant ethnolinguisitc
group. He took Singapore as one of his example to show the flexibility and change in
bilingualism. However, he mainly focused on the development of bilingualism but
suggested few specific examples to point out the native language influences in Singlish
lexicon. On the other hand, Chua (1995) stated a similar concept, too. He mentioned that
the cause of bilingualism in Singapore was due to the various ethnic groups. However, he
also failed to explain more about the characteristics of the lexicon used by those
bilinguals.

Speak Good English Movement (SEGM)

Hoon (2003) discussed the campaign subsided by Singapore government. He

mentioned that almost all citizens agreed with the new policy. The policy was practiced
through mass media and the education system. Kang (1992) contended that Singlish was a
colloquial form of Singaporean English, characterized by a mixture of local expressions.
He found that Singaporeans preferred to use Singlish in the informal occasion, but not in
the formal one. However, Bokhorst-Heng (1999) argued that the though SEGM was sound
for promoting national economy, it was not always be equally desirable for specific speech
communities. He contested that the local leadership seemed to ignore the fact that Singlish
served the daily needs of Singaporeans. Mufwene (2001) claimed that no evidence
supported that Singlish was an obstacle for Standard English. He concluded that the
acquisition of Standard English might lead to economic success, but this didn’t mean that
Singlish should be excluded. As indicated, the issue about SEGM was controversial. There
was not a consensus conclusion yet. Thus, further study was still needed to understand the

40
 Multiethnic Influences in Lexion of Singlish and the Dilemma of “Speak Good English Movement＂

dilemma of SEGM and Singlish.

Method

Data and Analysis

Situation 1

Background: Terry is one of the leading characters in the movie. His mother is the
dominant in his family. Terry always speaks with his mother in Chinese while his mother
replies in Singlish.

Terry attempts to tell a strange woman eating too many bananas is harmful for her health,
but in vain.

Terry’s mother: How many times do you want me to tell you? Don’t be such a “gei po” [It
refers to a person who interferes with other business.] You see! For nothing, you are going
to scolding by people. Next time you see something pretend you never see it because all
this is none of your business!

Apparently, Terry’s mother uses the Hokkien lexicon “gei po” to warn Terry not to
interfere with other’s business.

Situation 2

Background: Terry’s mother asks his sister, Selena, to submit the red envelopes she gets in
her birthday.

Terry’s mother: Selena, where is all the “ang bao” [Chinese red envelopes] money that you
got from your birthday?

Selena: That is my money. Why I must give it to you every time?

Terry’s mother: I will help you save and invest. Don’t worry. I will give it to you when
you are old enough.

41
中正學報 第七期

In this conversation, Mother uses Hokkien “ang bao” to describe the Chinese red
envelopes. We can see from Selena’s reply that she understands what “ang bao” refers.

Situation 3

The other leading character, Guo Bin’s father and his colleagues is greeting the new
foreign creative designer.

Creative designer: What is this? This is very delicious.

Guo Bin’s father: This is called salty pork. In Hokkien, we call it “ma gua.”

In this conversation, they use the Hokkien lexicon “ma gua” to name the salty pork chips.
On the other hand, the characters in above-mentioned situations seem to know the terms in
both languages. In situation 3, Guo Bin’s father suggests the name of the food both in
English and Hokkien. So does Terry’s mother. She uses the Hokkien lexicon “gei po” as
the warning for the first time, and reinforces her warning in English, “all this is none of
your business” for the second time. However, we are not sure if Mother and Selena only
know the term “ang bao” in Hokkien. We may infer that they know both terms just as the
other situations, but we don’t have the evidence.

In addition to Hokkien, the examples of Malay and Tamil are as follows.

Situation 4

Background

The speaker of the following conversations is an English-Malay-speaking girl. She is

talking to her mother.

Mother: “Tengah main dengan apa tu?” [What are you playing with?]

Girl: Dough.

Mother: What is dough in Malay?

42
 Multiethnic Influences in Lexion of Singlish and the Dilemma of “Speak Good English Movement＂

Girl: “Tak tau.” [Don’t know]

Situation 5

The same girl is talking to her mother.

Mother: Put the hair on the head.

Girl: Oh huh.

Mother: What is the color of your hair?

Girl: “Hitam” [Black].

Situation 6

The speaker of the following conversation is a Tamil girl. She spends two hours a day with
her English nursery.

Mother: You want to wash or not?

Girl: Yeah.

Mother: Don’t waste the soap ah.

Girl: Ok. Why put on the big “panay?” [container]

Mother: Better, then you don’t spill it.

Girl: Open the “thani” [water].

The three situations mentioned above further prove that code-switch is not inherent in
Hokkien and English. Instead, it exists in other ethnics, especially when the speaker only
knows a term in one language. For example, the Malay-English speaking girl can only say
the word, “dough” in English but not in Malay. Thus, she chooses to replies to her mother
in English. Vice versa, when the Tamil girl doesn’t know how to express the word in

43
中正學報 第七期

English, she transfers to Tamil. Unlike the speakers of the movie “I Not Stupid”
code-switch out of the stronger preference of one language, the speakers here code-switch
because they only know the term in one language. The “age” factor might be the possible
cause of this situation. The data used in this study recognizes that Singlish is a colloquial
form of Singaporean English, mostly between family members and friends. For example,
child speakers are raised in bilingual environment with their mother tend to code-switch a
lot in daily conversations. Naturally, they also pick up the habit of code-switching. The
movie transcriptions shown above are the best evidences. The only difference between
adults and children is the former tends to know the term in both languages (Native
language/English) while the latter doesn’t. That is, children code switch because they have
not yet acquired the ability to express the intended meaning in either languages. Though
those code-switches keep unique ethnic lexicons of expression, they are criticized by
international unintelligibility. Therefore, the idea of “Speak Good English Movement
(SEGM)” derives.

Discussion

The initiation of “Speak Good English Movement (SEGM)” is a campaign designed

for improving this situation. Generally, it aims at using Standard English both in school
and the mass media. Based on this premise, Singlish wound become a language only
spoken at home or in private. Since Singlish is full of unique ethnic features varied from
different races, the claim for speaking good English would efficiently avoid unnecessary
cultural misunderstandings. In other words, English functions as a “neutral” language here.
On the other hand, to further promote the economic, social and cultural development,
Singapore government attempts to create a new national identity beyond ethnic levels
through the practice of SEGM. Ideally, the adoption of SEGM could form a less
ethnocentric and a more inclusive new society with higher economical competitiveness.

However, the practice of SEGM is not without conflicts. The most controversial issue
aroused by it is “national identity.” Since Singapore has been recognized as a multiethnic
country and is known for her flexibility and openness for different ethnics, the policy of
adopting Standard English as the only accepted official language will take the risk of
losing the original national uniqueness. That is, with the expansion of Standard English,
the importance of Singlish mitigates, but Singlish is a vital unified force combining unique
lexical features of three main races in Singapore. The dominance of Standard English may

44
 Multiethnic Influences in Lexion of Singlish and the Dilemma of “Speak Good English Movement＂

lead this valuable historical heritage to perish. In addition, no powerful evidence can
support that learning Singlish will definitely impede the acquisition of Standard English.
Instead, most Singaporeans can accurately transfer both languages depending on the
linguistic or situational contexts. The exclusiveness of the two languages seems not
necessary exist. Therefore, the promotion of one isn’t equal to the extinction of the other.
To pervasively practice “SEGM”, Singaporean government should take these
counterarguments into consideration.

45
中正學報 第七期

References

Bokhorst-Heng, W. (1999). Singapore’s speak Mandarin campaign: Language ideological

debates and the imagining of the nation. Language Ideological Debates, 235-265.

Chua, B. H. (1995). Communication ideology and democracy in Singapore. London:

Routledge.

Foley, J. A. (1998). Code-switching and learning among young children in Singapore.

International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 130, 129-150.

Gupta, A. F. (2000). Bilingualism in cosmopolis. International Journal of the Sociology of

Language, 143, 107-119.

Hoon, C. H. (2003). “You see me not up” Is Singlish a problem? Language Problems and
Language Planning, 27, 45-62.

Kang, M. K. (1992). Definitions of and attitudes towards Singlish in Singapore.

Unpublished thesis, Department of English Language and Literature, National
University of Singapore.

Lau, K. E. (1992). Singapore census of population 1990: Statistical release 3. Singapore:

SNP.

Mufwene, S. S. (2001). Ebonics and standard English in the classroom: Some issues.
Language in our time: Bilingual education and official English, Ebonics and standard
English, immigration and the Unz intuitive, 253-261.

Terry, A. K. (2000). Language shift, mother tongue, and identity in Singapore.

International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 143. 85-106.

46