Asian Englishes

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Overseas Singaporean attitudes towards Singlish

Elsie Shu Ying Lee & Hyejeong Ahn

To cite this article: Elsie Shu Ying Lee & Hyejeong Ahn (2021) Overseas Singaporean attitudes
towards Singlish, Asian Englishes, 23:3, 264-279, DOI: 10.1080/13488678.2020.1795783
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2020.1795783

Published online: 30 Jul 2020.

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ASIAN ENGLISHES
2021, VOL. 23, NO. 3, 264–279
https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2020.1795783

ARTICLE

Overseas Singaporean attitudes towards Singlish

a b
Elsie Shu Ying Lee and Hyejeong Ahn
a
Linguistics and Multilingual Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; bLanguage and
Communication Centre, School of Humanities, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

This qualitative study explores the attitudes of Singaporean under­ Received 16 April 2020
graduate students living abroad towards the colloquial variety of Accepted 11 July 2020
Singaporean English, also known as Singlish. The data, consisting of KEYWORDS
eight in-depth individual interviews, and the findings were analysed Singaporean English; World
using a theoretical framework incorporating cognitive, affective and Englishes; attitudes; English
behavioural components of attitude. The findings demonstrate that as an international language
Singaporeans have a ‘love and hate’ relationship with Singlish. While
the distinctiveness of Singlish features allows Singaporeans to recog­
nize and connect with fellow countrymen abroad, serving as a marker
of identification and solidarity, it is also viewed as ‘improper’ and ‘a
cause of embarrassment’. Singlish is considered a means by which
non-Singaporeans can assimilate into the Singaporean community,
and yet, it was found that there was an exclusivity about Singlish in
that it could only be mastered by Singaporeans. The findings are
discussed in relation to the implications that future research can
have on attitudes towards Singlish.

1. Introduction
The status of Singlish, a colloquial variety of Singapore English, in Singapore is con­
tentious. Over the years, many negative attitudes towards Singlish in Singapore society
have been expressed. The Singapore government and Singaporeans treat Singlish as
a lesser form of Standard English, citing it as the ‘poverty of language’ that deters
Singapore from advancing economically (Cavallaro & Ng, 2009; Goh, 2010). English is
considered the ‘mother tongue’ or ‘native’ language of many young Singaporeans, who
do not perceive themselves as speakers of Singlish, and speaking Singlish is not part of
their daily language repertoire (Tan, 2014). However, the present study reports that the
attitudes towards Singlish expressed by overseas Singaporeans were found to be different.
Singlish plays an important role in providing a sense of community for overseas
Singaporeans and a means by which they can represent their national identity. This
study seeks to understand the attitudes to Singlish held by people who live outside
Singapore, and the ways in which Singlish may promote national solidarity and affirm
national identity even whilst abroad.
To date, there have only been a handful of attitudinal studies involving Singapore English.
These studies focus on investigating attitudes in relation to accents (Kamwangamalu, 1992),

CONTACT Elsie Shu Ying Lee elee019@e.ntu.edu.sg Linguistics and Multilingual Studies, Nanyang Technological
University, Singapore
© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
 ASIAN ENGLISHES 265

using mainly questionnaire surveys (Chew, 2007) or matched-guise studies (Cavallaro & Ng,
2009; Cavallaro, Ng, & Seilhamer, 2014; Tan & Tan, 2008) to reveal opinions or perceptions
alike. While the attitudes of Singaporeans towards Singlish seem to be inconclusive, the
attitudes of those abroad are significantly under-researched. Therefore, this present study
aims to fill this critical research gap in investigating the attitudinal status of Singlish by using
data from in-depth individual interviews of overseas Singaporeans.

2. Literature review
2.1. English in Singapore
Singapore has four official languages – Malay, Tamil, Mandarin Chinese and English.
Amongst these four languages, English is considered the working language of the country
and is the language used in politics, in education and in the courts, making the hierarchy
of languages in Singapore quite clear (Leimgruber, 2013). In 2010, Mandarin Chinese was
the most common main language spoken at home in Singapore, with 35.6% of house­
holds reportedly using Mandarin Chinese. However, in 2015, English overtook
Mandarin, with 36.9% of households reportedly using English most frequently at
home, up from 32.3% in 2010. The trend towards the increase of English within families
found in Bolton and Ng’s (2014) study continues to increase. It is apparent that the usage
of English far surpasses that of other languages.
English has been considered a unifying language for Singaporeans who come from
various ethnic backgrounds with different ethnic languages (Kamwangamalu, 1992).
However, the status of English in Singapore is more than a language of unification. It
is now the ‘mother tongue’ and the ‘native language’ of many of Singaporeans who also
declare ownership of the language (Tan, 2014). The status of English in Singapore used to
be an important gauge of the relevance of and an interaction of Singapore in the
international arena of global economic competition, but the growing presence of
English in the personal lives of Singaporeans now suggests that ‘English is implicated
everywhere in Singaporean society’ (Lim, Pakir, & Wee, 2010) and has become the
representation of ‘Singaporean-ness’ in Singapore society.

2.2. Standard Singapore English and Singapore Colloquial English

This section discusses two varieties of Singapore English – Standard Singapore English
(SSE) and Singaporean Colloquial English, also known as Singlish. While pioneer studies
of Singapore English (Platt & Weber, 1980; Tongue, 1979) simply describe the variations
in Singapore English according to a speaker’s educational level, Ho (1995) distinguishes
these two varieties of English from a descriptive and a prescriptive perspective – the
former recognizing Singlish as having its own set of grammatical conventions, intona­
tions and lexicon, and the latter simply regarding Singlish as ‘bad’ English. As can so far
be seen, the functions of English in Singapore are twofold: firstly, as a global language that
allows international advancements in trade and commerce; and, secondly, as a lingua
franca for the different ethnic groups in Singapore. Variation in Singapore English is
inevitable and, as argued by Alsagoff (2007), a direct result of the ‘conflict between “being
global” and “being local”’, p. 34. This point is seconded by Tan (2017), who attributes the
266 E.S.Y. LEE AND H. AHN

inception of Singlish to socio-political and historical factors. Alsagoff (2007) calls the two
types of English used in Singapore ‘International Singapore English’ and ‘Local Singapore
English’. SSE can be identified with International Singapore English and is considered
a ‘correct’ and ‘formal’ variety of English that is appropriate for global use, whereas
Singlish can be identified with Local Singapore English and is considered the language of
intercultural communication and cohesion. Singlish, as a Local Singapore English, is
most prominently distinct from SSE in the following:

● its extensive lexicon that includes borrowings from Malay or Hokkien (Leimgruber,
2013);
● its discourse particles that can convey a speaker’s attitude or mood, or can be used to
express solidarity (Gupta, 1992); and
● its distinctive intonation (Lim, 2000).

Why these two varieties of Singapore English are distinguished by users may have
stemmed from the influence of the standardization of language, which is based on the
‘ideology of the standard language’, as defined by Milroy (2007). The standard language is
integral to greater equality for its members (Davies, 2003) and is also highly efficient as it
allows for intelligibility and reduces uncertainty about how to say things. As Bokhorst-
Heng (2005) points out, it seems like ‘it is only when a “standard” is assumed and
measured against that Singlish becomes the “problem” and the “deviant” variety’, p. 197.

2.3. Defining attitude

Many studies have attempted to define the abstract concept of attitude in different ways and
with different approaches. The working definition of attitude that this article seeks to
adhere to is based on the categorization of attitudes into three types of components, first
suggested by Agheyisi and Fishman (1970). These components are as follows: cognitive or
knowledge, affective or evaluative and conative or action. Baker (1992) and Garrett (2010)
further define the attitude structure into three components – cognitive, affective and
behavioural. To discuss these briefly, cognitive attitudes involve the thoughts and beliefs
a person holds. For example, this component of attitude might describe a Singaporean’s
belief that using Singlish is less desirable as standard English is the variety that is associated
with high-status jobs and the variety that helps Singaporeans be understood by non-
Singaporeans. Such beliefs may stem from the influence of parents, government or the
educational system. Affective attitudes comprise the feelings that a person has towards an
object, and these are often immediate reactions. In the case of Singlish, a Singaporean who
is overseas may hear Singlish spoken and immediately feel a sense of home. Lastly, the
notion of behavioural attitude refers to the tendencies of a person to act in certain ways or
a ‘readiness for action’ (Baker, 1992) that might be congruent with their cognitive or
affective attitudes. For instance, a Singaporean might speak in standard English and
avoid using Singlish, especially when speaking to non-Singaporeans, and this may be
consistent with his or her cognitive attitude that Singlish makes one sound less educated
and, in certain contexts, be less intelligible.
 ASIAN ENGLISHES 267

2.4. Attitudes to Singapore Englishes

The Singaporean government takes a prescriptivist view and is particularly intolerant
towards the prevalent use of Singlish in Singapore society. This has perhaps been most
evident since April 2000, with the inception of the Speak Good English Movement (SGEM).
The SGEM is a yearly campaign that aims to ‘create an environment of good English in
Singapore’ (SGEM, 2019) by helping Singlish speakers and those who hold descriptivist
views towards Singlish to speak SSE. This indicates that the government sees ‘good English’
in opposition to Singlish, which is perceived as not even being ‘English’, or as simply ‘bad
English’. It seems that ‘co-existence is not an option’ (Rappa & Wee, 2006) with SSE and
Singlish as the Singapore government fears that Singlish will jeopardize Singaporeans’
ability to speak Standard English (Lim et al., 2010). This showcases the inherent belief of
an inverse relationship between Singlish and SSE – increased usage of one variety is
believed to be directly proportionate to the decreased usage of the other (Bokhorst-Heng,
2005). Even though the Singaporean accent is considered acceptable, the government’s
stance on ‘proper English’ (i.e. Standard English) was clearly explained by the then Deputy
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his speech at the launch of the SGEM in 2001:
We must make the effort to learn proper English grammar, sentence structures and
pronunciation. We need not speak with a British or American accent; a Singaporean accent
is fine but Singaporeans must speak a form of English that is readily understood by people all
over the world. (Lee, 2001)

Therefore, ‘Singlish as an impoverished, corrupted form of English has no place in in the

imagining of the nation’ (Bokhorst-Heng, 2005, p. 198).
While the attitudes of the Singapore government towards Singlish tend to be negative,
the attitudes of the public seem to be complicated and somewhat contradictory.
Proponents of Singlish claim that Singlish is valuable in that it provides a source of
national identity and acts to promote national cohesion (Bokhorst-Heng, 2005).
However, a study by Cavallaro and Ng (2009) has shown that, contrary to this popular
belief, young Singaporeans aged 19–23 years have been found to consider Singlish low in
solidarity traits, as compared with SSE. This finding is corroborated in a study of 436
participants conducted by Tan (2014), where more than 50% of the participants who
were drawn from different ethnicities and age groups consider SSE a more effective
marker of their national identity than Singlish. Nevertheless, such sentiments and the
decreased usage of Singlish do not necessarily mean that Singaporeans have stopped
seeing Singlish ‘as an icon of national identity’ (Rubdy & Tupas, 2009).

3. Research methodology
3.1. Participants
In this study, all of the participants were Singaporean citizens or permanent residents
pursuing their undergraduate studies overseas. These eight participants were university
students who had lived overseas for more than one year consecutively. There were three
male and five female students in the sample. The researcher had no prior contact with
any of the participants and has no direct relationship to any of them. All participants
were aged between 21 and 24 years and were studying abroad in Australia, Canada,
268 E.S.Y. LEE AND H. AHN

Japan, Norway or the United Kingdom. More details about the participants are presented
in Table 1. Pseudonyms are used.

3.2. Data collection procedure

3.2.1. Theoretical underpinnings
The data collected in this study are all qualitative in nature and qualitative research has
proven to have many strengths. As outlined by Dörnyei (2007), these strengths include:
being an exploratory approach that is effective in investigating new research topics,
having the ability to broaden the understanding of a topic through investigating
human experience and, finally, qualitative studies allow a flexibility in approach if things
do not go according to plan.
Attitudes can be difficult to study as they are multi-faceted and may go beyond the
conscious awareness or control of an individual (Greenwald, 1992). This may lead to
a discrepancy between implicit and explicit attitudes (McKenzie & Carrie, 2018). Also,
they are, as mentioned earlier, divided into cognitive attitudes, affective attitudes and
behavioural attitudes (Garrett, 2010), which may be contradictory. Individuals may have
certain attitudes without being aware of how they are being affected by them or they
might not even realize that they hold attitudes that they profess not to have. While
indirect methods such as the matched-guise technique and the verbal-guise technique
can examine and identify tensions between explicit and affective attitudes, studies using
such methods have already been conducted in studying attitudes towards Singlish
(Cavallaro & Ng, 2009; Cavallaro et al., 2014; Tan & Tan, 2008). It was hoped that by
utilizing the direct method of in-depth interviews, implicit attitudes towards Singlish
would be revealed and the ways such attitudes may affect an individual in the way they
think, feel and behave may be studied.

3.2.2. Research design

Eight individual in-depth interviews with thematic analyses were conducted. Eight
Singaporean undergraduate students participated in interviews 30–50 minutes long. As
many of the participants were overseas at the time, the interviews took place using Skype
audio calls between 28 November 2018 and 28 December 2018. The participants were
first briefed about the scope of the research via an explanatory consent form. Interviews
with all participants were conducted entirely in English as they all considered English to
be their first and preferred language. A series of questions to collect their basic

Table 1. Participant profiles.

Years
Participant, gender abroad Age (years) Country of residence Languages spoken in order of acquisition
May, female 3 23 United Kingdom English, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese
Lisa, female 4 24 Japan English, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese
Tony, male 1.5 22 Norway Mandarin Chinese, English, Japanese, Norwegian
Rachel, female 1.5 21 United Kingdom English, Mandarin Chinese, French
Colleen, female 1.5 22 United Kingdom English, Mandarin Chinese, Bahasa Indonesia
Ash, male 1 22 Canada English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay
Wayne, male 3 23 Australia English, Mandarin Chinese, Hokkien
Sarah, female 3 23 Australia English, Mandarin Chinese, Khmer
 ASIAN ENGLISHES 269

demographic information and their linguistic profiles were posed verbally before the
commencement of the interviews (see Appendix 1 for a sample list of questions). The
audio calls were then recorded in waveform audio file (WAV) format for transcription.
The interviews started with a few guiding questions (see Appendix 1 for sample inter­
view questions) that the participants were able to use to expand upon with narratives, the
goal being the telling of their experiences rather than answering of questions (Olson, 2011).
The participants were informed before the interviews that they could take the interview in
any direction they desired, and they were mostly prompted by their feelings about the
different experiences mentioned. Due to the researcher’s awareness about the interrelation­
ship between the three components of attitude, the questions were not designed to elicit
single components of participants’ attitudes. Instead, the main eliciting questions sought to
encourage them to express their overall attitudes towards Singlish, including their attitudes
to non-Singaporeans learning Singlish and their attitudes to other Singaporeans who speak
Singlish (Widodo, Ariyani, & Setiyadi, 2018). The interviews focused on the language usage
of the participants whilst abroad with their emotive reactions and personal opinions about
the government’s language policies in Singapore. Nevertheless, when certain questions
elicited a particular component of attitude or when a participant’s response revealed
a distinctive component, these data were analysed and the outcomes included in the results.

3.2.3. Data analysis

The analysis of the qualitative data from the participants’ interviews was theoretically
based on grounded theory, which emphasizes that data be examined in a reflexive
manner, allowing embedded meanings and relationships to surface, without making
them conform to preconceived ideas (Glaser & Strauss, 1967).
Transcriptions of the audio recordings were made by the researcher who conducted
the interviews and understood the contexts. The transcriptions were then critically
analysed using inductive thematic content analysis, such that recurring themes and
general patterns were identified. Inductive analysis not only helped to identify the
categories and themes as expressed by the participants, but also facilitated the emergence
of findings, by allowing the researcher to generate inductive categories for which the
participants did not have labels or descriptions (Patton, 2002).

4. Findings
4.1. Singlish to us
Participants were first asked to describe or define what Singlish means to them. Singlish
was consistently described as a ‘mix of different languages’ such as English, Mandarin
Chinese, Hokkien and Malay ‘coming together’, or as an ‘alternative form to Standard
Singaporean English’, albeit a ‘simple and layman’ alternative. Even though one partici­
pant, Sarah, indicated that Singlish was a ‘jumble of words’, the efficiency of Singlish was
reiterated time and time again with statements like there are ‘short forms’ in Singlish and
one can ‘cut short all the words’ or ‘just reduce [the words used]’. It was noted that most
of the participants did not simply define Singlish by mentioning a specific set of words or
by the use of particles such as ‘lah’ or ‘lor’, as other aspects, such as tone and pragmatics,
were also referred to as important features of Singlish:
270 E.S.Y. LEE AND H. AHN

. . . Singlish is a mix. A mix of English, as well as the other four main languages of Singapore.
(May, female student, 20s, United Kingdom)

Singlish means a jumble of words with different uh, languages coming together, for example
Mandarin, Hokkien, Malay and English, all jumbled together. And this language will be used
mostly with our friends and family. (Sarah, female student, 20s, Australia)

Singlish was also described by all participants rather negatively using terms such as
‘sloppy English’ and ‘casual English’. Rachel stated that Singlish was ‘very sloppy and
casual’, and she thought that Singaporeans who did not ‘really use Singlish . . . are more
educated’ and people who speak in ‘super Singlish all the time . . . might be looked down
upon’. Ash agreed that a person who is only able to speak Singlish might be ‘marginalize­
[d]’, and it was not another person’s fault if you ‘can’t speak proper English for him to
understand’. Therefore, Singlish is an indicator of being ‘less educated’ or ‘marginalized’
and exposed an ‘inability to speak in proper English’:
Because we all know that Singlish is not professional, it’s very sloppy, and casual. Cos there
are people in Singapore who don’t really use Singlish as well, they are mostly people who are
more educated, in a sense? But, whereas, those people who are speaking in super Singlish all
the time, then they might be looked down upon, I feel. (Rachel, female student, 20s, United
Kingdom)

However, Singlish was positively described not only as the language that reminded partici­
pants of home, but also was a means of sharing identity and culture with other Singaporeans
whilst abroad. All of the participants agreed that they missed speaking Singlish to each other,
especially while they were overseas. Lisa, a student studying in Japan, emphasized that when
she could use Singlish it made her feel like she was ‘still interacting with people back home
that have the shared background and experience’ and this was different from interaction with
non-Singaporeans as ‘there wouldn’t be the same connection’:
Uh, well, yeah it does remind me of home, actually. I mean especially because we are talking
to people we will see at home, and who have experienced home in similar ways, regardless of
which school they come from, or whether I am younger or older than they are. I mean,
there’s still this connection, like you’ve experienced a similar childhood or that you have
a lot of shared points together. It feels like you are able to talk about things that you wouldn’t
be able to speak to other friends about. (Lisa, female student, 20s, Japan)

Colleen also expressed the same ability of Singlish to create connection, stating that there
was ‘just this natural connection that you will get with fellow Singaporeans’ while speaking
Singlish and this is specifically a connection to ‘this family you can rely on when you’re out
of home’. When asked whether Singlish was able to ‘deepen bonds’, Wayne concurred with
the ideas of connection and family that both Lisa and Colleen mentioned. For Wayne,
Singlish reminded him of his family who speaks the language and said that being
surrounded by people who speak Singlish makes these people feel like family to him,
which in turn prompts him to form a connection to other Singaporeans while overseas:
. . . when I go for all the Singaporean events, like Singapore society, sometimes they organize
welcoming dinners or National day parties, so I think when you go there . . . and you start
hearing people speak Singlish, you feel like part of this family which you have grown up with
since young, because everyone is speaking in that way. So, I think yeah, I agree that Singlish
is able to deepen the sense of family, especially when you’re overseas. Because so many
things are so foreign to you, the place, the people, the culture, all these kinds of thing are so
 ASIAN ENGLISHES 271

different. So, when you have something which you identify as something which you have
grown up with, yeah, you definitely feel connected to them. (Wayne, male student, 20s,
Australia)

Sarah also displayed similar attitudes towards Singlish as a shared identity and culture.
However, for Sarah, this shared identity and culture not only provided a sense of family
and connection, but also a ‘sense of unity and comfort’, as speaking to Singaporeans in
Singlish made her feel understood. She revealed that ‘after a whole day of school where
people don’t understand [her]’, when she speaks to Singaporean friends she feels like
‘finally, someone understands [her], and [she does not] have to repeat [herself and] go
through all the hassle’ of making herself clear.
All participants also mentioned that when hearing Singlish whilst abroad it was easily
recognizable. All of them cited instances where they had recognized other Singaporeans
based on how the person spoke and when a stranger had recognized them as Singaporean
through hearing them speak. While some participants took the initiative to reach out and
talk to other Singaporeans upon identifying them from their speech, other participants had
also been approached by Singaporeans whilst abroad. This was attributed to the
Singaporean accent and the use of Singlish that ‘fellow Singaporeans’ are able to ‘“instantly”
identify’. Ash, the only participant who did not have any contact with Singaporeans at his
overseas university, mentioned that he felt a sense of awe when identifying other
Singaporeans through Singlish, as it allowed him to finally find ‘people from home’.
Sarah gave an example of this feeling occurring during Open Day, where various
societies and clubs set up booths in her university to recruit new members. She men­
tioned that it was ‘significant’ how easily she could recognize other Singaporeans through
their use of Singlish:

. . . I cannot think of anything more significant than that . . . because once you hear someone
speaking in Singlish, or the Singaporean accent . . ., you know that you guys are in the same
community, you will kinda watch out for them, and you will realize their presence . . . and
start to group together and see them more often, that kind of thing . . . I guess if you meet
a fellow Singaporean . . ., you just want them to feel welcome as well. So, we do make an
active effort to recognising their presence, especially in classes. (Sarah, female student, 20s,
Australia)

It seems like Singlish or the Singaporean accent is unique in that it acts as a marker of
identification for Singaporeans while they are abroad – helping Singaporeans
recognize their fellow countrymen ‘straightaway’ and, thus, facilitating the building of
relationships. Another example was given by two participants who are friends, Rachel
and Colleen, who were both studying in the United Kingdom. They mentioned that they
met in a lecture after Rachel heard Colleen’s way of speaking and identified her as
Singaporean.
To summarize these participants’ comments: Singlish is defined as a ‘mixture of
different languages’, ‘sloppy’ and ‘casual English’; it is often described by its syntactic
features such as the use of particles and the frequent use of abbreviations, mentioned as
a ‘short form’; it is also seen by these participants as an effective means to succinctly
express one’s feelings and thoughts; and it enables them to feel a sense of connection to
other Singaporeans whilst abroad, which signals a sense of shared identity and a broadly
shared set of childhood experiences.
272 E.S.Y. LEE AND H. AHN

4.2. Efficient yet infrequent use

One participant, May, a female student in the United Kingdom, explained when it was
appropriate to use Singlish. She stated that although the particles in Singlish are able
better to ‘express what [she] feel[s]’, it is difficult to use Singlish with the British, as non-
Singaporeans do not know what Singaporeans would automatically know:
Of course, with Singaporeans, there is the expectation that when you say something, you
already expect the person to already know without having to explain or elaborate certain
things. So, you don’t have to think too much, because the person already knows. You know
the particles we have in Singlish, it is very pragmatically rich in its use; there is no strict
definition to that, so when we express something with ‘sia’, ‘lah’, we expect the other person
to roughly not only get what we mean, but also what we feel. Of course, if you try to translate
to proper, standard British English, it doesn’t work out as nicely? And by then, by then,
when I try to elaborate and speak it in a way that British people will understand, while trying
to keep the meaning, the feeling is already gone. (May, female student, 20s, United
Kingdom)

This suggests that the use of Singlish can only be restricted to Singaporeans whilst abroad
as people unfamiliar with it do not understand the nuances of Singlish particles. The
usage of Singlish was also restricted due to its strong accent and ‘special’ vocabulary.
Tony, a student studying in Norway, mentioned how his friends from Europe did not
understand the Singaporean accent at all and that it was ‘quite hard for them to
comprehend what we are saying’. Another participant, Ash, mentioned that he could
not ‘be bothered to explain’ Singlish vocabulary items because his Canadian friends were
not able to understand Singlish particles such as ‘lah’ or ‘lor’. Experiences like these
encouraged them to believe that Singlish was unintelligible to foreigners. All of the
participants agreed that Singlish ‘hinders effective communication’, explaining that
Singlish ‘doesn’t sound convincing’ and it is ‘not really professional’. They also empha­
sized that a drawback to using Singlish is that it was context dependent. Colleen,
a student studying in the United Kingdom, saw Singlish as an informal register even in
Singapore:
Uhm, well, if you’re using it in a formal context, I think that would be not appropriate,
because it will sound very casual, but if you’re just having a casual conversation with your
friend, I think that’s alright . . . Even in Singapore. If you’re going for an interview, you won’t
use Singlish with your interviewer. (Colleen, female student, 20s, United Kingdom)

A similar attitude was expressed by another participant, Wayne, a student studying in

Australia. He indicated that even though he had never been criticized for his use of
Singlish and no one had even commented that he spoke differently, he still felt embar­
rassed while giving a presentation for his course as his English was ‘different’. The feeling
of embarrassment stemmed from the fact that he was in the minority by not using the
standard Australian accent that was easily understood by a majority of his classmates.
Not only that, he was speaking that way in a formal context where he was being graded
and where he thought speaking Standard Australian English was expected. Another
participant, Rachel, who was studying in the United Kingdom, said that, in her case,
her similar anxiety might not be embarrassment entirely. It was because she did not want
to ‘sound sloppy’, so she tried to avoid using anything remotely similar to the features of
Singlish.
 ASIAN ENGLISHES 273

Singlish is perceived negatively in the sense that its use is severely limited overseas, mainly
due to its unintelligibility to non-Singaporeans and its distinctive features such as ‘particles’,
‘accents’ and ‘vocabulary’ that can cause embarrassment. These features hinder effective
communication and prompted the participants’ negative evaluation of using Singlish
overseas.

4.3. Being part of the Singapore community

The participants were asked whether they thought foreigners needed to learn Singlish if
they intended to live in Singapore. Many expressed the belief that those who intended to
go to Singapore should learn Singlish or they should have access to learning Singlish, as
knowing Singlish would be helpful in their daily lives and help them to interact more
easily with Singaporeans. Tony said he would encourage his non-Singaporean friends to
learn Singlish if they intended to go to Singapore as it was a way to ‘immerse’ themselves
in Singaporean culture. Not only that, Tony went on to elaborate how Singlish could be
useful in helping expatriates ‘feel more accepted in Singapore’. Wayne also recounted the
experience of an Australian friend, who ‘naturally pick[ed] up the Singlish nuances’ by
himself through his interactions with Singaporeans and who was motivated to ‘speak
more Singlish’ because ‘he enjoys the [Singaporean] community’. He was of the opinion
that his friend was increasing his use of Singlish to ‘conform’ to the Singaporean culture
and to ‘be a part of’ the Singaporean community, even whilst in Australia:
I can say for sure he likes Singlish. [Laughs] He really tries to use it a lot. He really uses it a lot.
Which is good . . . I don’t know. I think maybe it’s because the sense of, having the sense of
community, he needs to conform to . . . Yeah, he enjoys the community, and he wants to like,
I guess, be part of it? So, he wants to speak more Singlish. (Wayne, male student, 20s, Australia)

In addition to this, it was found that the participants studying in non-English-speaking

countries displayed more positive attitudes towards teaching their non-Singaporean friends
Singlish. An example is Tony, a student studying in Norway. Even though he personally
found that Singlish hindered effective communication, he took the initiative to teach his
Norwegian friends some Singlish words as a form of ‘cultural exchange’, and he found that
his friends were ‘very eager to learn about foreign cultures and stuff’. He even went so far as
to say that Singaporeans ‘should brand [Singlish] as some kind of our unique culture’,
following with the example of the Jamaican accent that has given rise to a ‘popular
subculture’. He believed that this positive attitude to learning Singlish might be due to
how ‘international’ Europe is and how Europeans were generally more open than other
English-speaking countries, accepting many different varieties of spoken English.
Lisa, a student studying in Japan, expressed a strongly positive attitude towards this
question, saying she would be happy to teach Singlish to her international friends and
found her non-Singaporean friends ‘more interested in asking about it rather than
criticising it’. Again, she echoed Tony’s sentiment that it might be due to the fact that
everyone is from a ‘fairly international background’ and understands the benefits of
learning different varieties of English. She commented that during cultural exchange talks
at university where international students were required to share information about their
home country, her professors asked her to teach Singlish to the local Japanese students as
Singlish is seen as a unique part of Singaporean culture:
274 E.S.Y. LEE AND H. AHN

Even in our school as well, once in a while we have these cultural exchange presentations . . .
And one of the things they usually request for apart from talking about home and maybe
showing pictures of the country – some landmarks and so on – is actually teaching people
Singlish and you know like teaching example sentences in Singlish or yeah just giving words
and talking about how to use them . . . Yeah the last time I did that presentation I think there
were at least like 30, 40 students who signed up? . . . Yeah, so there are actually people who
are interested in this sort of cultural exchange. (Lisa, female student, 20s, Japan)

4.4. Broken English?

However, not all participants showed this positive attitude to the question ‘Do foreigners
need to learn Singlish if they intend to live in Singapore?’ Rachel, a student studying in
the United Kingdom, said that the people around her would not want to be taught
Singlish, as ‘they think that it is not proper’ and there is no point in learning broken
English. Similarly, Ash, a student studying in Canada, stated that while it might be good
for them to know the existence of Singlish, ultimately outsiders do not need to be taught
to speak in a variety that has ‘poor grammar’:
Yeah people should know that it exists, but they shouldn’t learn to speak in like poor
grammar and all that . . . Like speaking Singlish is more of like a comfortable thing.
Something that reminds that like more Singaporeans are for. But at the end of the day, it’s
like–it’s still grammatically wrong and all that, so it shouldn’t be something that should be
taught to people. (Ash, male student, 20s, Canada)

Sarah, a student studying in Australia, also showed a similar attitude, saying that
‘Australians generally speak good English’ and her personal view is that Australians
‘still would not accept Singlish’ as a legitimate variety of English, let alone learn it.
To summarize, the views that the participants had towards non-Singaporeans learning
Singlish in Singapore were varied. What was interesting to note is that it was only the
participants studying in so called ‘non-English-speaking countries’ who stated that it would
be helpful for non-Singaporeans to learn Singlish in Singapore if they were trying to assimilate
into the Singaporean community. The participants studying in English-speaking countries,
such as Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada, on the other hand, displayed rather
negative views about the need for an outsider to learn Singlish if they were planning to live in
Singapore.

4.5. Singaporeans only

Although some of the aforementioned participants stated that non-Singaporeans being
informed about or learning to speak Singlish would find it helpful for assimilating into
Singaporean society or that it would help them to fit in with Singaporeans, others felt that
Singlish should be restricted to Singaporeans. For example, Wayne, a participant studying
in Australia, did not think it was ‘right that another countryman should speak Singlish just
because we find it’s cool or interesting, because they do have their own culture as well and
we should respect that’. Tony expressed a similar view that he would ‘recommend’ foreign­
ers to learn Singlish in Singapore but dismissed their chances of integration. Outsiders ‘will
never integrate in our society’ even if they pick up Singlish and have knowledge about
Singlish and the Singaporean accent, because the Singlish that they speak isn’t ‘real’.
 ASIAN ENGLISHES 275

It is interesting to note that even if an outsider learns to speak in Singlish, they may still
not be viewed as speaking Singlish and they are at best considered ‘funny’. Sarah, a student
in Australia, recounted meeting an Australian national with Singaporean permanent
residency status. Even though this friend lived in Singapore and had completed National
Service, his use of Singlish was still considered by her and her circle to be inappropriate, as
they found it ‘really strange’ and inaccurate, as he ‘still has that Australian accent’:
And so, suddenly in our conversation, he broke out into Singlish, which was really, really
strange to us. I think [laughs], to Singaporeans, it’s just funny when an Australian speaks in
Singlish and it made us feel more comfortable, he can understand our language . . . I think we
all try to make him fit in. Still then, he doesn’t speak like us. He still has that Australian accent.
At the back of our minds, he is still an Australian. (Sarah, female student, 20s, Australia)

This is not surprising, as this is in line with the mismatch in psychological accommoda­
tion mentioned by Garrett (2010). Garrett gives an example where expatriates tried to
speak in Singlish to forge a rapport, but their efforts were not met with positive responses.
He proposes that negative reactions by Singaporeans such as annoyance might be
attributed to fear of ‘paternalism or a tendency to patronise’ (p. 112). From the reactions
of the participants, this might be the case when a non-Singaporean, especially someone
like an Australian who is from an English-speaking country, tries to speak in Singlish to
connect with Singaporeans.

5. Conclusion
5.1. Summary and research findings
Singlish is largely considered part of Singaporean cultural identity and a language that
brings comfort to Singaporeans, especially when they are overseas. It can only be authenti­
cally used by Singaporeans and is most appropriate when it is used in casual settings
exclusively amongst Singaporeans. It was clear that Singlish was deeply ingrained in the
minds of overseas Singaporeans as an aspect of their national identity and a connection to
their home and other countrymen. All of the participants also unanimously agreed that
they were speakers and users of Singlish and they would choose to speak Singlish daily or
when they were back in Singapore. However, they believed that Singlish was unintelligible
to foreigners and in specific contexts its use might cause embarrassment, and this leads to
negative behavioural attitudes towards Singlish on the part of users. Many participants
expressed the belief that speaking in Singlish would make it difficult for outsiders to
understand them, and therefore they would need to ‘speak slowly’ or avoid using Singlish
at all when in the company of non-Singaporeans.
The participants were also of the view that Singlish has an exclusivity about it in that only
Singaporeans can speak Singlish properly. Even though Singlish may be seen as a means by
which non-Singaporeans could connect with Singaporeans and assimilate better into
Singaporean community, there was a strong consensus that Singlish can only be fully
mastered by Singaporeans and only Singaporeans can be accurate speakers of Singlish
regardless of the level of proficiency a non-Singaporean achieved in Singlish. Spoken language
plays a large part in the formation of the identity of an individual. Singlish signals a shared
identity and fosters connection for Singaporeans overseas. In Singapore, Singlish binds
communities together and establishes a boundary between Singaporeans and non-
276 E.S.Y. LEE AND H. AHN

Singaporeans. Singlish can only be spoken properly by ‘us’ and the ability to speak Singlish is
a necessary part of the community in Singapore. In addition to this, while the distinctive
features of Singlish help foster a sense of solidarity amongst Singaporeans, they are also
a cause for embarrassment. This is evident particularly in the negative behavioural attitudes
that are prompted by the contexts of use, as reflected by the participants’ aversion to Singlish
when speaking to non-Singaporeans in formal settings. They also fear that using Singlish may
cause miscommunication, and a similar anxiety is also expressed by Filipino English speakers
(Smith, 2018). Negative attitudes towards the use of Singlish with outsiders in formal settings
may be closely associated with external pressures as cognitive attitudes are formed by speak­
ers’ social interactions and their surroundings (Garrett, 2010). Singaporean participants have
been ingrained with the Standard English ideology as the Singapore government openly
shames speakers of Singlish and considers Singlish to be a hindrance to the advancement of
the nation.
Nevertheless, there was a general consensus amongst all participants that they were
proud of Singlish, as it is an identifier for others who share the same culture and heritage,
which affirms national solidarity. For all the cons of Singlish – ‘broken English’ which
‘hinders effective communication’ with foreigners, ‘improper’ and ‘casual’ – it still
provided feelings of ‘home away from home’ and ‘shared childhood experiences’, feelings
which could not have been incited at home in the local context, and perhaps made more
pronounced whilst abroad.
The in-depth interviews with these Singaporeans living overseas reveal that they have
a ‘love and hate’ relationship with Singlish. With the emphasis placed on SSE as the
language relevant in the international arena and global competition, and the negative
attitudes towards Singlish by the government, it was initially hypothesized that
Singaporeans overseas would shun usage of Singlish entirely whilst abroad. On the
contrary, the participants welcomed the use of Singlish with Singaporeans, and what is
clear from this study is that Singlish for overseas Singaporeans is more than simply a
language for communication, as it builds upon a sense of shared identity and culture and
engenders the feeling of having family overseas.
Thus, this study highlights the relevance and importance of Singlish, notwithstanding
its inherent lack of economic value from the perspectives of an under-researched group –
overseas Singaporeans – for which a sense of home and family are significant. While it is
true that English is implicated in all of Singapore’s society, one cannot disagree that
Singlish is also deeply ingrained in the identity of Singaporeans, and perhaps it is time for
Singaporeans to embrace this. The present study calls for more empirical research on the
roles of ‘Singlish’ in Singapore and overseas, and encourages a reassessment and re-
evaluation of the view of Singlish that the Singapore government currently holds.

5.2. Limitations and future research

The researcher was not able to assess the extent to which the participants’ individual
personality traits may have affected their attitudes towards Singlish. Not only that but,
according to van Compernolle (2016), residing abroad has a significant influence on
attitudes towards language variation. All of the participants have knowledge of an
additional language, apart from English and their mother tongue chosen at school, and
three of the participants have had to learn the language of the country in which they
 ASIAN ENGLISHES 277

currently live. The greater exposure that they may have had to second or third languages
or other language varieties may have helped them become more accepting of different
varieties of English, thus biasing them towards more favourable attitudes towards
Singlish than other (highly educated) Singaporeans. Another point to note is that almost
all of the participants expressed the ambition to return to Singapore after their studies
abroad. This might also explain their positive attitudes towards Singlish, and the strong
sense of national identity that Singlish provides for them.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID
Elsie Shu Ying Lee http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5175-1697
Hyejeong Ahn http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2121-7658

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Appendix 1
Name:
Age:
Course/year of study:
Country in which you are studying:
Number of years spent studying abroad:
 ASIAN ENGLISHES 279

Languages spoken in order of acquisition:

Ranking of proficiency of different languages (1 being the lowest and 7 being the highest):
Can you tell me more about the languages you speak? Describe your usage of the languages and
the environments which you speak them.

Semi-structured interview questions

Theme: Attitudes towards Singlish
(1) What does Singlish mean to you?
(2) What do you think Singlish is? Can you define what Singlish is?
(3) Can you explain the features of Singlish?
(4) Do you think you know the different characteristics of Singlish and how to use them
differently? Can you explain it to foreigners who do not know Singlish?
(5) Have you ever felt embarrassed speaking Singlish?
● In what context? To whom? Why?
(6) Do you feel the need to speak ‘proper’/standard English?
(7) Do you think Singlish is a bad representation of Singapore?

Theme: Attitudes towards learning Singlish

(8) Have you had instances where a local asked you to teach them Singlish? What were your
thoughts?
(9) Do you think Singlish should be promoted to the world? Why/why not?
(10) Do you think foreigners who intend to live in Singapore should have access to learning
Singlish?

Theme: Attitudes towards other speakers of Singlish

(11) When you hear Singlish being spoken in the country you live in, how do you feel?
(12) Does the usage of Singlish with Singaporeans make you feel more at home and
comfortable?