Singapore English is a common Creole language based on English . It is native to many Singaporeans and the second language for the rest of the country. Educated residents are equally fluent in standard English and its Singaporean version.
| Singapore English | |
|---|---|
| Self name | Singlish |
| Country | Singapore |
| Total number of speakers | 227,000 - native, only about 3 million (1995) |
| Classification | |
| Category | Creole and Pidgin |
| Creole based on English | |
| Writing | Latin |
The vocabulary consists of words of English , Malay and Chinese origin (from the South Minh , Chaoshan and Cantonese dialects), as well as borrowings from the Tamil , Bengali , Punjabi and to a lesser extent other European, Indian and Chinese languages.
Thanks to television and cinema, elements of American and Australian slang penetrate the language. Since Chinese people (and those who wish to learn additional Singapore language) are taught Mandarin Chinese in schools (also widely used in the media), some of its elements were borrowed.
The syntax has been influenced by southern Chinese dialects .
Singapore's English has evolved largely in parallel with the Malay Creole language based on English ( English Manglish ), common in nearby Malaysia and partly in Singapore among the Malay population.
The Singapore government does not encourage the use of local English, popularizing the standard version. It is believed that its distribution will facilitate the communication of Singaporeans with other native speakers of English. For this purpose, the program "Speak good English" ( eng. Speak Good English Movement ).
Vocabulary
In terms of spelling and abbreviations used, Singapore English resembles British English , although the vocabulary is a mixture of American and British, with a growing number of first. For example, in the Singapore version the word “sports” (British “sport”), characteristic of American English, is used. To refer to football, both the American word “soccer” and the British “football” are used.
In Singapore English, there are many words from the South Mongolian dialect of the Chinese language , which is native to 75% of the Chinese population of Singapore, as well as from the Malay language . The most famous Chinese borrowing is “kiasu” ( whale. 怕輸 - “afraid to miss something” (eg. You’ve got to know how to get a parking space? How kiasu can you get? [1] ), and Malay - “makan” (“is”).
In many cases, the meaning of English words changes under the influence of Chinese correspondences. In particular, in Singapore, the words “borrow” (“borrow”) and “lend” (“to lend”) are synonymous, since the Chinese word (jiè) means both to borrow and to lend (eg Oi, can borrow me your calculator? ), and “send” is used to mean “accompany someone” (eg Let me send you to the airport ), possibly under the influence of the Chinese word 送 (sòng), Malay "(meng) hantar" or mixing malay and chinese influence.
Phonology
Initially, Singapore's English was based on the normative British pronunciation used by British officials and the local aristocracy, who lived mainly on the East Coast. In the future, the phonetics of the East Coast dialect was influenced by local languages, and with increasing US significance , American English, however, the East Coast pronunciation is still acrolect.
There are several ethnic and geographical varieties of singlish. Chinese, Malay, Indian and European have their characteristic pronunciation, which is most pronounced in intonation.
Singlish is a half- tonal language : all Chinese borrowing retains its tonality, while English , Malay and Tamil words are not tonal.