Origins of Singlish

Singapore Colloquial English, better known as Singlish, is a local vernacular that is widely spoken by people in Singapore. Singlish derives its roots from 146 years (1819-1965) of British colonial rule over Singapore.

Singapore, an important trading post at the southern tip of the Malay peninsula, was multiracial and multicultural right at the start. During the years of British colonial rule, Singapore grew massively in population as the British encouraged immigration. A large number of immigrants came from the Southern parts of China, making up the largest ethnic group in Singapore with approximately 77% Chinese. 

Singlish has its origins in the schools of colonial Singapore. In the 19th century, the local lingua franca was a pidginised variety of the Malay language which probably explains why many of the loan words in Singlish are from Malay. By the 20th century, all education was in the medium of English with students learning another language, their mother tongue, together with English. As more and more people experienced learning English, English became widely spoken alongside Singapore's many other languages. 

Nearly everyone in Singapore is bilingual, with many people being able to speak three of even four languages/dialects. Naturally, the presence of other languages/dialects influenced how English was spoken in Singapore and due to this, Singlish shares many similarities with pidgin varieties of English and can easily give the impression of "broken" or "bad" English.

While there have been many debates on whether the usage of Singlish is good or bad, most Singaporeans are affectionate towards Singlish as it is part of their national identity. 

References:

1. How did Singlish Come About? http://www.nlb.gov.sg/blogs/ask/adults/1224 
2. Singapore Colloqiual English (Singlish). http://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/langnet/definitions/singlish.html

Here are more books on the subject!
1) Title: An essential guide to Singlish
Author: Illustrations by Miel ; [project editor, Samantha Hanna]
Call Number: SING English 427.95957 ESS

All Rights Reserved, Gartbooks , 2003
2) Title: The Coxford Singlish dictionary
Editors: Colin Goh, Y.Y. Woo
Call Number: SING English 427.95957 COX

All Rights Reserved, Angsana Books, 2002
3) Title: Sounds and sins of Singlish : And Other Nonsense
Author: Rex Shelley
Call Number: SING English 427.95957 SHE

All Rights Reserved, Singapore : Times Books International, 1995
- See more at: http://www.nlb.gov.sg/blogs/ask/adults/1224#sthash.Td76wYD7.dpuf

Singlish Books!

If you are interested to know more about the subject, here are some interesting books!

Title: An essential guide to Singlish
Author: Illustrations by Miel; [project editor, Samantha Hanna]
Call Number: SING English 427.95957 ESS
 
All Rights Reserved, Gartbooks, 2003

Title: The Coxford Singlish Dictionary
Editors: Colin Goh, Y.Y. Woo
Call Number: SING English 427.95957 COX
 

All Rights Reserved, Angsana Books, 2002

Singlish- Good & Bad

Why is there a need for the government to promote speak good English campaign? Is it really true that Singapore's standard of English is bad? Does it mean that speaking Singlish would mean the risk of ability to speak in proper Standard English?

We know that language is a form of communication and as long as we are able to understand each other, it does not matter what language we speak. Some of us might feel more comfortable when using Singlish to converse among friends. Or when you hear someone speaking Singlish in a foreign country, you will immediately know that he/she is a Singaporean. Hence, Singlish is part of Singapore's identity! 

However, Singlish would definitely pose as a problem when we attempt to speak to someone who has not lived in Singapore for a period of time. It is clear that there is no room for Singlish internationally. Singlish can only be used in conversations between Singaporeans or within the context of Singapore. If one continues to speak in Singlish every day, gradually it becomes part of their life. Consequently, it would be a challenging task for the person to code-switch between Singlish to English as and when the situation requires.

Guide to speak Singlish leh!

In Singlish, many words sound the same. For someone who is not familiar with Singlish, this affects what is being heard by the listener and some words might be misunderstood. 

So, are you ready to look at some of the rules to speak Singlish?

Rule 1: Do not pronounce consonants

Try to skip consonant sounds. Singlish does not distinguish between voiced and voiceless plosives for end consonants. The plosives (/t/, /d/, /p/, /k/, /g/) should not have an explosion of air when pronounced. For example,

•  paint = pain
• raft = rough
• thin = tin

Rule 2: Speak in a fast manner

Try to speak really fast and bunch up syllables and words. This is commonly known as the 'machine gun' style. According to research done in UK, the ideal speaking speed is 164 words per minute and 0.48 seconds pause between sentences. So, challenge yourself and speak way faster than this!


Rule 3: Use short vowels

There is no distinction between short and long vowels as well. Singlish words are all short. For example,

• beat = bit
• bait = bed
• sheep = ship 

Rule 4: Leave out grammatical endings

There is no hard and fast rule for grammar in Singlish. You can simply omit plurals or past tenses. For example,

• I went to the zoo yesterday. = I go zoo yesterday.
• There are so many birds. = There are so many bird.

Huh simi Diglossia?

From our interview, we picked out that there are people who speak non-standard dialects of English as their main language and yet, are still fluent in their standard English.

Speaking different dialects in different situations is called "diglossia", and happens everywhere in the other parts of the world. Globalisation could be one of the reasons for language change around the world.

Most Singaporeans who can speak Standard English also use a different form of English that we call Singlish. Singaporeans learn how to use different dialects for different situations.

The important conclusion is that usage of Singlish does not mean that Singapore speakers will be impaired in using standard English.

Singlish banned?

The Noose, a parody of Singapore local news programmes such as News 5 Tonight, gives an irreverant, hilarious and totally outrageous view on Singlish. 

Note: This report is totally fictional and just for laughs only.

Wah, how to speak Singlish in Singapore?

Here are some sentences on how Singlish is being used in our daily lives.
You understand a not?

Taken from: http://talesfromthebatteredsuitcase.blogspot.sg/2012/10/to-lah-or-not-to-lah.html