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While much has been written about the unique set of discourse particles in colloquial Singapore English, other discourse markers which belong to the common core of English have been neglected. This paper deals with basically, a rather recent addition to the paradigm of discourse markers which typically move along the following clines in their development: clause‐internal adverbial > sentence adverbial > discourse particle; scope within the proposition > scope over the proposition > scope over discourse. This paper will use the evidence from the Singaporean subcorpus of the International Corpus of English (ICE) to trace the functions and contexts for basically and to determine whether the grammaticalization clines proposed on the basis of British English also hold for an Outer Circle variety such as Singapore English with its rich array of indigenized discourse particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Colloquial Singapore English ('Singlish') is well known, among other features, for its class of discourse particles derived from substrate languages. These particles have been ascribed to various languages, chief among them Southern Min, Malay, and Cantonese. Previous research has also shown this class to be open to newcomers, with Lim (2007) concentrating on particles of Cantonese origin appearing in the 1980s. In this paper, I present evidence of a previously undocumented particle, bah, whose origins are suspected in Mandarin, a variety that has hitherto contributed only little to the grammatical structure of Singlish. Using corpus data complemented by data from online discussion forums, as well as responses to an online survey, the paper describes bah's pragmatic meanings and the socio-historical and sociolinguistic reasons for its emergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, Singapore was home to a heterogeneous and highly multilingual population from across the Asian region and elsewhere in the world. In contrast with its historical past, or even the early days of the post-colonial period, Singapore's earlier diverse and linguistically heterogeneous society has evolved into a multi-ethnic nation state, with four official languages, of which three are recognised 'mother tongues'. This paper reviews the historical and contemporary dynamics of multilingualism in the Singapore community, and also serves as an introduction to the five other papers in this symposium on 'English in multilingual Singapore'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the Speak Good Singlish Movement, which was started as a response to the Speak Good English Movement, the latter having been initiated by the Singapore government. The Speak Good Singlish Movement represents a good example of linguistic chutzpah, where speakers demonstrate confidence in their language choices while also having the metalinguistic awareness and sophistication needed to articulate rationales for these choices. The paper argues that linguistic chutzpah is especially important in relation to the global spread of English, where speakers are often confronted with the need to make decisions about language while not being able to rely on traditional sources of authority (such as the speech community or prescriptive grammars). Under such circumstances, speakers need to be able to adopt confident stances about their language choices, even while knowing that these choices may be met with criticism. To make this point, the paper also describes two cases involving anxieties about appropriate language use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Singapore is placed in the Outer Circle of the Kachru's Three Circles Model, and has over the years developed an English which is uniquely Singaporean. This paper argues that in order to understand the ways in which Singapore English is developing its own standards and ways of speaking, a new model needs to be developed that takes culture, capital and identity into consideration. This socio-cultural perspective is one grounded in an understanding of the dualistic role of English in Singapore both as a global language and a local language. It is argued that this duality is consistent with the cultural identity of Singaporeans who negotiate fluidly between two divergent orientations – that of the global citizen and the local Singaporean. The paper explains how a culturally focused model which examines the identities of Singaporean speakers is able to provide a finer-grained and thus more explanatorily adequate account of Singapore English than previously proposed models, in particular, the diglossic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether the rhythmic properties of varieties of English found in each of the concentric circles of Kachru's model can, in any way, be elucidated by the ‘Three Circles’ model. A measurement and comparison of the rhythm of three varieties of English: British English (from the Inner Circle), Singapore English (from the Outer Circle) and Mainland Chinese English (from the Expanding Circle) is done from recordings made of one subject from each variety reading The North Wind and the Sun passage. Measurements are made of successive vowel durations and the pairwise variability index (PVI) developed by Low, Grabe, and Nolan is calculated in an attempt to capture the rhythmic properties of the three varieties. The PVI has been shown to effectively capture the broad rhythmic typology between stress-based and syllable-based varieties of English. In particular, this paper examines whether it is the case that Mainland Chinese English (a norm-dependent variety) differs significantly in the rhythmic domain from Singapore English (a norm-developing variety) and be proven to be statistically similar to British English (a norm-providing variety). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into Singapore English (SgE) has undergone many paradigm shifts from the 1970s to the present. This paper first begins with a consideration of how variation in the English language used in Singapore has been studied. It then identifies the two main varieties of English commonly described in Singapore, namely, Standard SgE (SSE) and Singapore Colloquial English (SCE). The existence of these two varieties poses problems in language teaching as student teachers are not always confident in their own use and when to execute the two varieties appropriately and they may also lack the linguistic tools to help them distinguish between the two varieties. This paper examines the level of effectiveness of a particular course known as ‘Features of SgE’ has in introducing and helping undergraduate student teachers to distinguish between standard and non-standard features of SgE. Consequently, the features that need to be addressed in the classroom are identified. The results of a questionnaire administered at the start of the course and again at the end of the course designed to test students’ knowledge of the differences between SSE and SCE are analysed. Finally, the main findings from the course feedback are discussed in order to ascertain whether the course has been effective in fulfilling its objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Singapore English has been, and still is, an enigma for many scholars and researchers. In recent years, much attention has been given to the analysis of its particles. However, rather than focusing on the analysis of one particle or several particles and how they operate at the level of the sentence, this paper looks at a particular phenomenon in Singapore English at a discursive level. Specifically, it examines right and its use as a discourse marker in Singapore English interactions. In doing so, this paper demonstrates how it contributes to the alignment of two kinds of stances between speakers, namely, the epistemic stance and the interpersonal stance. This is done with supporting data from naturally occurring Singaporean conversations. Furthermore, this paper also briefly suggests that the familiar particles in Singapore English can be analysed not only as particles, but also as discourse markers at an interactional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Got in Colloquial Singapore English (CSE) has grammatical and semantic functions which are very different from standard varieties of English such as Standard British English (BrE). This paper provides a comprehensive description of the usage of the word. Seven distinct meanings are identified: possessive, existential, realis modality (further divided into temporal location, aspect and emphasis), idiomatic use in the expression where got?, passive, ‘to receive/obtain’ and ‘to become’. With regard to these seven meanings, the paper then makes a cross-linguistic comparison between CSE and four languages which played a role in the formation of CSE, namely BrE, Hokkien, Cantonese and Baba Malay. The results of the comparison show that it is Hokkien that constitutes the main substrate of CSE. This claim is further supported by sociohistorical facts and a comparison between CSE and Baba Malay of two expressions that are potentially of Malay-origin, namely the kena passive construction and the idiomatic expression where got?. Moreover, the paper also maintains that the sources of the various uses of got can be classified into three, two of which were gained through successful L2 acquisition and the other through a combination of simplification and relexification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the problems, the properties, and the prospects of using ‘English as a lingua franca’ as a construct and as a reality. It will therefore focus on what is meant by the term ‘lingua franca’, what is represented as a ‘lingua franca’, and what the debates are about English as a lingua franca. The point of departure is Kachru's description of English as a lingua franca as ‘a communicative tool of immense power’. How this tool is used in the Outer Circle and elsewhere has been addressed elsewhere, but the discussion is an attempt to examine the issues in Singapore, where English has indeed become an international lingua franca as well as a national lingua franca for Singaporeans. The hope is that this paper will contribute to the ongoing dialog by asking questions rather than offering definitive answers to a very complex emergent phenomenon: the character and traits of English as a lingua franca in the 21st century and the sociolinguistic realities of its existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The forms X-self and ownself are both found in Colloquial Singapore English (CSE), but they are not synonymous. The question of exactly how their meanings differ is the focus of this paper. Starting with basic assumptions in cognitive linguistics and Clark's principle of contrast, I make use of Langacker's notion of profiling to suggest that X-self profiles the most discourse-prominent entity. That is, it picks out one entity from a group of other possibilities. In contrast, ownself profiles the exclusion of all entities other than the most discourse-prominent one, so that this entity emerges as the only possibility. I close the paper by briefly exploring the implications of the analysis for the theoretical notion of profiling itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discourse marker you know has been widely noted and analyzed in different varieties of English. However, it is less widely recognized that Colloquial Singapore English (CSE), in addition to the marker you know, has also developed the particle know. This paper provides data showing that know has distributional and collocational properties that distinguish it from you know, even though their discourse–pragmatic functions are similar. The differences between you know and know indicate that the latter has become a member of a linguistic category, referred to in this paper as the discourse particle. This category is exemplified by more familiar forms such as lah, lor, and meh. The paper suggests that the mechanism by which know has joined the other particles is that of analogical change, made possible because (1) CSE already contains a rich inventory of such particles, and (2) it is a pro–drop language. The first feature motivates the extraction of a category where members are monosyllabic, occur in clause–final position, and perform discourse–pragmatic functions. You know possesses two of the three characteristics, but is excluded because it is not monosyllabic. However, the pro–drop feature allows the monosyllabic know to emerge and join the category of discourse particle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the use of ever in affirmative responses to Yes/No type questions as well as in declarative sentences in discourse in colloquial Singaporean English (SgE). Besides providing exemplifications of ever in the oral mode, it also gives instances of a similar declarative use of ever in the written mode as found in students' writing.  The paper goes on to examine parallels in the SgE use of ever with its equivalents in the local languages. While parallels can be seen in Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese and Malay, the authors contend that Hokkien and Malay have stronger entrenching influences. In addition, they also show that the SgE use of ever reflects similarities found in structures with ever/never in standard English. They posit that it is this interplay of both substrate and superstrate syntax and semantics which has given rise to the unique use of ever in SgE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper investigates adverbial relative clauses in world Englishes, in particular relative clauses expressing place ( the place where), time ( the time when), manner ( the way in which) and reason ( the reason why). Using data from the ICE corpora, it compares the varieties spoken in India, Hong-Kong and Singapore. In particular we consider: (i) the meaning expressed by the relative clause; (ii) the nominal antecedent, both its meaning and form; and (iii) the relative word used to introduce the relative clause (adverbial relative word, wh- pronoun, that and zero). An examination of these issues reveals distinguishing features in the distribution of relative words that are related to the different constructions, to the specific postcolonial varieties that have been developed in the different countries and, finally, to the interaction between the superstrate and the different substrate languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Available corpus data show that adverbs with modifying meanings, already, also, and only, occur at the clause-final or sentence-final position more often in 'Asian Englishes' (Hong Kong English and Singapore English) than British English and Canadian English. This paper posits a link between the motivation of sentence-final adverbs in Asian English and substrate transfer due to linguistic (both grammatical and pragmatic) structures of influential non-English languages in the regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: In this paper, we demonstrate the specific ways in which the influence of Chinese manifests itself in the structure of the noun phrases containing relative clause modifiers in colloquial Singapore English. We argue that while previous researchers have been correct in pointing out the substratal influence of Chinese, they have not gone far enough in articulating the specific nature of this influence, in particular on the grammar. Colloquial Singapore English relative clauses are interesting because they show an amalgamation of both substrate and superstrate grammatical features. This blending of features is a precise one in which substrate influence is in some way regulated and limited by the superstrate grammar. The combination of superstrate and substrate grammars is illustrated in the constituent ordering of relative clause modifiers, as well as the grammatical behavior of the relative pronoun one. In this paper, we also seek to show that colloquial Singapore English relative clauses are extremely elaborate grammatical structures which argue against new varieties of English being characterized as simplified versions of their superstrate language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Research on English in Singapore has been the topic of many studies from the late 1970s to the present. Past surveys on the topic have tended to focus on the phasing of the study of Singapore English, rather than on the broader issue of English in Singapore per se. From the late 1990s, we see the birth of a new generation of scholars on Singapore English whose doctoral dissertations have focused on Singapore English, and who have focused on the systematic, features-based linguistic description of Singapore English as well as the broader consideration of English in Singapore in general. The present paper takes its reference from an up-to-date compilation of published works of English in Singapore and doctoral dissertations, and attempts a meta-analysis via a systematic coding of all the works done. A critical evaluation of what existing research implies about the theoretical modelling of English in Singapore and areas requiring further research will be elucidated in the final section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores stylized renderings of Singapore English as such 'verbal art' is used by Singaporean youth in popular online forums. In order to analyze these stylizations, this study uses corpora collected from two forums frequented by Singaporean students. The data suggests that posters often use stylized representations to perform or to ventriloquize the identity of an Ah Beng (a kind of hustler or gangster). Implicated in such performances are sometimes complex negotiations of class, gender, and ethnicity. The relationship among the linguistic features central to our study and the social meanings signaled by those features suggest the value of approaches that emphasize the range of pragmatic and metapragmatic meanings or indexicalities that accrue to features in modeling variation in Singapore English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes online English-language newspapers from the former British colonies of Kenya, Singapore, and Trinidad and Tobago with respect to Americanisms in spelling and vocabulary. The guiding question is whether the degree of Americanization can be related to the different degrees to which these countries participate in globalization. It is shown that the influence of American English is least pronounced in Kenya and most in Trinidad and Tobago, with Singapore in between, and that globalization is indeed a factor, but that other factors including official language attitudes play a role as well. The role of international news agencies in disseminating Americanisms is also considered and is found to be prominent mainly in the case of Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: This paper explores the way a group of pre-teens in Singapore use Malay, Chinese and English to perform identity. It is based on one case study of a Malay girl, Syafiqah, from a larger project called The Sociolinguistic Survey of Singapore 2006, and does not claim to be generalizable. The data are transcripts of recordings made on the speech patterns of Syafiqah in the domain of family and friends. Though Malay and Mandarin are out-group languages in the language ideology of Singapore, we find that among this group of friends, the Malay and Chinese pre-teens cross over into these languages to create solidarity between different ethnicities. They use Malay and Mandarin to perform and display identity. Patterns of exclusion in this group are based on personality and not ethnicity. Though a language of solidarity in Singapore's language ideology, these pre-teens perceive Standard English as an exclusionary language of status and accept Singlish as the language of solidarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on an investigation into the international intelligibility of the English of educated Hong Kong speakers whose L1 is Cantonese. Samples of recordings of extended discourse obtained from three female and three male final-year English majors studying at the Hong Kong Institute of Education were played to groups of university students in Singapore and Australia. The listeners were asked to complete worksheets based on the recordings in order to determine the extent to which they found the Hong Kong speakers intelligible. They were also asked to evaluate the extent to which they thought the Hong Kong speakers were intelligent and likeable, and to give reasons for their choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Singapore is unique in that it has not only embraced English as one of its official languages, but has made the language of its colonizers the de facto working language of the nation and the sole medium of instruction in all its schools, while assigning its other three official languages, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil, an L2 status in the school curriculum. With the use of English institutionalized in almost all domains of life, present- day Singaporeans grow up as ‘English-knowing’ bilinguals, acquiring English in the process of its use and interaction in school, in the playground, in the workplace, and increasingly in the home as well, making them native speakers of their variety of English. This raises interesting questions with regard to the ownership and authority of Singaporean speakers, and as to their legitimacy as mother-tongue speakers of the language. Drawing on Higgins' (2003) study on speakers' orientations towards English norms of Inner and Outer Circle countries, we examined Singaporean speakers' degree of ownership of their English norms along the dimensions of age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class. In this paper we discuss some data from this ongoing study relating specifically to the language use of Singapore's Indian community, with a focus on how they positioned themselves in the process of articulating their orientations to English norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colloquial Singapore English is an outer-circle variety that exhibits contact-induced linguistic change. It has been characterized as the L variant in diglossic opposition to standard English. In this paper, we address two related issues: (1) the extent to which the Singapore English diglossia is supported by corpus data, and (2) the extent to which the diglossia is reducible to register variation. We investigate the usage pattern of two linguistic variables which have acquired novel grammatical meanings, and show that our data support the Singapore English diglossia, but the variation is greater than what is normal in register variation. The diglossia of which one variant is an outer-circle variety does not reduce easily to register variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the formal properties of reduplication in many languages have aroused the interest of many linguists and much appears to have been done in this area, the same cannot be said about its semantics. It seems that our understanding of the kinds of meaning associated with reduplication processes remains rather limited. This is regrettable, given that language meaning can shed a lot of light on the speech community's ways of thinking and norms of interaction. In this paper, the object of study is a widely used reduplication process in Singapore English – the reduplication of nominal modifiers. I will endeavour to identify its meaning and articulate it in the form of a reductive paraphrase. I will also try to show that its use may be linked, via meaning, with a culture-specific norm of interaction that seems to be characteristic of Singapore English speakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]