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Advertisements employ multimodal configurations of semiotic resources in an effort to lead consumers to draw particular meanings from desired consumption behaviors. This analysis examines the deployment of such resources in advertising during the global Covid-19 pandemic, focusing on the Southeast Asian nation of Singapore. We identify five discourses that offer distinct framings of Covid-19 as a challenge for workers, a wellness issue, a threat to home and family, a challenge for women, and a threat to the Singapore lifestyle. Undergirded by neoliberal notions such as the productivity imperative, these discourses rationalize a range of consumer behaviors as necessary and justified in the struggle to defeat the virus. Advertisements are argued to place the burden of navigating the pandemic primarily on women via the evocation of power femininity. We propose a new framework, crisis commodification, as a means of understanding the ideological mechanisms at play in Covid-19 advertising. (Critical discourse analysis, crisis commodification, semiotic analysis, advertising, public health, Southeast Asia)*

Although Singapore schools are English-medium, Mandarin is a compulsory subject for students of Chinese heritage. As young Singaporeans increasingly speak English at home, the required study of Mandarin has become a source of anxiety for families. Mandarin ‘enrichment centers’, which provide supplementary language classes, leverage this anxiety in various ways, from promising top exam results to highlighting non-traditional pedagogical approaches. This analysis draws on data from the websites of 14 such centers, focusing on how these programs position learners in relation to the notion of linguistic entrepreneurship (De Costa et al. 2016). We identify three broad classes of enrichment center: Traditional, Modern Traditional, and Anti-Traditional, each offering distinct imaginings of the learner as linguistic entrepreneur. Traditional centers highlight academic achievement, promising ‘exam-focused’ strategies to optimize school performance. Modern Traditional centers, in contrast, frame enrichment as an elite lifestyle choice, emphasizing exclusivity and luxury. Finally, Anti-Traditional centers distance themselves from conventional pedagogy, and invoke notions of holistic, experiential learning. Across these categories, we observe a common discourse of Mandarin learning as a character-building struggle, in which centers provide unique resources enabling learners to survive the Singapore education system and emerge as ideal neoliberal subjects who have maximized their potential.

The Manila variety of Philippine Hybrid Hokkien (PHH-M) or Lánnang-uè is a contact language used by the metropolitan Manila Chinese Filipinos; it is primarily comprised of Hokkien, Tagalog/Filipino, and English elements. Approaching PHH-M as a mixed language, we investigate linguistically and socially conditioned variation in the monophthongs of PHH-M, focusing on the extent to which the vowel systems of the three source languages have converged. This analysis draws on data gathered from 34 native speakers; Pillai scores are calculated to assess the degree of merger. Contrary to certain predictions of prior work on mixed languages, PHH-M is found to have a unified, eight-vowel inventory distinct from any of its sources. Older women use more stable vowels across source languages, suggesting that they have led in the development of PHH-M as a mixed code; however, signs of change among younger women suggest either the endangerment of the code or its evolution in response to the community’s shifting identity. We contextualize our conclusions in relation to the sociohistory and language ecology of metropolitan Manila’s Chinese Filipino community.

Although orientation towards local norms is increasing in Singapore, Singapore English (SgE) is still perceived by some as a nonnative variety. Variation in attitudes towards SgE may shape acquisition of SgE features by both Singaporean and expatriate children, who increasingly attend government schools. The present study investigates how the -t/d deletion patterns of 60 children reflect their attitudes and school setting. Significant correlations are observed between deletion rate, attitude towards SgE, and accent self-perception among Singaporean children, highlighting that this variety is undergoing endonormative stabilization. However, while some expatriates in local schools delete more than peers in international schools, expatriate children generally do not acquire local -t/d deletion rates or constraints, regardless of familiarity with SgE or attitudes towards the variety. This gap between locals and expatriates reflects the persistence of ideologies that delegitimize SgE, as well as the growing prominence of SgE as a marker of local identity.

Lay observers and linguists have claimed that ongoing phonological and lexical changes in Singapore English may be attributed to increased exposure to American English via media consumption (Poedjosoedarmo 2000; Deterding 2007; Leow 2011). Little is known, however, regarding Singaporeans’ explicit knowledge of the dialect features of other regions, and how this knowledge is shaped by social and parasocial contact. The present study investigates a well-known difference among regional English dialects: the realization of vowels in the bath and trap lexical sets. 1167 Singaporeans are surveyed regarding their own pronunciation of bath and trap words, as well as their perceptions of how these words are pronounced in California and London. While Singaporeans are found to generally retain a conservative bath-trap distinction, media consumption and travel experience, as well as gender and education level, have significant impacts on reported use. Explicit knowledge of the US bath-trap merger is found to be poor relative to the high US media consumption rate, illustrating the limits of media as a source of sociolinguistic knowledge. Contrasting sharply with the rise of postvocalic rhoticity, reluctance to adopt the bath-trap merger is argued to stem from both functional and ideological factors; conservatism in this feature complicates proposals of a wholesale Americanization of Singapore English.

The present study investigates whether prior experience with formal study of an L2 influences L3 Korean learners’ Type 1 variation (i.e., use of obligatory forms) and Type 2 variation (i.e., variation between alternative acceptable variants). The patterns of variation in Korean argument realization of early bilingual learners (English-Chinese/Malay/Indonesian/Tamil) of L3 Korean were assessed in light of the distribution of variants present in classroom input, learners’ prior L2 learning experience and home language background, argument animacy and number, and familiarity of verb structure type. Our findings demonstrate that prior experience with a typologically-similar L2 facilitates acquisition of grammatical patterns as well as acquisition of native-like patterns of variation between grammatical forms that are constrained by a range of internal linguistic factors. Any L2 experience, regardless of typological proximity, is found to facilitate acquisition of internal linguistic constraints, but not acquisition of grammatical patterns.

Children acquiring sociolinguistic knowledge in transnational migration settings must learn to evaluate multiple languages and dialects in a fluid, multifaceted social landscape. This study examines the sociolinguistic development of local and expatriate children in Singapore and investigates the extent to which they share sociolinguistic knowledge and norms. One hundred fourteen children ages five to nineteen completed a region identification task and an occupation judgment task, focusing on their perception of four regional English varieties: Australian English, Northern-China-accented English, Filipino English, and Singapore English. While all groups performed well on the region identification task, expatriate children outperformed locals within the youngest age group. Singaporean and expatriate children attending local schools showed greater familiarity with local norms than international school students in their occupation ratings. Participants mapped speakers to occupations by general prestige level, suggesting that children rely on indirect knowledge of social status rather than direct experience with speakers in their development of sociolinguistic evaluation. (Children's sociolinguistic development, transnational migration, language attitudes)*

Early bilingualism is thought to facilitate language learning [Klein, E. C. (1995). Second versus third language acquisition: Is there a difference? Language Learning, 45(3), 419–466; Cromdal, J. (1999). Childhood bilingualism and metalinguistic skills: Analysis and control in young Swedish-English bilinguals. Applied Psycholinguistics, 20(1), 1–20]. The present study tests whether experience with formal study of an L2 conveys further advantages to early bilinguals, and whether typological similarity of previously-learnt languages to L3 plays a significant role in L3 learning. Two groups of participants, Early Bilinguals (EBLs) and Early Bilinguals with formal L2 experience (EBLs+L2), were tested on acquisition of Korean case markers in four argument structures: intransitive verbs, transitive verbs with both arguments, transitive verbs with one omitted argument, and descriptive verbs. EBLs+L2 significantly outperformed EBLs and the two groups showed further differences by sentence type, with EBLs ...

‘Sweet voice’, a distinctive Japanese vocal style, illustrates the role played by voice quality as a marker of authenticity in the construction of linguistic styles. The acoustic properties and sociopragmatic functions of sweet voice, as performed by professional voice actresses, are analyzed using data from anime programs, paraphernalia, and fan discourse. Sweet voice is shown to be connected to a traditional notion of Japanese femininity, and licenses the positive use of grammatical features of Japanese Women's Language. The mature, traditional image conveyed by sweet voice contrasts with the youthful cuteness of burikko and related vocal styles, illustrating that multiple notions of femininity operate within Japanese popular culture. The interplay of voice quality and grammatical features suggests that perceptions of conscious control at different levels of language play a crucial role in social meaning. (Voice quality, Japanese, language and gender, style, authenticity)*

Cantonese contains a range of NP forms which are ambiguous with respect to referentiality and definiteness (e.g., go yahn ‘a/the man’). Accessibility theory (Ariel 2001) predicts that entities which are salient in the discourse will be introduced using forms with more linguistic material, and referred back to using forms with less linguistic material. Previous studies of Standard Written Chinese have found that more topical entities are introduced using fuller NP forms (Sun 1988; Li 2000). A study of online love-advice narratives reveals that, in the case of new items, fuller NP forms in Vernacular Written Cantonese are more frequently used for more topical, referential, and plural entities. For given items, however, contrary to the predictions of accessibility theory, topical entities and those with a previous reference using a longer NP form are associated with fuller, rather than more abbreviated, NP forms. These findings suggest that the desire to highlight topical entities may override the principle of accessibility in choice of NP form for given items in certain genres.

t o determine whether phonological variables are a potential resource for the expression of political identity, this article examines the second vowel of Iraq. in addition to being part of a politically significant place-name, Iraq is particularly well- suited to index political identity due in part to the ideological association between the "foreign (a)" variable with correctness and educatedness in u.S. e nglish (boberg 1997). Specifically, Iraq's second vowel appears to index political conservatism when produced as /a/ and political liberalism when produced as /a:/. r esults from an analysis of the u.S. House of representatives show that republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats to use /a/, even controlling for regional accent. Political persuasion can be an important facet of identity ( brewer 2001; Huddy 2001; Green, palmquist, and Schickler 2002). A large body of work in sociolinguistics has examined how linguistic variables may index aspects of identity such as ethnicity or gender, but to what extent can linguistic features be used to express one's political identity? this question has not received much attention; we begin to address that here. in one of the few studies of linguistic variation and political identity, krivoruchko (2008) argues that variation in r ussian between the prepositions na and v (both variably corresponding to english on and in) has become "indexical of socio-cultural identities" in the context of ukraine's indepen- dence from russia since 1991 (206). Specifically, the phrase na Ukraini for 'in ukraine' now connotes "traditional, purist and nationalist discourse" while the construction v Ukraini for 'in ukraine' connotes "bureaucratic newspeak, an anti-nationalist stance and 'political correctness.'" the use of na carries a linguistically "conservative" meaning and, while not necessarily a politically conservative one, nonetheless indexes a speaker's stance with respect to nationalist ideologies (204). krivoruchko's study suggests that place-names like Ukraine are likely sites for the linguistic construction of political ideology. in this article, we address attitudes expressed in current American popular discourse about the politi

The concept of immigrant generation is complex. Americans use the ordinal designations first-, second-, third-, even ‘1.5’-generation to refer to individuals' varying relationship to their family's moment of immigration. But these terms are much more fluid in practice than the rigidity of the numbers implies, and the nature of that fluidity is changing over time. Furthermore, different waves of immigration mean different experiences of generation identity; a first-generation immigrant in the 1880s entered an American community that was drastically different than the one a first-generation immigrant enters today.One example of these shifts in the meaning of immigrant generation is among Asian Americans across the country, particularly those in California. In this paper, we discuss the relationship between language and immigrant generation with respect to Chinese Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California, the region of the United States with the longest history of Chinese immigration and settlement. We focus in particular on the pronunciation of English, drawing on data collected in the Bay Area from 2008–2009 to argue that Chinese cultural and linguistic practices are gaining currency in the wider community. Our discussion looks at the experiences of third and higher immigrant generations, especially as they interact with more recent waves of immigrants, and the resulting dominance of Chinese and other Asian identities across the Bay Area. The layered and rapidly shifting Chinese American experience suggests potential future directions for the study of other immigrant communities in the United States.