Roots
Talking Singlish
Deepti

Singlish is the colloquial, homegrown variety of English that is used by Singaporeans when they are in a relaxed and informal company. The many races that populate Singapore have contributed to this hybrid English called ‘Singlish’. The colonial past of the nation ensured that English remained the lingua franca of business, profession and education. But, the English that is used in banks, offices and academic institutions is British Standard English that is increasingly influenced by American English while the Singlish that is heard in the streets, pubs and malls is slangy, drawing upon the cultures of the various peoples who inhabit Singapore. Between the two poles of formal English and informal English can be found a vast range of a number of Englishes, depending upon the dominant community that uses them.

The different names of the nation give a clue about the nature of Singlish. Originally, the name ‘Singapore’ comes from the Sanskrit ‘Simhapura’ or ‘lion city’. In English, it is known as the Republic Of Singapore, in Mandarin, it is called Hsin-chia-p’o Kung-ho-kuo, in Tamil, it is named Singapore Kudiyarasa and the Malay knows it as Republik Singapura. All these languages flourish together in Singapore and the citizens use their ethnic language within their community, Singlish with other communities and English for official discourse.

But the Singapore Government doesn’t like Singlish because it thinks it detracts from Singapore’s sober image as a commercial and financial centre. So, since 2006, it has been trying to discourage the use of Singlish through the Speak Good English Movement (SGEM), which organises everything from creative writing to scrabble contests in order to encourage standard English. Making use of different varieties of a language in different situations is called ‘diglossia’ and happens whenever dialects of different prestige co-exist. In Singapore, Singlish is the low prestige dialect, and standard English is the high prestige dialect.

Due to its adaptability and flexibility, English recently became the first language in 2000 years to have more second-language speakers than native speakers. ‘Englishes’ have made ‘English’ richer, not poorer.

When Singaporeans use more than one English, they do not corrupt any language, they enrich the languages they use.