Language use and language shift among the Malays in Singapore

Cavallaro, Francesco; Serwe, Stefan Karl

doi:10.1515/9783110222654.129

Cited by 34 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Although Singaporean Malays are often depicted as exceptionally successful guardians of their language (Chong and Seilhamer 2014), Cavallaro and Serwe (2010) suggests a different scenario. The survey administered to 233 participants from 12 to 72 years of age revealed that English is increasingly used by the younger generation (18-24 years of age) as well as those with a higher socioeconomic and educational background in domains of language use once considered a safe space for Malay.…”

Section: Interactional Sociolinguisticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What can interactional sociolinguistics bring to the family language policy research table? The case of a Malay family in Singapore

Mirvahedi

2021

Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

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This research applies interactional sociolinguistics within a family language policy framework to investigate how social structures and institutional discourses outside the home trickle into daily mundane activities within a Malay-English bilingual family in Singapore. Drawing upon ethnographic interviews and naturally-occurring interactions at home, the study examines the parents' reported linguistic ideologies and the 'practiced' family language policy. The analysis suggests that the family embraces language mixing in the family and reports making efforts to strike a balance between Malay and English at home as a way of raising the children bilingually. The analysis of familial interactions, however, shows that the parents' and children's language practices vary as certain frames are evoked in the conversation. The findings suggest that a better understanding of language maintenance and shift processes through family language policy research necessitates a nuanced examination of how languages are used to evoke, negotiate and establish certain frames during daily activities at home.

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Section: Interactional Sociolinguisticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What can interactional sociolinguistics bring to the family language policy research table? The case of a Malay family in Singapore

Mirvahedi

2021

Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

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“…Walau bagaimanapun, peningkatan bahasa Inggeris sebagai bahasa ekonomi global di seluruh dunia dan penekanan pada bahasa Inggeris sebagai bahasa pengantar di Singapura bermakna bahawa masyarakat Melayu semakin menunjukkan tanda-tanda yang jelas beralih dari bahasa tradisional mereka. (Cavallaro, 2010) Pelbagai pengarang telah membincangkan peralihan bahasa dalam pelbagai komuniti Singapura, misalnya, Li et al (1997) bagi bahasa Teochew;Schiffmann (2003) untuk bahasa Tamil; dan Gupta dan Siew (1995) bagi peralihan penutur Kantonis ke bahasa Mandarin di Singapura. Kajian-kajian ini telah dilakukan lebih kurang dua dekad lalu dan gejala peralihan dan pergeseran bahasa ini telah dikesan dalam kalangan orang Melayu di Singapura.…”

Section: Penggunaan Bahasa Inggeris Terus Meningkatunclassified

“…Kadar ini secara beransur-ansur meningkat antara kumpulan umur (lihat gambar rajah 3). Walaupun kecenderungan orang Muda Melayyu di Singapura berbahasa Inggeris di tempat kerja dan di rumah masih agak tinggi, dan kajian lain pula menegaskan bahawa mereka mempamerkan keselesaan dalam berbahasa Melayu (Cavallaro, 2010). Mereka cenderung untuk menggunakan lebih banyak bahasa Inggeris apabila mereka berhubung dengan rakan kerja terutamanya daripada golongan institusi pengajian dan berpendidikan e ISSN 2735 -1904 https://doi.org/10.22452/JOMAS.vol32no2.3 tinggi.…”

Section: Usaha-usaha Untuk Melestarikan Penggunaan Bahasa Melayuunclassified

Pelestarian Bahasa Melayu Sebagai Bahasa Ibunda Di Singapura

Kassim

2021

JOMAS

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The latest statistics from the Department of Statistics in Singapore (2020) shows that more Malay families speak English at home. However, this trend is common across all ethnic groups in Singapore. Over the five decades of independence and enforcement of the bilingualism policy, the Malay language, which is the National Language and language commonly spoken in Malay households, is gradually being replaced with English. Other statistics reveal that the Malay language, which is the mother tongue of the majority of the Malays, is used less frequently, even from the early years of socialisation in a Malay household and the exposure of Malay only begins at the preschool level (Maliki, 2020). There is an assumption that, as long as the government maintains the Malay language in the education system through language learning in Singaporean schools, the bilingual policy will continue to maintain the usage of vernacular language. This development is likely to create more issues towards learning and teaching the Malay language as a mother tongue. Hence, this study utilises the approach of the sociology of language to discuss the reasons and impact of the language shift in efforts to preserve the status of the Malay language among the Singapore Malays.

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“…It is conceivable that the erosion of vernaculars would have happened anyway due to the decreasing relevance of vernaculars in the context of increasing importance of English. However, there is no doubt that the systematic and sustained process of status planning (see Riney, 1998;Wee, 2003;Ng, 2008;Cavallaro & Serwe, 2010) which involves both proscription and denigration of non-official languages accelerated the shift significantly. This dramatic change in language use is captured in the census survey over the last few decades.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Language shift in Singapore appears to conform to the worldwide trend of inter-generational language shift. Various studies on the Teochew, Cantonese, Tamil and Malay communities have identified rapid language shift in less then three generations (Li, Saravanan & Ng, 1997;Gupta & Siew, 1995;Vaish, 2007;Cavallaro & Serwe, 2010). Language policy has been singled out as a key cause for language shift, through the successful implementation of initiatives to promote English and Mandarin as languages of wider communication.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Three generations under one roof : a study of the influence of the presence of grandparents on language shift, identity and attitudes

Hao¹,

Ng²

2010

TRANEL

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La communauté chinoise de Singapour vit un changement linguistique majeur depuis quelques dizaines d'années. L'utilisation des vernaculaires chinois pour la communication intra-ethnique est en régression face à l'anglais ou au mandarin dans la plupart des domaines. Cette situation est principalement due à la politique linguistique du gouvernement ainsi qu'à la domination toujours plus forte des langues "globales". Cet article se penche sur l'influence de la structure familiale sur les pratiques, les attitudes et l'identité langagière des jeunes singapouriens vis-à-vis des chinois vernaculaires. L'étude rassemble les données de 19 entretiens individuels de jeunes vivant soit dans des familles nucélaires, soit dans des familles élargies. Les résultats montrent que les informateurs qui ont grandi dans des familles élargies sont plus enclins à parler les vernaculaires et manifestent des attitudes plus positives au sujet de leur usage. Cependant, vivre dans une famille élargie ne suffit pas à rendre compte de cette tendance. Une analyse plus fine montre que c'est la nature et la fréquence des interactions avec les grands-parents vivant dans les familles élargies qui explique le mieux les attitudes vis-à-vis des vernaculaires.

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Language use and language shift among the Malays in Singapore

Cited by 34 publications

References 32 publications

What can interactional sociolinguistics bring to the family language policy research table? The case of a Malay family in Singapore

What can interactional sociolinguistics bring to the family language policy research table? The case of a Malay family in Singapore

Pelestarian Bahasa Melayu Sebagai Bahasa Ibunda Di Singapura

Three generations under one roof : a study of the influence of the presence of grandparents on language shift, identity and attitudes

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