The Passive in Singapore English

Bao, Zhiming; Wee, Lionel

doi:10.1111/1467-971x.00117

Cited by 85 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…In the earlier sections that featured CSE got, Hokkien's dominant influence on CSE has already been demonstrated. Researchers such as Bao and Lye (2005) correctly point out that there is no linguistic evidence in favour of such a hypothesis with the only exception of the so-called kena passive construction (Bao and Wee 1999;Chung 2005). They note that even with regard to that construction it is uncertain whether the feature is from Baba Malay or the Malays' Malay.…”

Section: Hokkien As the Main Substrate: Sociohistorical And Linguistimentioning

confidence: 99%

Colloquial Singapore English got: functions and substratal influences

2009

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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.

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Section: Hokkien As the Main Substrate: Sociohistorical And Linguistimentioning

confidence: 99%

Colloquial Singapore English got: functions and substratal influences

2009

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“…5 The emergent variety of English, Singlish (or colloquial or basilectal Singapore English), 6 which exhibits particular phonological patterning, syntax and vocabulary derived from the various local languages, in particular Malay, Hokkien, and Cantonese (see e.g. Ansaldo 2004Ansaldo , 2009Bao 2001Bao , 2005Bao and Lye 2005;Bao and Wee 1999;Lim 2004aLim , 2009bWee 2004;Wee and Ansaldo 2004), can in fact be said to be much more Asian than English (Ansaldo 2009). Crucially it is this variety of English which fulfils identification and integrative functions for Singaporeans.…”

Section: Non-neutral Native-speaker Englishmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond fear and loathing in SG

Lim

2009

AILA

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This paper considers the real mother tongues of Singapore, namely the Chinese 'dialects' and Singlish, the linguistic varieties which, respectively, arrived with the original immigrants to the rapidly developing British colony, and evolved in the dynamic multilingual ecology over the decades. Curiously these mother tongues have been regarded with fear and treated with loathing in the official language policies and accompanying prestige planning that have been developed and executed in Singapore since independence, being actively denigrated and discouraged in official discourse, viewed as not having a place in the globalization goals of the nation. Looking beyond the official line and census figures, actual linguistic practices of the community of speakers testify to the vitality of these varieties, in spite of the official sanctions; moreover, in spite of itself, the government does in fact allow itself the use of these mother tongues when certain contexts call for it. This paper suggests that an enlightened consideration of native 'dialects' and nativized Singlish and the plurilingual practices in which they are used, as well as of the question of intelligibility, must point policy makers in directions where fears are assuaged and spaces made for the natural existence and evolution of such varieties in multilingual ecologies. Fear and loathing in SGIn an age where vernaculars, whether endangered languages spoken by a last community or languages with minority status in larger nation states, are receiving greater (positive) recognition, support and funding, from linguistic organizations and bodies such as UNESCO, it is always intriguing to examine a context where the mother tongue of a people is regarded with fear and loathing. This paper has as its focus the real mother tongues of Singapore's multilingual population -not the officially designated 'Mother Tongues' (MTs) of English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil, which are the linguistic varieties which are officially associated with the official races of the state, namely Chinese, Malay and Indian, and learnt as second languages in school, but the actual linguistic varieties that arrived with the original immigrants to Singapore or that have evolved in the Singapore context.While this paper has as its main focus the English language, the situation with the Chinese languages is also examined, first because it parallels that of English, as will be seen in the sections following, and second because the possibility of (a) Chinese language(s) as competitor to English needs to be considered. In examining English, a significant aspect involves the contact dynamics of Singapore's multilingual context and the emergent variety of English which has been nativized and

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“…Part of this adaptation involves the inclusion of words from the indigenous languages in order to describe aspects of local culture (for example, kampong meaning "village" from Malay and hongbao "a red packet given during Chinese New Year festivities" from Chinese). Another part involves the rise of different grammatical constructions such as a Why construction , the relative clause , variants of the passive (Bao & Wee 1999), variation in the expression of aspectual meaning (Fong 2002), and the characteristic use of discourse particles (e.g., Kwan-Terry 1978, Platt 1987, Gupta 1992, Pakir 1992, Wong 1994, Ler 2001. The result is a local variety of English, but one that is sufficiently distinct from more standard varieties to cause anxiety.…”

Section: Language Should Not Changementioning

confidence: 99%

“Singlish”: Used and Abused

Fong¹,

Lim²,

Wee³

2002

Asian Englishes

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The term "Singlish" figures prominently in local discussions of English in Singapore. But because the term has been used by different people to mean different things, this has resulted in (undetected) confusion, leading to discussions where not much progress is being made. In this paper, we first attempt to tear apart the various meanings of "Singlish". We then discuss how these different uses of "Singlish", and, by implication, its contrast with Standard English, also embody a number of assumptions about the nature of language, culture, and society, and how some of these assumptions turn out to be fallacious. In many ways, the "Singlish" issue mirrors similar recent language debates in the UK and USA. Our discussion highlights the academic as well as advocacy work that linguists must continue to engage in, to bring about a more (socio)linguistically sophisticated public, and to find ways to make public discussion about English in Singapore better-informed.

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The Passive in Singapore English

Cited by 85 publications

References 5 publications

Colloquial Singapore English got: functions and substratal influences

Colloquial Singapore English got: functions and substratal influences

Beyond fear and loathing in SG

“Singlish”: Used and Abused

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