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Singlish (a portmanteau of Singapore and English); formally known as Colloquial Singaporean English, is an English-based creole language originating in Singapore.^[1][2][3] Singlish arose out of a situation of prolonged language contact between speakers of many different Asian languages in Singapore, such as Malay, Cantonese, Hokkien, Mandarin, Teochew, and Tamil.^[4] The term Singlish refers to a blend of Singaporean slang and English and was first recorded in the early 1970s.^[5]

Singlish originated with the arrival of the British and the establishment of English language education in Singapore.^[6] Elements of English quickly filtered out of schools and onto the streets, resulting in the development of a pidgin language^[7] spoken by non-native speakers as a lingua franca used for communication between speakers of the many different languages used in Singapore. Singlish evolved mainly among the working classes who learned elements of English without formal schooling, mixing in elements of their native languages.^[8] After some time, this new pidgin language, now combined with substantial influences from Peranakan, southern varieties of Chinese, Malay, and Tamil, became the primary language of the streets. As Singlish grew in popularity, children began to acquire Singlish as their native language, a process known as creolization. Through this process of creolization, Singlish became a fully-formed, stabilized and independent creole language, acquiring a more robust vocabulary and more complex grammar, with fixed phonology, syntax, morphology, and syntactic embedding.^[9][10]

Like all languages, Singlish and other creole languages show consistent internal logic and grammatical complexity, and are used naturally by a group of people to express thoughts and ideas.^[11] Due to its origins, Singlish shares many similarities with other English-based creole languages. As with many other creole languages, it is sometimes incorrectly perceived to be a "broken" form of the lexifier language - in this case, English.^[12] Due in part to this perception of Singlish as "broken English", the use of Singlish is greatly frowned on by the government. In 2000, the government launched the Speak Good English Movement to eradicate Singlish,^[13] although more recent Speak Good English campaigns are conducted with tacit acceptance of Singlish as valid for informal usage.^[9] Several current and former Singaporean prime ministers have publicly spoken out against Singlish.^[14][15][16] However, the prevailing view among contemporary linguists is that, regardless of perceptions that a dialect or language is "better" or "worse" than its counterparts, when dialects and languages are assessed "on purely linguistic grounds, all languages—and all dialects—have equal merit".^[17][18][19]

In addition, there have been recent surges in the interest of Singlish internationally, sparking several national conversations. In 2016, Oxford English Dictionary (OED) announced that it has added 19 new "Singapore English" items such as "Hawker centre", "shiok" and "sabo" in both its online and printed versions. Several Singlish words had previously made it into the OED's online version, which launched in March 2000. Words such as "Lah" and "sinseh" were already included in OED's debut, while "kiasu" made it into the online list in March 2007.^[20] Reactions were generally positive for this Singaporean identity to be recognized on a global level, and Singlish has been commonly associated with the country and is considered a unique aspect of Singaporean culture.^[21][22]

Creole continuum

Singlish and English in Singapore exist along a creole continuum, ranging from standard English with local pronunciation on one end, to the most colloquial registers of Singlish on the other.^[23]

After Singapore's independence in 1965, and successive "Speak Mandarin" campaigns,^[24] a subtle language shift among the post-1965 generation became more and more evident as Malay idiomatic expressions were, and continued to be, displaced by idioms borrowed from Chinese spoken varieties, such as Hokkien.^{[citation needed]}

The continuum runs through the following varieties:

1. Acrolectal: Acrolectal Singaporean English is very similar to Standard English as spoken in other English-speaking countries, with some differences in pronunciation.^[25]
2. Mesolectal: An intermediate form between Standard English and basilectal Singlish. At this level, a number of features not found in standard English begin to emerge.^{[citation needed]}
3. Basilectal: This is the most colloquial form of speech.^[26] Here, one can find all of the unique phonological, lexical, and grammatical features of Singlish. Many of these features can be attributed to the influence of different Chinese varieties, Malay, and Indian languages such as Tamil, though some features appear to be innovations unique to Singlish. Both the basilect and mesolect are referred to as "Singlish".
4. Pidgin: This represents the first stage of development of the Singlish language,^[7] before creolisation took place and solidified Singlish as a fully-formed creole. As with all pidgins, speakers of the pidgin form of Singlish speak another language as a first language and Singlish as a second language. However, since a substantial number of people today learn Singlish natively, the number of speakers at the "pidgin" level of Singlish is dwindling.^[27] This is because by definition, a pidgin is not learned natively.

Since many Singaporeans can speak Standard English in addition to Singlish, code-switching can occur very frequently along the continuum. In addition, as many Singaporeans are also speakers of Chinese, Malay, or Indian languages such as Tamil or Hindi, code-switching between English and other languages also occurs dynamically.^{[citation needed]}

Example

Each of the following means the same thing, but the basilectal and mesolectal versions incorporate some colloquial additions for illustrative purposes.

Usage in society

The Infocomm Media Development Authority's free-to-air TV code states that the use of Singlish is only permitted in interviews, "where the interviewee speaks only Singlish," but the interviewer must refrain from using it.^[28] Despite this, in recent years the use of Singlish on television and radio has proliferated as localised Singlish continues to be popular among Singaporeans, especially in the 2 popular Singaporean local sitcoms Under One Roof and Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd.^[9] Singlish is sometimes used by ordinary people in street interviews broadcast on TV and radio on a daily basis, as well as occasionally in newspapers.^[29]

Although Singlish is officially discouraged in Singaporean schools, in practice, there is often some level of code-switching present in the classroom.^[30][31] This is rather inevitable given that Singlish is the home language of many students, and many teachers themselves are comfortable with the variety.^[30]

In many white-collar workplaces, Singlish is avoided in formal contexts, especially at job interviews, meetings with clients, presentations or meetings, where Standard English is preferred. Nevertheless, selected Singlish phrases are sometimes injected into discussions to build rapport or for a humorous effect, especially when the audience consists mainly of locals.^[9]

In informal settings, such as during conversation with friends, or transactions in kopitiams and shopping malls, Singlish is used without restriction. For many students, using Singlish is inevitable when interacting with their peers, siblings, parents and elders.^[9] Singapore humour writer Sylvia Toh Paik Choo was the first to put a spelling and a punctuation to Singlish in her books Eh Goondu (1982) and Lagi Goondu (1986), which are essentially a glossary of Singlish, which she terms 'Pasar Patois'. This is later followed by publishing of a few other Singlish books including Coxford Singlish Dictionary (2002) by Colin Goh, An Essential Guide to Singlish (2003) by Miel and The Three Little Pigs Lah (2013) by Casey Chen, and Spiaking Singlish: A companion to how Singaporeans Communicate (2017) by Gwee Li Sui.

In recent times, Singlish is considered by linguists to be an independent language with its own systematic grammar.^[32] Linguists from universities around the world have referred to local productions to demonstrate to students how Singlish has become a unique language variety.^[33] There have been recent surges in interest in Singlish usage, sparking national conversations. In 2016, Oxford English Dictionary (OED) announced that it has added 19 new "Singapore English" items such as ang moh, shiok and sabo in both its online and printed versions. Several Singlish words had previously made it into the OED's online version, which launched in March 2000. Words such as lah and sinseh were already included in OED's debut, while kiasu made it into the online list in March 2007.^[34] Local celebrities were generally pleased for this Singaporean identity to be recognized on a global level.^[35]

Phonology

Variation

Singlish pronunciation, while built on a base of British English, is heavily influenced by Malay, Hokkien and Cantonese. There are variations within Singlish, both geographically and ethnically. Chinese, Native Malays, Indians, Eurasians, and other ethnic groups in Singapore all have distinct accents,^[36][37] and the accentedness depends on factors such as formality of the context^[38] and language dominance of the speaker.^[39]

Consonants

The consonants in Singlish are given below:^[40]

• Pronunciation of ⟨th⟩: As onset consonants, the dental fricatives – /θ/ and /ð/ – often merge with /t/ and /d/, so three is pronounced like tree, and then like den.^[41] As coda consonants (i.e., at the end of syllables), they are fronted to /f/ and /v/ respectively, so north is pronounced like norf, and bathe like bave.^[42] The contrast is usually maintained in acrolectal speech, though even among educated speakers there is some variation.^[43]

• Aspiration: Onset /p/, /t/ and /k/ are sometimes unaspirated,^[41] especially among Malays.^[44] Aspiration is retained in loanwords from Chinese.

• L-vocalisation: Word-final or preconsonantal /l/, as in mail – realised as a dark l in Received Pronunciation and American English – is often so velarised in Singlish that it approaches a high back vowel, e.g. sale . The sound tends to be lost after the back vowels /ɔ, o, u/, and sometimes /ə/, which makes mall and more, wall and war, and Saul and saw homophones.^[45][46] This is not the case for some speakers with Tamil or Malay accents who may use clear or dark "l"s in these environments instead.^[47]

• Lack of syllabic consonants: Sequences like /ən/ or /əm/ are never syllabic consonants in Singlish, hence taken , never *.^[48]

• Glottal stop insertion: A glottal stop may be inserted at the beginning of words starting with a vowel, as in German. As a result, final consonants do not experience liaison, i.e. run onto the next word. For example, "ran out of eggs" is realised as for some speakers (compare General American ), with glottal stops in lieu of null onsets. This contributes to what linguists have described as the 'staccato effect' of Singapore English.^[49]

• Glottal replacement: A glottal stop may replace final stop consonants (except /p, b/), especially in fast-paced speech: Goodwood Park becomes Gu'-wu' Pa' , exist is realised as , and there may be a glottal stop at the end of words like back and out.^[50]

• Final-obstruent devoicing: Word-finally, the distinction between voiced and voiceless sounds, i.e. /s/ – /z/, /t/ – /d/, etc., is sometimes not maintained. As a result, cease = seize /sis/ and race = raise /res/ for some speakers.^[51]

• Cluster reduction: Final consonant clusters may simplify, especially in fast speech.^[52] In general, plosives, especially /t/ and /d/, are lost if they come after another consonant that is non-lateral, e.g. want = one /wan/, tact = tack /tɛk/. Additionally, /k/ may be deleted after /s/, e.g. flask /flas/.

• Distinction between /l/ and /r/: While it may be believed that the distinction between /l/ and /r/ is not stable at the basilectal level, as TV personality Phua Chu Kang's oft-repeated refrain to "Use your blain!" (use your brain) and "'Don pray pray!'" (Don't play-play, i.e. Don't fool around) may seem to indicate, it is more of a self-deprecating, rather self-aware joke, like "died-ed".^{[citation needed]} One might note, however, that both these examples involve initial consonant clusters (/bl/ and /pl/ respectively), and conflation of /l/ and /r/ is found less often when they are not part of a cluster.

Vowels

Broadly speaking, there is a one-to-many mapping of Singlish vowel phonemes to British Received Pronunciation vowel phonemes, with a few exceptions (as discussed below, with regard to egg and peg). The following describes a typical system.^[41][53][54] There is generally no distinction between the non-close front monophthongs, so pet and pat are pronounced the same /pɛt/.^[55]

At the acrolectal level, the merged vowel phonemes are distinguished to some extent. These speakers may make a distinction between the tense vowels /i, u/ (FLEECE, GOOSE) and the lax vowels /ɪ, ʊ/ (KIT, FOOT) respectively. Some speakers introduce elements from American English, such as pre-consonantal (pronouncing the "r" in bird, port, etc.).^[56] This is caused by the popularity of American TV programming.^{[citation needed]} Current estimates are that about 20 per cent of university undergraduates sometimes use this American-style pre-consonantal when reading a passage.^[57]

Vowel comparison between Singlish and English diaphonemic system: