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Singlish

May 02, 2023

Singlish (a portmanteau of Singapore and English) (officially similar and related to Singaporean English) is an English-based creole language[1][2] spoken in Singapore. Singlish arose out of a situation of prolonged language contact between speakers of many different languages in Singapore, including Hokkien, Malay, Teochew, Cantonese and Tamil.[3]

Singlish
Native toSingapore
RegionSoutheast Asia
Latin (English alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
Glottologsing1272
IETFcpe-SG
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Exaggerated broken Singlish on an advertising board outside a cafe in Pulau Ubin

Singlish originated with the arrival of the British and the establishment of English-medium education in Singapore.[4] Elements of English quickly filtered out of schools and onto the streets, resulting in the development of a pidgin language[5] 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.[6] After some time, this new pidgin language, now combined with substantial influences from Indian English, 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.[7][8]

Singlish shares many linguistic similarities with Manglish or Bazaar Malay of Malaysia, although a few distinctions can be made, particularly in vocabulary. Manglish generally receives more Malay influence and Singlish more Chinese (Mandarin, Hokkien, etc.) influence. Initially, Singlish and Manglish were essentially the same dialect evolving from the British Malaya economy, born in the trading ports of Singapore, Malacca and Penang[9] when Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia were for many purposes a de facto (from 1963 to 1965, de jure) single entity. Ever since the two countries separated, a divergence has been observed.

Like all languages, Singlish and other creole languages show consistent internal logic and grammatical complexity.[10] 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.[11] The uniqueness of Singlish has been studied by linguistics experts beyond Singapore.[12]

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.[13]

After Singapore's expulsion from Malaysia in 1965, and successive "Speak Mandarin" campaigns,[14] 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.[15]
  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.[16] 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,[5] 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.[17] 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.

Basilect ("Singlish")
Wah lau! This guy Singlish si beh
hiong sia. 		Mesolect
This guy Singlish
damn good leh. 		Acrolect ("Standard")
This person's Singlish
is very good.

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.[18] 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 comedies, such as Under One Roof and Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd.[7] 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.[19]

Although Singlish is officially discouraged in Singaporean schools, in practice, there is often some level of code-switching present in the classroom.[20][21] This is rather inevitable given that Singlish is the home language of many students, and many teachers themselves are comfortable with the variety.[20]

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.[7]

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.[7] 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.[22] Linguists from universities around the world have referred to local productions to demonstrate to students how Singlish has become a unique language variety.[23] 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.[24] Local celebrities were generally pleased for this Singaporean identity to be recognized on a global level.[25]

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,[26] although more recent Speak Good English campaigns are conducted with tacit acceptance of Singlish as valid for informal usage.[7] Several current and former Singaporean prime ministers have publicly spoken out against Singlish.[27][28][29] 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".[30][31][32]

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,[33][34] and the accentedness depends on factors such as formality of the context[35] and language dominance of the speaker.[36]

Consonants

The consonants in Singlish are given below:[37]

  Labial Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasals m   n     ŋ  
Plosives/
Affricates 		voiceless p   t tʃ   k  
voiced b   d dʒ   ɡ  
Fricatives voiceless f (θ) s ʃ     h
voiced v (ð) z ʒ      
Approximants     l r j w  

(See International Phonetic Alphabet for an in-depth guide to the symbols.)

In general:

  • The dental fricatives – /θ/ and /ð/ – merge with /t/ and /d/, so that three = tree and then = den.[38] In syllable-final position, -th is pronounced as -f /f/, so with and birth are pronounced weeff /wif/ and bəff /bəf/ respectively.[39] Under the influence of with, without is often pronounced with /v/ in place of /ð/: /wivaut/. The dental fricatives do occur in acrolectal speech, though even among educated speakers there is some variation.[40]
  • The voiceless stops – /p/, /t/ and /k/ – are sometimes unaspirated,[38] especially among Malays.[41] (Aspiration refers to the strong puff of air that may accompany the release of these stop consonants.) The acoustic effect of this is that the Singlish pronunciation of pat, tin and come sound more similar to bat, din, and gum than in other varieties of English.
  • 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.
  • /l/ at the end of a syllable, pronounced as a velarised "dark l" in British or American English, is often so velarised in Singlish that it approaches the close-mid back unrounded vowel [ɤ], e.g. sale [seɤ]. /l/ also tends to be lost after the back vowels /ɔ/, /o/, /u/, and for some basilectal speakers, the central vowel /ə/. Hence pall = paw /pɔ/, roll = row /ro/, tool = two /tu/, and for some, pearl = per /pə/[42]
  • Syllabic consonants never occur. Hence taken [tekən] and battle [bɛtəɤ], never [tekn̩] or [bɛtl̩]. When the final /l/ is vocalised, little and litter may be homophones.[43]
  • [ʔ], the glottal stop, is inserted at the beginning of all words starting with a vowel, similar to German. As a result, final consonants do not experience liaison, i.e. run onto the next word. For example, "run out of eggs" would be very roughly "run-nout-to-veggs" in most dialects of English (e.g. [rʌn‿aʊɾ‿əv‿ɛɡz] in General American), but "run 'out 'of 'eggs" (e.g. [ran ʔau ʔɔf ʔeks]) in Singlish. This contributes to what some have described as the 'staccato effect' of Singapore English.[44]
  • [ʔ] replaces final plosive consonants of syllables in regular- to fast-paced speed speech, especially stops: Goodwood Park becomes Gu'-wu' Pa' /ɡuʔ wuʔ paʔ/, and there may be a glottal stop at the end of words such as back and out. Like in Cambodian, where a final 'g' becomes a 'k', bad becomes bat with an unaspirated 't'.[45]
  • In final position, the distinction between voiced and voiceless sounds – i.e. /s/ & /z/, /t/ & /d/, etc. – is usually not maintained (Final-obstruent devoicing). As a result, cease = seize /sis/ and race = raise /res/.[46] This leads to some mergers of noun/verb pairs, such as belief with believe /bilif/
  • Final consonant clusters simplify, especially in fast speech.[47] In general, plosives, especially /t/ and /d/, are lost if they come after another consonant: bent = Ben /bɛn/, tact = tack /tɛk/, nest = Ness /nɛs/. /s/ is also commonly lost at the end of a consonant cluster: relax = relac /rilɛk/.

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.[38][48][49] There is generally no distinction between the non-close front monophthongs, so pet and pat are pronounced the same /pɛt/.[50]

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 [ɹ] (pronouncing the "r" in bird, port, etc.).[51] 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 [ɹ] when reading a passage.[52]

Vowel phonemes
Front Central Back
lax tense lax tense lax tense
Close (ɪ) i (ʊ) u
Mid e ə o
Open ɛ a ɔ
Diphthongs ai   au   ɔi   iə   uə

Vowel comparison between Singlish and English diaphonemic system:

Singlish phoneme WP as in
/i/ /iː/ meet
/ɪ/ pit
/e/ /eɪ/ day
/e, ɛ/ /ɛ/ (before a voiced plosive) leg
/ɛ/ /ɛ/ set
/ɛər/ hair
/æ/ map
/a/ (trap-bath split) pass
/ɑː/ father
/ɑːr/ car
/ʌ/ bus
/ɔ/ /ɒ/ mock
/ɔː/ thought
/ɔːr/ court
/o/ /oʊ/ low
/u/ /uː/ food
/ʊ/ put
/ə/ – see below /ɜːr/ bird
/ə/ idea
/ər/ better
/ai/ /aɪ/ my
/a/ /aɪ/ (before /l/) mile
/au/ /aʊ/ mouth
/ɔi/ /ɔɪ/ boy
/iə/ /ɪər/ here
/uə/ /ʊər/ tour
/ɔ/ /ʊər/ (after /j/) cure
/ai.ə/ /aɪər/ fire
/au.ə/ /aʊər/ power
  • /ɛ/ remains /ɛ/ in Singlish, except when followed by a voiced plosive (/b/, /d/, or /g/), in which case it becomes /e/ among some speakers.[53] However, this is not entirely predictable, as egg has a close vowel (so it rhymes with vague) while peg has an open vowel (and rhymes with tag); and similarly for most speakers bed has a close vowel (so it rhymes with made), while fed has a more open vowel (the same vowel as in bad).[54] Which vowel occurs in each word therefore appears in these cases not to be predictable.
  • /ai/ remains /ai/ in Singlish, except when followed by /l/, in which case it is the monophthong /a/.
  • Examples of words have idiosyncratic pronunciations: flour /fla/ (expected: /flau.ə/ = flower);[55] and their /dja/ (expected: /dɛ/ = there). Flour/flower and their/there are therefore not homophones in Singlish. This also applies to Manglish.
  • In general, Singlish vowels are tenser – there are no lax vowels (which RP has in pit, put, and so forth).
  • The vowels in words such as day /de/ and low /lo/ are pronounced with less glide than the comparable diphthongs in RP, so they can be regarded as monophthongs – i.e. vowels with no glide.[56][57]
  • Where other varieties of English have an unstressed /ə/, i.e. a reduced vowel, Singlish tends to use the full vowel based on orthography. This can be seen in words such as accept /ɛksɛp/, example /ɛ(k)sampəl/, purchase /pətʃes/, maintenance /mentɛnəns/, presentation /prisɛnteʃən/, and so on. However, this does not mean that the reduced vowel /ə/ never occurs, as about and again have /ə/ in their first syllable. It seems that the letter 'a' is often pronounced /ə/, but the letter 'o' usually has a full vowel quality, especially in the con- prefix (control, consider, etc.).[58] There is a greater tendency to use a full vowel in a syllable which is closed off with a final consonant, so a full vowel is much more likely at the start of absorb /ɛbzɔb/ than afford /əfɔd/.[59]
  • In loanwords from Hokkien that contain nasal vowels, the nasalisation is often kept – one prominent example being the mood particle hor, pronounced [hõ].

Tone

Singlish is semi-tonal as words of Sinitic origin generally retain their original tones in Singlish.[60] On the other hand, original English words as well as words of Malay and Tamil origin are non-tonal.

Prosody

One of the most prominent and noticeable features of Singlish is its unique intonation pattern, which is quite unlike non-creole varieties of English.[61] For example:

  • Singlish is syllable-timed compared to most varieties of English, which are usually stress-timed.[62][63][64] This in turn gives Singlish rather a staccato feel.[65]
  • There is a tendency to use a rise-fall tone to indicate special emphasis.[61] A rise-fall tone can occur quite often on the final word of an utterance, for example on the word cycle in "I will try to go to the park to cycle" without carrying any of the suggestive meaning associated with a rise-fall tone in British English.[66] In fact, a rise-fall tone may be found on as many as 21 per cent of declaratives, and this use of the tone can convey a sense of strong approval or disapproval.[67]
  • There is a lack of the de-accenting that is found in most dialects of English (e.g. British and American), so information that is repeated or predictable is still given full prominence.[68]
  • There is often an 'early booster' at the start of an utterance,[69] so an utterance like "I think they are quite nice and interesting magazines" may have a very high pitch occurring on the word think.[70]
  • There may be greater movement over individual syllables in Singlish than in other varieties of English. This makes Singlish sound as if it has the tones of Chinese, especially when speakers sometimes maintain the original tones of words that are borrowed into Singlish from Chinese.

Overall, the differences between the different ethnic communities in Singapore are most evident in the patterns of intonation, so for example Malay Singaporeans often have the main pitch excursion later in an utterance than ethnically Chinese and Indian Singaporeans.[71]

Generally, these pronunciation patterns are thought to have increased the clarity of Singlish communications between pidgin-level speakers in often noisy environments, and these features were retained in creolisation.

Grammar

The grammar of Singlish has been heavily influenced by other languages in the region, such as Malay and Chinese, with some structures being identical to ones in Chinese varieties. As a result, Singlish has acquired some unique features, especially at the basilectal level.[citation needed]

Topic prominence

Singlish is topic-prominent, like Chinese and Malay. This means that Singlish sentences often begin with a topic (or a known reference of the conversation), followed by a comment (or new information).[72][73][74] Compared to Standard English, the semantic relationship between topic and comment is not important; moreover, nouns, verbs, adverbs, and even entire subject-verb-object phrases can all serve as the topic:

Topic-prominence in Singlish
Singlish Standard English
Dis country weather very hot one. The weather is very warm in this country.
Dat joker there cannot trust. You cannot trust the person over there.
Tomorrow don't need bring camera. You don't need to bring a camera tomorrow.
He play football also very good one leh. He's very good at playing football too.
Walau, I want to eat chicken rice Damn, I am craving some chicken rice.
I go bus-stop wait for you I will be waiting for you at the bus-stop.

The above constructions can be translated analogously into Malay and Chinese, with little change to the word order.

The topic can be omitted when the context is clear, or shared between clauses. This results in constructions that appear to be missing a subject to a speaker of Standard English, and so called PRO-drop utterances may be regarded as a diagnostic feature of Singlish.[75] For example:

Omission of topic in Singlish
Singlish Standard English
No good lah. This isn't good.
Cannot anyhow go like dat one leh. You/it can't just go like that.
How come never show up? Why didn't you/he/it show up?
(See the use of never in place of didn't under the "Past tense" section.)
I like badminton, dat's why I every weekend go play. I play badminton every weekend because I like it.
He sick, so he stay home sleep lor. He's not feeling well, so he decided to rest at home and sleep!

Nouns

Nouns are optionally marked for plurality. Articles are also optional.[76] For example:

  • He can play piano.
  • I like to read storybook.
  • Your computer got virus or not? – Does your computer have a virus?
  • This one ten cent only. – This one only costs 10 cents.

It is more common to mark the plural in the presence of a modifier that implies plurality, such as many or four.[77]

Many nouns which seem logically to refer to a countable item are used in the plural, including furniture and clothing.[78] Examples of this usage from corpus recordings are:

  • So I bought a lot of furnitures from IKEA.
  • Where are all the stuffs I ordered?
  • I had to borrow some winter clothings.[79]

Copula

The copula, which is the verb to be in most varieties of English, is treated somewhat differently in Singlish:

The copula is generally not used with adjectives or adjective phrases:

Sometimes, an adverb such as very occurs, and this is reminiscent of Chinese usage of 很 (hěn) or 好 (hǎo):

  • Dis house very nice.

It is also common for the present participle of the verb to be used without the copula:[81]

  • I still finding.[80]
  • How come you so late still playing music, ah?
  • You looking for trouble, is it?

The zero copula is also found, although less frequently, as an equative between two nouns, or as a locative:

  • Dat one his wife lah. ('That lady is his wife.')[82]
  • Dis boy the class monitor. (= a subset of the disciplinary system; a monitor is empowered to enforce discipline by being an informant in the absence of the teacher or superior authority figure but his/her authority is restricted to the class; this is unlike a prefect whose authority is house-wide or even school-wide)
  • His house in Toa Payoh

In general, the zero copula is found more frequently after nouns and pronouns (except I, he, and she), and much less after a clause (what I think is...) or a demonstrative (this is...).

Past tense

Past tense marking is optional in Singlish. Marking of the past tense occurs most often in irregular verbs, as well as verbs where the past tense suffix is pronounced /ɪd/.[83] For example:

  • I went to Orchard Road yesterday.
  • He accepted in the end.

Due to consonant cluster simplification, the past tense is most often unmarked when it is pronounced as /t/ or /d/ at the end of a consonant cluster:[83]

  • He talk so long, never stop, I ask him also never. – 'He talked for so long without stopping and wouldn't even stop when I asked him to.'

The past tense is more likely to be marked if the verb describes an isolated event (it is a punctual verb), and it tends to be unmarked if the verb in question represents an action that goes on for an extended period:[84]

  • When I young ah, I go school every day.
  • When he was in school, he always get good marks one.
  • Last night I mug so much, so sian already. – 'Last night I studied so much that I became very tired.'

There seems also to be a tendency to avoid use of the past tense to refer to someone who is still alive:

  • The tour guide speak Mandarin.[85]

Note in the final example that although the speaker is narrating a story, she probably uses the present tense in the belief that the tour guide is probably still alive.

Change of state

Instead of the past tense, a change of state can be expressed by adding already or liao (/liâu/) to the end of the sentence, analogous to the Chinese 了 (le).[86] This is not the same as the past tense, but more of an aspect, as it does not cover past habitual or continuous occurrences, and it refers to a real or hypothetical change of state in the past, present or future.

The frequent use of already (pronounced more like "oreddy" and sometimes spelt that way) in Singlish is probably a direct influence of the Hokkien liao particle.[87] For example:

  • Aiyah, cannot wait any more, must go already. (Oh dear, I cannot wait any longer. I must leave immediately.)
  • Yesterday, dey go there already. (They already went there yesterday.)
  • Ah Song kena sai already, then how? (Ah Song has gotten into trouble, what will you do (now)?)

Some examples of the direct use of liao:

  • He throw liao. (He has already thrown it away.)
  • I eat liao. (I ate or I have eaten.)
  • This new game, you play liao or not? (As for this new game, have you played it yet?)

Negation

Negation works in general like English, with not added after to be, to have, or modals, and don't before all other verbs. Contractions (can't, shouldn't) are used alongside their uncontracted forms. However, due to final cluster simplification, the -t drops out from negative forms, and -n may also drop out after nasalising the previous vowel. This makes nasalisation the only mark of the negative.

  • I do/don't ([dõ]) want. – 'I don't want to.'

Another effect of this is that in the verb can, its positive and negative forms are distinguished only by the vowel:

  • This one can /kɛn/ do lah.
  • This one can't /kan/ do lah.

Also, never is used as a negative past tense marker, and does not have to carry the English meaning. In this construction, the negated verb is never put into the past-tense form:

  • How come today you never (=didn't) hand in homework?
  • How come he never (=didn't) pay just now?

Interrogative

In addition to the usual[which?] way of forming yes–no questions, Singlish uses two more constructions:

In a construction similar (but not identical) to Chinese A-not-A, or not is appended to the end of sentences to form yes/no questions. Or not cannot be used with sentences already in the negative:

  • You want this book or not? – Do you want this book?
  • Can or not? – Is this possible / permissible?

The phrase is it, appended to the end of sentences, forms yes–no questions.[88] Is it implies that the speaker is simply confirming something they have already inferred:

  • They never study, is it? (No wonder they failed!)
  • You don't like that, is it? (No wonder you had that face!)
  • Alamak, you guys never read newspaper is it? – "What? Haven't you guys ever read a newspaper?" (No wonder you aren't up to date!)

The phrase isn't it also occurs when the speaker thinks the hearer might disagree with the assertion.[77]

There are also many discourse particles (such as hah, hor, meh, and ar) used in questions. (See the "Discourse particles" section elsewhere in this article.)

Reduplication

Another feature strongly reminiscent of Chinese and Malay, verbs are often repeated (e.g. TV personality Phua Chu Kang's "don't pray-pray!" pray = play). In general verbs are repeated twice to indicate the delimitative aspect (that the action goes on for a short period), and three times to indicate greater length and continuity:[89]

  • You go ting ting a little bit, maybe den you get answer. ('Go and think over it for a while, and then you might understand.')
  • So what I do was, I sit down and I ting ting ting, until I get answer lor. ('So I sat down, thought, thought and thought, until I understood.')

The use of verb repetition also serves to provide a more vivid description of an activity:

  • Want to go Orchard walk walk see see (走走看看) or not? ('Let's go shopping/sightseeing at Orchard Road.')
  • Don't anyhow touch here touch there leh. ('Please don't mess with my things.')

In another usage reminiscent of Chinese, nouns referring to people can be repeated for intimacy.[90] Most commonly, monosyllabic nouns are repeated:

  • My boy-boy is going to Primary One oreddy. ('My son is about to enter Year/Grade/Standard One.')
  • We two fren-fren one. ('We are close friends.')

However, occasionally reduplication is also found with disyllabic nouns:

  • We buddy-buddy. You don't play me out, OK?[91]
  • I'm the kind who is buddy-buddy person.[92]

Adjectives of one or two syllables can also be repeated for intensification:

  • You go take the big-big one ah. ('Retrieve the larger item, please.')
  • You want a raise from this boss? Wait long long ah. ('It will never happen.')

Discourse particles

In Singlish, discourse particles are minimal lexemes (words) that occur at the end of a sentence and that do not carry referential meaning, but may relate to linguistic modality, register or other pragmatic effects. They may be used to indicate how the speaker thinks that the content of the sentence relates to the participants' common knowledge or change the emotional character of the sentence.

Particles are noted for keeping their tones regardless of the remainder of the sentence. Most of the particles are borrowed from southern Chinese varieties, with the tones intact.

Research on Singlish discourse particles have been many but varied, often focusing on analysing their functions in the sentences they appear in.[93]

Singlish phrases

Wah Lau / Walao

Wah lau ([wâ lǎu]) is used as an interjection or exclamation at the beginning of a sentence, and it usually has a negative connotation. It is derived from a Hokkien or Teochew phrase that means 'my father' (我老), abbreviated form of "my father's" (我老的; góa lāu--ê).

  • Wah lau! I can't believe the teacher gave us so much work to do in such a tight deadline!

Kena

Kena ([kəna] or [kana]) can be used as an auxiliary to mark the passive voice in some varieties of Singlish.[94]

It is derived from a Malay word that means "to encounter or to come into physical contact",[95] and is only used with objects that have a negative effect or connotation. Verbs after kena may appear in the infinitive form (i.e. without tense) or as a past participle. It is similar in meaning to passive markers in Chinese, such as Hokkien 著; tio̍h or Mandarin 被; bèi:

  • He kena scold/scolded. – 'He was scolded.'
  • Dun listen, later you kena punish/punished then you know. – 'If you don't listen to me, you will be punished, after which you will know that you were wrong.'

Kena is not used with positive things:

  • *He kena praised.
  • *He kena lottery.
  • *He kena jackpot.

Use of kena as in the above examples will not be understood, and may even be greeted with a confused reply: "But strike lottery good wat!" ('But it's a good thing to win the lottery!'). However, when used in sarcasm, kena can be used in apparently positive circumstances, though with an ironic modicum of success, for example:

  • He kena jackpot, come back to school after so long den got so much homework! ('He received a lot of homework upon returning to school after a long absence.')

When the context is given, kena may be used without a verb to mean 'will be punished.'

  • Better do your homework, otherwise you kena. ('You will be punished unless you do your homework.')
  • Don't listen to me, later you kena.

Using another auxiliary verb with kena is perfectly acceptable as well:

  • Better do your homework, otherwise you will kena.
  • Don't listen to me, later you will kena.

Tio

From Hokkien 著; tio̍h, tio ([tiò]; pronounced with a low tone due to Hokkien tone sandhi) can be used interchangeably with kena in many scenarios. While kena is often used in negative situations, tio can be used in both positive and negative situations.

  • He tio cancer. ('He was diagnosed with cancer.')
  • He tio jackpot. ('He struck the jackpot.')
  • He tio lottery. ('He struck lottery.')
  • Tio fined lor, what to do? ('I got fined, couldn't help it.')

Tio has a lighter negative tone when used negatively, compared to kena.

  • Kena fined lor, what to do?
  • Tio fined lor, what to do?

Both mean the same, but kena makes the speaker sound more unhappy with the situation than tio.

Tio also sounds more sympathetic when talking about an unfortunate incident about someone close.

  • Her mum tio cancer. ('Her mum was diagnosed with cancer.')
  • Sad sia, so young tio cancer. ('How sad, he was diagnosed with cancer at such a young age.')

Using kena in the following might not be appropriate, as they seem impolite, as if the speaker is mocking the victim.

  • Her mum kena cancer.
  • He kena cancer.

One

The word one is used to emphasise the predicate of the sentence by implying that it is unique and characteristic. It is analogous to the use of particles like 嘅 (ge) or 㗎 (ga) in Cantonese, 啲 (e) in Hokkien, は (-wa) in Japanese, or 的 (de) in some dialects of Mandarin. One used in this way does not correspond to any use of the word one in Standard English. It might also be analysed as a relative pronoun, though it occurs at the end of the relative clause instead of the beginning (as in Standard English).[96]

  • Wah lau! So stupid one! – 'Oh my gosh! He's so stupid!'
  • I do everything by habit one. – 'I always do everything by habit.'
  • He never go school one. – 'He doesn't go to school (unlike other people).'
  • Is like that one. – 'It is how it is.'

Some bilingual speakers of Mandarin may also use 的 (de) in place of one.

Then

The word then is often pronounced or written as den /dɛn/. When used, it represents different meanings in different contexts. In this section, the word is referred to as den.

i) Den can be synonymous with so or therefore. It is used to replace the Chinese grammatical particle 才; 纔; cái (see ii).

When it is intended to carry the meaning of therefore, it is often used to explain one's blunder/negative consequences. In such contexts, it is a translation from Chinese 所以. When used in this context, the den is prolonged twice the usual length in emphasis, as opposed to the short emphasis it is given when used to mean cái.

  • Never do homework den (two beats with shifts in tone sandhi, tone 2) indicating replacement of 所以) kena scold lor.

– 'I did not do my homework, that's why (therefore) I got a scolding'

  • Never do homework (pause) den (two beats with shifts in tone sandhi, tone 2) indicating replacement of 然后; 然後) kena scold lor.

– 'I did not do my homework; I got a scolding after that'

  • Never do homework den (one beat with no shift in tone sandhi, indicating 才) kena scold lor.

– 'It is only due to the fact that I did not do my homework that I was scolded.'

However, den cannot be freely interchanged with so.

The following examples are incorrect uses of den, which will sound grammatically illogical to a Singlish speaker:

  • I'm tired, den I'm going to sleep.
  • I'm late, den I'm going to take a taxi.

The reason for this is that den often marks a negative, non-volitional outcome (either in the future or the past), while the above sentences express volition and are set in the present. Consider the following examples:

  • I damn tired den langgar the car lor. – 'I was really tired, which is why I knocked into [that] car.'
  • I late den take taxi, otherwise don't take. – 'When I'm late, [only] then do I take a taxi; otherwise I don't take taxis.' = 'I only take a taxi when I'm late.' (see usage vi)

ii) Den is also used to describe an action that will be performed later. It is used to replace the Chinese particle 才; 纔; cái. When used in this context, the den is pronounced in one beat, instead of being lengthened to two beats as in (i).

If shortened, the meaning will be changed or incorrectly conveyed. For example, "I go home liao, den (two beats) call you" will imbue the subtext with a questionable sense of irony, a lasciviousness for seduction (three beats), or just general inappropriateness (random two beats indicating a Hong Kong comedy-influenced moleitou 無理頭 Singaporean sense of humour).

  • I go home liao den call you. – 'I will call you when I reach home'
  • Later den say. – 'We'll discuss this later'

iii) Den can used at the beginning of a sentence as a link to the previous sentence. In this usage, den is used to replace the Mandarin grammatical particle which is approximately equivalent in meaning (but not in grammatical usage) only to then, or 然后; 然後 (rán hòu), as in ránhòu hor. In such cases, it often carries a connotation of an exclamation.

  • We were doing everything fine, den he fuck everything up
  • I was at a park. Den hor, I was attacked by dinosaur leh!
  • I woke up at 10. Den boss saw me coming in late. So suay!

iv) Den can be used to return an insult/negative comment back to the originator. When used in such a way, there must first be an insult/negative comment from another party. In such contexts, it is a translation from the Chinese 才; 纔; cái.

  • A: You're so stupid!
  • B: You den stupid la – 'You're the stupid one'
  • A: You're late!
  • B: You den late lor. – 'You're the late one'

v) "Den?" can be used as a single-worded phrase. Even if den is used in a single-worded phrase, even with the same pronunciation, it can represent four different meanings. It can either be synonymous with "so what?", or it can be a sarcastic expression that the other party is making a statement that arose from his/her actions, or similarly an arrogant expression which indicating that the other party is stating the obvious, or it can be used as a short form for "what happened then?".

[Synonymous with "so what?"]

  • A: I slept at 4 last night leh...
  • B: Den?

[Sarcastic expression] Speakers tend to emphasise the pronunciation of 'n'.

Context: A is supposed to meet B before meeting a larger group but A is late for the first meeting

  • A: Late liao leh...
  • B: Dennn?

[Arrogant expression] Speakers have the option of using den in a phrase, as in "Ah bu den" or "Ah den". In this case it serves approximately the same purpose as 'duh' in American English slang.

  • A: Wah seh! You actually make this computer all by yourself ah?
  • B: Ah bu den!

[Ah, but then? (What happened after that?)]

  • A: I found $100 today...
  • B: Den what?

vi) Den can also indicate a conditional (an if-then condition), implying an omitted if/when:

  • I late den take taxi, otherwise dun take. – 'When I'm late, [only] then do I take a taxi; otherwise I don't take taxis.' = 'I only take a taxi when I'm late.'
  • You want to see Justin Bieber den go lah! – 'If you want to see Justin Bieber, then go [to the concert]!'

Oi

See also: Oi (interjection)

Oi originating from the Hokkien (喂, oe), is commonly used in Singlish, as in other English varieties, to draw attention or to express surprise or indignation. Some examples of the usage of Oi include:

  • Oi, you forgot to give me my pencil!
  • Oi! Hear me can!
  • Oi! You know how long I wait for you?!
  • Oi! Wake up lah!

As oi has connotations of disapproval, it is considered to be slightly offensive if it is used in situations where a more polite register is expected, e.g. while speaking to strangers in public, people in the workplace or one's elders.

Lah

The ubiquitous word lah (/lá/ or /lâ/), sometimes spelled as la and rarely spelled as larh, luh or lurh, is used at the end of a sentence.[97] It originates from the Chinese word (啦, POJ: lah) or the same word in Malay.[98] It simultaneously softens the force of an utterance and entices solidarity,[99] though it can also have the opposite meaning so it is used to signal power.[100] In addition, there are suggestions that there is more than one lah particle, so there may be a stressed and an unstressed variant[101] and perhaps as many as nine tonal variants, all having a special pragmatic function.[102]

In Malay, lah is used to change a verb into a command or to soften its tone, particularly when usage of the verb may seem impolite. To drink is minum, but 'Here, drink!' is minumlah!. Similarly, lah is frequently used with imperatives in Singlish:

  • Drink lah! – 'Just drink!'

Lah also occurs frequently with yah and no (hence "Yah lah!" and "No lah!..."). This can, with the appropriate tone, result in a less-brusque declaration and facilitate the flow of conversation: "No more work to do, we go home lah!" However, if the preceding clause is already diminutive or jocular, suffixing it with -lah would be redundant and improper: one would not say "yep lah", "nope lah", or "ta lah" (as in the British ta for 'thank you').

  • Lah with a low tone might indicate impatience. "Eh, hurry up lah."

Lah is often used with brusque, short, negative responses:

  • I dun have lah! – 'I just don't have any of that (which you were requesting)!'
  • Dun know oreddy lah! – 'Argh, I don't know any more than what I told you!'or'I give up trying to understand this!'

Lah is also used for reassurance:

  • Dun worry, he can one lah. – 'Don't worry, he will be capable of doing it.'
  • Okay lah. – 'It's all right. Don't worry about it.'

Lah is sometimes used to curse people

  • Go and die lah!

Lah can also be used to emphasise items in a spoken list, appearing after each item in the list.

Although lah can appear nearly anywhere, it does not appear with a yes-no question. Other particles are used instead:

  • He do that ah?
  • Later free or not?
  • Don't tell me he punch her ah?

Wat

The particle wat (/wàt/), also spelled what, is used to remind or contradict the listener,[103] especially when strengthening another assertion that follows from the current one:

  • But he very good at Maths wat. – 'But he is very good at mathematics.' (Shouldn't you know this already, having known him for years?)
  • You never give me wat! – (It's not my fault, since) 'You didn't give it to me!' (Or else I would have gotten it, right?)
  • I never punch him wat! – (I did not punch him) 'I did not punch him!' (Or else I am the one, right?)

It can also be used to strengthen any assertion:[104]

  • The food there not bad wat. Can try lah.

This usage is noticeably characterised by a low tone on wat, and parallels the assertive Mandarin particle 嘛 in expressions like 不错嘛.

Mah

Mah (/má/), originating from Chinese (嘛, ma), is used to assert that something is obvious and final,[105] and is usually used only with statements that are already patently true. It is often used to correct or cajole, and in some contexts is similar to English's duh. This may seem condescending to the listener:

  • This one also can work one mah! – 'Can't you see that this choice will also work?'
  • He also know about it mah! – 'He knew about it as well, [so it's not my fault!]'

Lor

Lor (/lɔ́/), also spelled lorh or loh, from Chinese (囖/咯; lo1), is a casual, sometimes jocular way to assert upon the listener either direct observations or obvious inferences.[103] It also carries a sense of resignation, or alternatively, dismissiveness.[106] that "it happens this way and can't be helped":

  • If you don't do the work, then you die liao lor! – 'If you don't do the work, then you're dead!'
  • Kay lor, you go and do what you want. – 'Fine, go ahead and do what you want.'
  • Dun have work to do, den go home lor. – 'If you're done working, you should go home.' (What are you waiting for?)
  • Ya lor. – Used when agreeing with someone

Leh

Leh (/lɛ́/ or /lé/), from Chinese (咧; leh), is used to soften a command, request, claim, or complaint that may be brusque otherwise:

  • Gimme leh. – 'Please, just give it to me.'
  • How come you don't give me leh? – 'Why aren't you giving it to me?'
  • The ticket seriously ex leh. – 'Argh, the tickets are really expensive.'
  • But I believe safe better than sorry leh. – 'The thing is, I believe it's better to be safe than sorry.'
  • Why you never give up your seat leh? –

Especially when on a low tone, it can be used to show the speaker's disapproval:[104]

  • You call her walk there, very far leh. ('If you ask her to go there on foot, it will be a rather long distance.')

Hor

Hor (/hɔ̨̌/), from Hokkien (乎; hō͘), also spelled horh, is used to ask for the listener's attention and consent/support/agreement:[107] It is usually pronounced with a low tone.

  • Then hor, another person came out of the house. – 'And then, another person came out of the house.'
  • This shopping center very nice hor? – 'This shopping centre is very nice, isn't it?'
  • Oh yah hor! – 'Oh, yes!' (realising something)
  • Like that can hor? – 'So can it be done that way?'

Ar

Ar (/ǎ/), also spelled arh or ah, is inserted between topic and comment.[108] It often, but not always, gives a negative tone:

  • This boy ah, always so rude one! – 'This boy is so rude!'

Ar (/ǎ/) with a rising tone is used to reiterate a rhetorical question:

  • How come like dat one ah? – 'Why is it like that? / Why are you like that?'

Ar (/ā/) with a mid-level tone, on the other hand, is used to mark a genuine question that does require a response: (or not can also be used in this context):

  • You going again ar? – 'Are you going again?'

Hah

Hah (/hǎ/), also spelled har, originating from the British English word huh or Hokkien (唅; hannh), is used to express disbelief, shock or used in a questioning manner.

  • Har? He really ponned class yesterday ar! – 'What? Is it true that he played truant (=ponteng, shortened to pon and converted into past tense, hence ponned) yesterday?'
  • Har? How come he tio caning? – 'What? How did he end up being caned?'

Meh

Meh (/mɛ́/), from Cantonese (咩; meh), is used to form questions expressing surprise or scepticism:

  • They never study meh? – 'Didn't they study? (I thought they did.)'
  • You don't like that one meh? – 'You don't like that? (I thought you did.)'
  • Really meh? – 'Is that really so? (I honestly thought otherwise/I don't believe you.)'

Siah

/siǎ/, also spelled sia or siah, is used to express envy or emphasis. It is a derivative of the Malay vulgar word sial (derivative of the parent, used interchangeably but sometimes may imply a stronger emphasis). Originally, it is often used by Malay peers in informal speech between them, sometimes while enraged, and other times having different implications depending on the subject matter:

Kau ade problem ke ape, sial? – 'Do you have a problem or what?' (negative, enraged)
Sial ah, Joe bawak iPad ni ari. – 'Whoa, Joe brought an iPad today.' (positive, envy)
Takde lah sial. – 'No way, man.' or 'I don't have it, man.' (positive, neutral)
Joe kene marah sial. – 'Joe got scolded, man.' (positive, emphasis)

Malays may also pronounce it without the l, not following the ia but rather a nasal aah. This particular form of usage is often seen in expressing emphasis. There is a further third application of it, in that a k is added at the end when it will then be pronounced saak with the same nasal quality only when ending the word. It is similarly used in emphasis.

However, Singlish itself takes influence only from the general expression of the term without any negative implication, and non-Malay speakers (or Malays speaking to non-Malays) pronounce it either as a nasal sia or simply siah:

  • He damn zai sia. – 'He's damn capable.'
  • Wah, heng sia. – 'Goodness me' (=Wahlau)! 'That was a close shave (=heng)!'

Siao

/siâo/ Derived from Hokkien (痟; siau). Siao is a common word in Singlish. Literally, it means 'crazy'.

  • You siao ah? – 'Are you crazy?' (with sarcasm)
  • Siao ang moh! – 'Crazy white people!'

Summary

Summary of discourse and other particles:

Function Example Meaning
Affirmation Can. "It can be done."
Solidarity Can lah (soft). "Rest assured, it can be done."
Seeking attention / support (implicit) Can hor (soft) / hah? "It can be done, right?"
Defensive Can hor (sharp). "Please do not doubt that it can be done."
Impatient/Defensive Can lah (sharp). "Clearly it works, I'm not sure why are you questioning it?"
Characteristic Can one / de (的). "(Despite your doubts) I know it can be done."
(Vividness) Liddat (like that) very nice. "This looks very nice."
Acceptance /
Resignation 		Can lor. "Well, seems that it can be done, since you say so."
Completion / Finished Can loh(!) / Can liao / oreddy. "It's done!"
Assertion (implies that listener should already know) Can wat/ Can lor (in some situations, when used firmly). "It can be done... shouldn't you know this?"
Assertion (strong) Can mah. "See?! It can be done!"
Assertion (softened) Can leh. "Can't you see that it can be done?"
Yes / No question Can anot? "Can it be done?"
Yes / No question
(confirmation) 		Can izzit (Is it?)? "It can be done, right?"
Yes / No question
(skepticism) 		Can meh? "Um... are you sure it can be done?"
Confirmation Can ar... (low tone). "So... it can really be done?"
Rhetorical Can ar (rising). "Alright then, don't come asking for help if problems arise."
Amazement Can sia(!)/ Can wor (sia is stronger than wor). "Amazingly, it works!"
Indifference/ Questioning in a calm manner Can huh (low tone). "Can it be done?"
Joyful Can loh! "Hurray! It's done!"
Anger / Annoyance Alamak! Why you go mess up!? "Argh! Why did you go and mess it up!?"

Miscellaneous

Nia, which originated from Hokkien, means 'only', mostly used to play down something that has been overestimated.

  • Anna: "I not so old lah, I 18 nia."

"Then you know" is a phrase often used at the end of a sentence or after a warning of the possible negative consequences of an action. Can be directly translated as "and you will regret not heeding my advice". Also a direct translation of the Chinese 你才知道.

  • Mother: "Ah boy, don't run here run there, wait you fall down then you know ah."

Aiyyo (also spelled aiyo): A state of surprise. Originally from Chinese 哎哟.

There is/there are and has/have are both expressed using got, so that sentences can be translated in either way back into British/American/Australasian English. This is equivalent to the Chinese 有; yǒu ('to have'):

  • Got question? 'Any questions? / Is there a question? / Do you have a question?'
  • Yesterday ar, Marina Bay Sands got so many people one! 'There were so many people at Marina Bay Sands yesterday. / Marina Bay Sands had so many people [there] yesterday.'
  • This bus got air-con or not? 'Is there air-conditioning on this bus? / Does this bus have air-conditioning?'
  • Where got!? Where is there [this]?, or less politely, 'There isn't/aren't any!'; also more loosely, 'What are you talking about?'; generic response to any accusation. Translation of the Malay mana ada? which has the same usage.

Can is used extensively as both a question particle and an answer particle. The negative is cannot.

  • Gimme can? 'Can you please give that to me?'
  • Can! 'Sure!'
  • Cannot. 'No way.'

Can can be repeated for greater emphasis or to express enthusiasm:

  • Boss: "Can you send me the report by this afternoon?" Employee: "Can, can!" ('No problem!')

The Malay word with the same meaning, boleh, can be used in place of can to add a greater sense of multiculturalism in the conversation. The person in a dominant position may prefer to use boleh instead:

  • Employee: "Boss, tomorrow can get my pay check or not?" Boss: "Boleh lah ..." ('sure/possibly')

The phrase like that is commonly appended to the end of the sentence to emphasize descriptions by adding vividness and continuousness. Due to its frequency of use, it is often pronounced lidat ([laɪˈdæt]):

  • He so stupid like that. – 'He really seems pretty stupid, you know.'
  • He acting like a one-year-old baby like that'. – He's really acting like a one-year-old baby, you know.'

Like that can also be used as in other Englishes:

  • Why he acting like that? – 'Why is he acting this way?'
  • If like that, how am I going to answer to the gong shi ting? – 'If that's the case, how am I going to answer to the board of directors?'

In British English, also is used before the predicate, while too is used after the predicative at the end of the sentence. In Singlish (also in American and Australian English), also (pronounced oso, see phonology section above) can be used in either position.

  • I oso like dis one. – 'I also like this one.'
  • I like dis one also. – 'I like this one too.'

Also is also used as a conjunction. In this case, "A also B" corresponds to "B although A". This stems from Chinese, where the words 也; yě, 还; hái or 都; dōu (meaning 'also', though usage depends on dialect or context) would be used to express these sentences.

  • I try so hard oso cannot do. ('I tried so hard, and still I can't do it.' or 'I can't do it even though I tried so hard.')

The order of the verb and the subject in an indirect question is the same as a direct question.

  • "Eh, you know where is he or not?" 'Excuse me, do you know where he is?'

Ownself is often used in place of yourself, or more accurately, yourself being an individual, in a state of being alone.

  • Har? He ownself go party yesterday for what? 'Why did he go to the party alone yesterday?'

Not all expressions with the -self pronouns should be taken literally, but as the omission of by:

  • Wah, hungry liao! You eat yourself, we eat ourself, can? ('Hey, I/you should be hungry by this time! Let's split up and eat. ([then meet up again]')

Some people have begun to add extra eds to the past tense of words or to pronounce ed separately, sometimes in a form of exaggeration of the past tense. Most of the time, the user uses it intentionally to mock proper English.

  • "Just now go and play game, character dieded siah!" 'When I played a game just now, my character died!'

Vocabulary

 
Many signs in Singapore include all four official languages: English, Chinese, Tamil and Malay.
Main article: Singlish vocabulary

Much of Singlish vocabulary is derived from British English, in addition to many loanwords from Sinitic languages, Malay, and Tamil. There has been a rise in American English influence in recent years.

An instance of a borrowing from Hokkien is kiasu, which means 'frightened of losing out',[109] and is used to indicate behaviour such as queueing overnight to obtain something; and the most common borrowing from Malay is makan, meaning 'to eat'.[110]

In many cases, words of English origin take on the meaning of their Chinese counterparts, resulting in a shift in meaning. This is most obvious in such cases as borrow/lend, which are functionally equivalent in Singlish and mapped to the same Hokkien word, 借 (chio), which can mean to lend or to borrow. ('Oi (from Southern Min, although Singaporeans spell it as oi), can borrow me your calculator?'); and send can be used to mean 'accompany someone', as in "Let me send you to the airport", possibly under the influence of the Hokkien word 送 (sang).[111] However, the Malay (meng)hantar can also be used to mean both 'send a letter' and 'take children to school',[112] so perhaps both Malay and Chinese have combined to influence the usage of 'send' in Singapore.[editorializing]

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ Yoon, David. (PDF). La Trobe University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 May 2015. Retrieved 29 May 2015. Singaporean English or Singlish, as it is better known to the local populace, is an English creole that has long been a contesting issue between pro–Singlish and anti–Singlish proponents.
  2. ^ LEIMGRUBER, JAKOB R. E. (PDF). www.ling-phil.ox.ac.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 January 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  3. ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 November 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
  4. ^ Gupta, Anthea Fraser (1994) The Step-tongue: Children's English in Singapore, Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, p. 35.
  5. ^ a b Ong, Kenneth Keng Wee (2017). "Textese and Singlish in multiparty chats". World Englishes. 36 (4): 5,17. doi:10.1111/weng.12245. Historically, Singlish has evolved from an English-based pidgin
  6. ^ Napitupulu, Andi; Simanjuntak, Be. "Singapore English (Singlish)". Yuan Ze University: 3. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ^ a b c d e Wong, Tessa (6 August 2015). "The rise of Singlish". BBC News.
  8. ^ Wardhaugh (2002:56–57)
  9. ^ Tongue, R. K. (1979) The English of Singapore and Malaysia (second edition), Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, p. 17.
  10. ^ Labov, William (1969). "The logic of non-standard English". Georgetown Monograph on Language and Linguistics (22): 1–44.
  11. ^ CAVALLARO, FRANCESCO; NG, BEE CHIN; SEILHAMER, MARK FIFER (1 September 2014). "Singapore Colloquial English: Issues of prestige and identity". World Englishes. 33 (3): 378–397. doi:10.1111/weng.12096. hdl:10220/38871. ISSN 0883-2919.
  12. ^ Sin, Yuen (5 February 2017). "Don't play, play - Singlish is studied around the globe". The Straits Times. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  13. ^ Platt, John T. (1975) "The Singapore English Speech Continuum and Its Basilect 'Singlish' as a 'Creoloid'", Anthropological Linguistics, 17(7), 363–374.
  14. ^ Gopinathan, S. (1998) "Language policy changes 1979–1997: Politics and pedagogy", in S. Gopinathan, Anne Pakir, Ho Wah Kam and Vanithamani Saravanan (eds.), Language, Society and Education in Singapore (2nd edn.), Singapore: Times Academic Press, pp. 19–44.
  15. ^ Harada, Shinichi, The Roles of Singapore Standard English and Singlish, Bunkyo University, pp. 69–81
  16. ^ Pakir, Anne (1991) "The range and depth of English-knowing bilinguals in Singapore", World Englishes, 10(2), 167–179.
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  18. ^ "Content Code for Nationwide Managed Transmission Linear Television Services" (PDF). Infocomm Media Development Authority. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
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Sources cited

  • Fasold, Ralph W.; Connor-Linton, Jeff (2006). An Introduction to Language and Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-84768-1.
  • Fox, Margalit (12 September 1999). "The Way We Live Now: 9-12-99: On Language; Dialects". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 March 2009.
  • O'Grady, William; Archibald, John; Aronoff, Mark; Rees-Miller, Janie (2001). Contemporary Linguistics. Boston: Bedford St. Martin's. ISBN 9780312247386.
  • Wardhaugh, Ronald (2002), "Pidgins and Creoles", An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (fourth ed.), Blackwell Publishing, pp. 57–86

Further reading

  • Brown, Adam (1999). Singapore English in a Nutshell: An Alphabetical Description of its Features. Singapore: Federal Publications. ISBN 981-01-2435-X.
  • Crewe, William (ed. 1977) The English Language in Singapore. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press.
  • Deterding, David (2007). Singapore English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-2545-1.
  • Deterding, David, Brown, Adam and Low Ee Ling (eds. 2005) English in Singapore: Phonetic Research on a Corpus. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Education (Asia). ISBN 0-07-124727-0.
  • Deterding, David, Low Ee Ling and Brown, Adam (eds. 2003) English in Singapore: Research on Grammar. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Education (Asia). ISBN 0-07-123103-X.
  • Deterding, David and Hvitfeldt, Robert (1994) 'The Features of Singapore English Pronunciation: Implications for Teachers', Teaching and Learning, 15 (1), 98-107. (on-line version)
  • Deterding, David and Poedjosoedarmo, Gloria (2001) The Grammar of English: Morphology and Syntax for English Teachers in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Prentice Hall. (Chapter 19: Singapore English). ISBN 0-13-093009-1.
  • Foley, Joseph (ed. 1988) New Englishes: the Case of Singapore, Singapore: Singapore University Press.
  • Foley, J. A., T. Kandiah, Bao Zhiming, A.F. Gupta, L. Alsagoff, Ho Chee Lick, L. Wee, I. S. Talib and W. Bokhorst-Heng (eds. 1998) English in New Cultural Contexts: Reflections from Singapore. Singapore: Singapore Institute of Management/Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-588415-9.
  • Gopinathan, S., Pakir, Anne, Ho Wah Kam and Saravanan, Vanithamani (eds. 1998) Language, Society and Education in Singapore (2nd edition), Singapore: Times Academic Press.
  • Gupta, Anthea Fraser (1992) 'Contact features of Singapore Colloquial English'. In Kingsley Bolton and Helen Kwok (eds.) Sociolinguistics Today: International Perspectives, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 323–45.
  • Gupta, Anthea Fraser (1994). The Step-Tongue: Children’s English in Singapore. Clevedon, UK: Multimedia Matters. ISBN 1-85359-229-3.
  • Ho, Mian Lian and Platt, John Talbot (1993). Dynamics of a contact continuum: Singapore English. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-824828-8.
  • Lim, Lisa (ed. 2004). Singapore English: a grammatical description. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins. ISBN 1-58811-576-3.
  • Low, Ee Ling and Brown, Adam (2005) English in Singapore: An Introduction. Singapore: McGraw-Hill.
  • Melcher, A. (2003). Unlearning Singlish: 400 Singlish-isms to avoid. Singapore: Andrew Melcher Pte. Ltd. ISBN 981-04-8952-8
  • Newbrook, Mark (1987). Aspects of the syntax of educated Singaporean English: attitudes, beliefs, and usage. Frankfurt am Main; New York: P. Lang. ISBN 3-8204-9886-9.
  • Ooi, Vincent B. Y. (ed. 2001) Evolving Identities: the English Language in Singapore. Singapore: Times Academic. ISBN 981-210-156-X.
  • Pakir, Anne (1991) ‘The range and depth of English-knowing bilinguals in Singapore’, World Englishes, 10(2), 167–79.
  • Platt, John Talbot and Weber, Heidi (1980). English in Singapore: status, features, functions. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-580438-4.
  • Shelley, R., Beng, K.-S., & Takut bin Salah. (2000). Sounds and sins of Singlish, and other nonsense. Kuala Lumpur: Times Books International. ISBN 981-204-392-6
  • Tongue, R. K. (1979) The English of Singapore and Malaysia (2nd edition). Singapore: Eastern Universities Press.
  • VJ Times Editorial Team. (2000). Singlish to English: basic grammar guide. Singapore: VJ Times. ISBN 981-221-161-6
  • Wee, Lionel (2004) 'Singapore English: Phonology'. In Edgar W. Schneider, Kate Burridge, Bernd Kortmann, Rajend Mesthrie and Clive Upton (eds.) A Handbook of Varieties of English. Volume 1: Phonology, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 1017–33.
  • Wee, Lionel (2004) 'Singapore English: morphology and syntax'. In Bernd Kortmann, Kate Burridge, Rajend Mesthrie, Edgar W. Schneider and Clive Upton (eds.) A Handbook of Varieties of English. Volume 2: Morphology and Syntax, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 1058–72.
  • Wong, J. O. (2001). The natural semantic metalanguage approach to the universal syntax of the Singlish existential primitive. CAS research paper series, no. 30. Singapore: Centre for Advanced Studies, National University of Singapore. ISBN 981-04-3817-6

External links

  • A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English
  • , and compare side by side with other English accents from around the World.
  • An Annotated Bibliography of Works on Singapore English
  • The NIE Corpus of Spoken Singapore English
  • The Lim Siew Lwee Corpus of Informal Singapore Speech

May 02, 2023
singlish, portmanteau, singapore, english, officially, similar, related, singaporean, english, english, based, creole, language, spoken, singapore, arose, situation, prolonged, language, contact, between, speakers, many, different, languages, singapore, includ. Singlish a portmanteau of Singapore and English officially similar and related to Singaporean English is an English based creole language 1 2 spoken in Singapore Singlish arose out of a situation of prolonged language contact between speakers of many different languages in Singapore including Hokkien Malay Teochew Cantonese and Tamil 3 SinglishNative toSingaporeRegionSoutheast AsiaLanguage familyCreole English CreoleSinglishWriting systemLatin English alphabet Language codesISO 639 3 Glottologsing1272IETFcpe SGThis article contains IPA phonetic symbols Without proper rendering support you may see question marks boxes or other symbols instead of Unicode characters For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA Exaggerated broken Singlish on an advertising board outside a cafe in Pulau Ubin Singlish originated with the arrival of the British and the establishment of English medium education in Singapore 4 Elements of English quickly filtered out of schools and onto the streets resulting in the development of a pidgin language 5 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 6 After some time this new pidgin language now combined with substantial influences from Indian English 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 7 8 Singlish shares many linguistic similarities with Manglish or Bazaar Malay of Malaysia although a few distinctions can be made particularly in vocabulary Manglish generally receives more Malay influence and Singlish more Chinese Mandarin Hokkien etc influence Initially Singlish and Manglish were essentially the same dialect evolving from the British Malaya economy born in the trading ports of Singapore Malacca and Penang 9 when Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia were for many purposes a de facto from 1963 to 1965 de jure single entity Ever since the two countries separated a divergence has been observed Like all languages Singlish and other creole languages show consistent internal logic and grammatical complexity 10 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 11 The uniqueness of Singlish has been studied by linguistics experts beyond Singapore 12 Contents 1 Creole continuum 1 1 Example 2 Usage in society 3 Phonology 3 1 Variation 3 2 Consonants 3 3 Vowels 3 4 Tone 3 5 Prosody 4 Grammar 4 1 Topic prominence 4 2 Nouns 4 3 Copula 4 4 Past tense 4 5 Change of state 4 6 Negation 4 7 Interrogative 4 8 Reduplication 4 9 Discourse particles 4 10 Singlish phrases 4 10 1 Kena 4 10 2 Tio 4 10 3 One 4 10 4 Then 4 10 5 Oi 4 10 6 Lah 4 10 7 Wat 4 10 8 Mah 4 10 9 Lor 4 10 10 Leh 4 10 11 Hor 4 10 12 Ar 4 10 13 Hah 4 10 14 Meh 4 10 15 Siah 4 10 16 Siao 4 10 17 Summary 4 11 Miscellaneous 5 Vocabulary 6 See also 7 Notes and references 7 1 Sources cited 8 Further reading 9 External linksCreole continuum EditSinglish 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 13 After Singapore s expulsion from Malaysia in 1965 and successive Speak Mandarin campaigns 14 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 Acrolectal Acrolectal Singaporean English is very similar to Standard English as spoken in other English speaking countries with some differences in pronunciation 15 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 Basilectal This is the most colloquial form of speech 16 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 Pidgin This represents the first stage of development of the Singlish language 5 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 17 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 Edit Each of the following means the same thing but the basilectal and mesolectal versions incorporate some colloquial additions for illustrative purposes Basilect Singlish Wah lau This guy Singlish si beh hiong sia Mesolect This guy Singlish damn good leh Acrolect Standard This person s Singlish is very good Usage in society EditThe 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 18 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 comedies such as Under One Roof and Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd 7 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 19 Although Singlish is officially discouraged in Singaporean schools in practice there is often some level of code switching present in the classroom 20 21 This is rather inevitable given that Singlish is the home language of many students and many teachers themselves are comfortable with the variety 20 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 7 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 7 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 22 Linguists from universities around the world have referred to local productions to demonstrate to students how Singlish has become a unique language variety 23 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 24 Local celebrities were generally pleased for this Singaporean identity to be recognized on a global level 25 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 26 although more recent Speak Good English campaigns are conducted with tacit acceptance of Singlish as valid for informal usage 7 Several current and former Singaporean prime ministers have publicly spoken out against Singlish 27 28 29 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 30 31 32 Phonology EditVariation Edit 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 33 34 and the accentedness depends on factors such as formality of the context 35 and language dominance of the speaker 36 Consonants Edit The consonants in Singlish are given below 37 Labial Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar GlottalNasals m n ŋ Plosives Affricates voiceless p t tʃ k voiced b d dʒ ɡ Fricatives voiceless f 8 s ʃ hvoiced v d z ʒ Approximants l r j w See International Phonetic Alphabet for an in depth guide to the symbols In general The dental fricatives 8 and d merge with t and d so that three tree and then den 38 In syllable final position th is pronounced as f f so with and birth are pronounced weeff wif and beff bef respectively 39 Under the influence of with without is often pronounced with v in place of d wivaut The dental fricatives do occur in acrolectal speech though even among educated speakers there is some variation 40 The voiceless stops p t and k are sometimes unaspirated 38 especially among Malays 41 Aspiration refers to the strong puff of air that may accompany the release of these stop consonants The acoustic effect of this is that the Singlish pronunciation of pat tin and come sound more similar to bat din and gum than in other varieties of English 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 l at the end of a syllable pronounced as a velarised dark l in British or American English is often so velarised in Singlish that it approaches the close mid back unrounded vowel ɤ e g sale seɤ l also tends to be lost after the back vowels ɔ o u and for some basilectal speakers the central vowel e Hence pall paw pɔ roll row ro tool two tu and for some pearl per pe 42 Syllabic consonants never occur Hence taken teken and battle bɛteɤ never tekn or bɛtl When the final l is vocalised little and litter may be homophones 43 ʔ the glottal stop is inserted at the beginning of all words starting with a vowel similar to German As a result final consonants do not experience liaison i e run onto the next word For example run out of eggs would be very roughly run nout to veggs in most dialects of English e g rʌn aʊɾ ev ɛɡz in General American but run out of eggs e g ran ʔau ʔɔf ʔeks in Singlish This contributes to what some have described as the staccato effect of Singapore English 44 ʔ replaces final plosive consonants of syllables in regular to fast paced speed speech especially stops Goodwood Park becomes Gu wu Pa ɡuʔ wuʔ paʔ and there may be a glottal stop at the end of words such as back and out Like in Cambodian where a final g becomes a k bad becomes bat with an unaspirated t 45 In final position the distinction between voiced and voiceless sounds i e s amp z t amp d etc is usually not maintained Final obstruent devoicing As a result cease seize sis and race raise res 46 This leads to some mergers of noun verb pairs such as belief with believe bilif Final consonant clusters simplify especially in fast speech 47 In general plosives especially t and d are lost if they come after another consonant bent Ben bɛn tact tack tɛk nest Ness nɛs s is also commonly lost at the end of a consonant cluster relax relac rilɛk Vowels Edit 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 38 48 49 There is generally no distinction between the non close front monophthongs so pet and pat are pronounced the same pɛt 50 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 ɹ pronouncing the r in bird port etc 51 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 ɹ when reading a passage 52 Vowel phonemes Front Central Backlax tense lax tense lax tenseClose ɪ i ʊ uMid e e oOpen ɛ a ɔDiphthongs ai au ɔi ie ueVowel comparison between Singlish and English diaphonemic system Singlish phoneme WP as in i iː meet ɪ pit e eɪ day e ɛ ɛ before a voiced plosive leg ɛ ɛ set ɛer hair ae map a trap bath split pass ɑː father ɑːr car ʌ bus ɔ ɒ mock ɔː thought ɔːr court o oʊ low u uː food ʊ put e see below ɜːr bird e idea er better ai aɪ my a aɪ before l mile au aʊ mouth ɔi ɔɪ boy ie ɪer here ue ʊer tour ɔ ʊer after j cure ai e aɪer fire au e aʊer power ɛ remains ɛ in Singlish except when followed by a voiced plosive b d or g in which case it becomes e among some speakers 53 However this is not entirely predictable as egg has a close vowel so it rhymes with vague while peg has an open vowel and rhymes with tag and similarly for most speakers bed has a close vowel so it rhymes with made while fed has a more open vowel the same vowel as in bad 54 Which vowel occurs in each word therefore appears in these cases not to be predictable ai remains ai in Singlish except when followed by l in which case it is the monophthong a Examples of words have idiosyncratic pronunciations flour fla expected flau e flower 55 and their dja expected dɛ there Flour flower and their there are therefore not homophones in Singlish This also applies to Manglish In general Singlish vowels are tenser there are no lax vowels which RP has in pit put and so forth The vowels in words such as day de and low lo are pronounced with less glide than the comparable diphthongs in RP so they can be regarded as monophthongs i e vowels with no glide 56 57 Where other varieties of English have an unstressed e i e a reduced vowel Singlish tends to use the full vowel based on orthography This can be seen in words such as accept ɛksɛp example ɛ k sampel purchase petʃes maintenance mentɛnens presentation prisɛnteʃen and so on However this does not mean that the reduced vowel e never occurs as about and again have e in their first syllable It seems that the letter a is often pronounced e but the letter o usually has a full vowel quality especially in the con prefix control consider etc 58 There is a greater tendency to use a full vowel in a syllable which is closed off with a final consonant so a full vowel is much more likely at the start of absorb ɛbzɔb than afford efɔd 59 In loanwords from Hokkien that contain nasal vowels the nasalisation is often kept one prominent example being the mood particle hor pronounced ho Tone Edit Singlish is semi tonal as words of Sinitic origin generally retain their original tones in Singlish 60 On the other hand original English words as well as words of Malay and Tamil origin are non tonal Prosody Edit One of the most prominent and noticeable features of Singlish is its unique intonation pattern which is quite unlike non creole varieties of English 61 For example Singlish is syllable timed compared to most varieties of English which are usually stress timed 62 63 64 This in turn gives Singlish rather a staccato feel 65 There is a tendency to use a rise fall tone to indicate special emphasis 61 A rise fall tone can occur quite often on the final word of an utterance for example on the word cycle in I will try to go to the park to cycle without carrying any of the suggestive meaning associated with a rise fall tone in British English 66 In fact a rise fall tone may be found on as many as 21 per cent of declaratives and this use of the tone can convey a sense of strong approval or disapproval 67 There is a lack of the de accenting that is found in most dialects of English e g British and American so information that is repeated or predictable is still given full prominence 68 There is often an early booster at the start of an utterance 69 so an utterance like I think they are quite nice and interesting magazines may have a very high pitch occurring on the word think 70 There may be greater movement over individual syllables in Singlish than in other varieties of English This makes Singlish sound as if it has the tones of Chinese especially when speakers sometimes maintain the original tones of words that are borrowed into Singlish from Chinese Overall the differences between the different ethnic communities in Singapore are most evident in the patterns of intonation so for example Malay Singaporeans often have the main pitch excursion later in an utterance than ethnically Chinese and Indian Singaporeans 71 Generally these pronunciation patterns are thought to have increased the clarity of Singlish communications between pidgin level speakers in often noisy environments and these features were retained in creolisation Grammar EditThe grammar of Singlish has been heavily influenced by other languages in the region such as Malay and Chinese with some structures being identical to ones in Chinese varieties As a result Singlish has acquired some unique features especially at the basilectal level citation needed Topic prominence Edit Singlish is topic prominent like Chinese and Malay This means that Singlish sentences often begin with a topic or a known reference of the conversation followed by a comment or new information 72 73 74 Compared to Standard English the semantic relationship between topic and comment is not important moreover nouns verbs adverbs and even entire subject verb object phrases can all serve as the topic Topic prominence in Singlish Singlish Standard EnglishDis country weather very hot one The weather is very warm in this country Dat joker there cannot trust You cannot trust the person over there Tomorrow don t need bring camera You don t need to bring a camera tomorrow He play football also very good one leh He s very good at playing football too Walau I want to eat chicken rice Damn I am craving some chicken rice I go bus stop wait for you I will be waiting for you at the bus stop The above constructions can be translated analogously into Malay and Chinese with little change to the word order The topic can be omitted when the context is clear or shared between clauses This results in constructions that appear to be missing a subject to a speaker of Standard English and so called PRO drop utterances may be regarded as a diagnostic feature of Singlish 75 For example Omission of topic in Singlish Singlish Standard EnglishNo good lah This isn t good Cannot anyhow go like dat one leh You it can t just go like that How come never show up Why didn t you he it show up See the use of never in place of didn t under the Past tense section I like badminton dat s why I every weekend go play I play badminton every weekend because I like it He sick so he stay home sleep lor He s not feeling well so he decided to rest at home and sleep Nouns Edit Nouns are optionally marked for plurality Articles are also optional 76 For example He can play piano I like to read storybook Your computer got virus or not Does your computer have a virus This one ten cent only This one only costs 10 cents It is more common to mark the plural in the presence of a modifier that implies plurality such as many or four 77 Many nouns which seem logically to refer to a countable item are used in the plural including furniture and clothing 78 Examples of this usage from corpus recordings are So I bought a lot of furnitures from IKEA Where are all the stuffs I ordered I had to borrow some winter clothings 79 Copula Edit The copula which is the verb to be in most varieties of English is treated somewhat differently in Singlish The copula is generally not used with adjectives or adjective phrases I damn naughty 80 Sometimes an adverb such as very occurs and this is reminiscent of Chinese usage of 很 hen or 好 hǎo Dis house very nice It is also common for the present participle of the verb to be used without the copula 81 I still finding 80 How come you so late still playing music ah You looking for trouble is it The zero copula is also found although less frequently as an equative between two nouns or as a locative Dat one his wife lah That lady is his wife 82 Dis boy the class monitor a subset of the disciplinary system a monitor is empowered to enforce discipline by being an informant in the absence of the teacher or superior authority figure but his her authority is restricted to the class this is unlike a prefect whose authority is house wide or even school wide His house in Toa PayohIn general the zero copula is found more frequently after nouns and pronouns except I he and she and much less after a clause what I think is or a demonstrative this is Past tense Edit Past tense marking is optional in Singlish Marking of the past tense occurs most often in irregular verbs as well as verbs where the past tense suffix is pronounced ɪd 83 For example I went to Orchard Road yesterday He accepted in the end Due to consonant cluster simplification the past tense is most often unmarked when it is pronounced as t or d at the end of a consonant cluster 83 He talk so long never stop I ask him also never He talked for so long without stopping and wouldn t even stop when I asked him to The past tense is more likely to be marked if the verb describes an isolated event it is a punctual verb and it tends to be unmarked if the verb in question represents an action that goes on for an extended period 84 When I young ah I go school every day When he was in school he always get good marks one Last night I mug so much so sian already Last night I studied so much that I became very tired There seems also to be a tendency to avoid use of the past tense to refer to someone who is still alive The tour guide speak Mandarin 85 Note in the final example that although the speaker is narrating a story she probably uses the present tense in the belief that the tour guide is probably still alive Change of state Edit Instead of the past tense a change of state can be expressed by adding already or liao liau to the end of the sentence analogous to the Chinese 了 le 86 This is not the same as the past tense but more of an aspect as it does not cover past habitual or continuous occurrences and it refers to a real or hypothetical change of state in the past present or future The frequent use of already pronounced more like oreddy and sometimes spelt that way in Singlish is probably a direct influence of the Hokkien liao particle 87 For example Aiyah cannot wait any more must go already Oh dear I cannot wait any longer I must leave immediately Yesterday dey go there already They already went there yesterday Ah Song kena sai already then how Ah Song has gotten into trouble what will you do now Some examples of the direct use of liao He throw liao He has already thrown it away I eat liao I ate or I have eaten This new game you play liao or not As for this new game have you played it yet Negation Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed October 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Negation works in general like English with not added after to be to have or modals and don t before all other verbs Contractions can t shouldn t are used alongside their uncontracted forms However due to final cluster simplification the t drops out from negative forms and n may also drop out after nasalising the previous vowel This makes nasalisation the only mark of the negative I do don t do want I don t want to Another effect of this is that in the verb can its positive and negative forms are distinguished only by the vowel This one can kɛn do lah This one can t kan do lah Also never is used as a negative past tense marker and does not have to carry the English meaning In this construction the negated verb is never put into the past tense form How come today you never didn t hand in homework How come he never didn t pay just now Interrogative Edit In addition to the usual which way of forming yes no questions Singlish uses two more constructions In a construction similar but not identical to Chinese A not A or not is appended to the end of sentences to form yes no questions Or not cannot be used with sentences already in the negative You want this book or not Do you want this book Can or not Is this possible permissible The phrase is it appended to the end of sentences forms yes no questions 88 Is it implies that the speaker is simply confirming something they have already inferred They never study is it No wonder they failed You don t like that is it No wonder you had that face Alamak you guys never read newspaper is it What Haven t you guys ever read a newspaper No wonder you aren t up to date The phrase isn t it also occurs when the speaker thinks the hearer might disagree with the assertion 77 There are also many discourse particles such as hah hor meh and ar used in questions See the Discourse particles section elsewhere in this article Reduplication Edit Another feature strongly reminiscent of Chinese and Malay verbs are often repeated e g TV personality Phua Chu Kang s don t pray pray pray play In general verbs are repeated twice to indicate the delimitative aspect that the action goes on for a short period and three times to indicate greater length and continuity 89 You go ting ting a little bit maybe den you get answer Go and think over it for a while and then you might understand So what I do was I sit down and I ting ting ting until I get answer lor So I sat down thought thought and thought until I understood The use of verb repetition also serves to provide a more vivid description of an activity Want to go Orchard walk walk see see 走走看看 or not Let s go shopping sightseeing at Orchard Road Don t anyhow touch here touch there leh Please don t mess with my things In another usage reminiscent of Chinese nouns referring to people can be repeated for intimacy 90 Most commonly monosyllabic nouns are repeated My boy boy is going to Primary One oreddy My son is about to enter Year Grade Standard One We two fren fren one We are close friends However occasionally reduplication is also found with disyllabic nouns We buddy buddy You don t play me out OK 91 I m the kind who is buddy buddy person 92 Adjectives of one or two syllables can also be repeated for intensification You go take the big big one ah Retrieve the larger item please You want a raise from this boss Wait long long ah It will never happen Discourse particles Edit In Singlish discourse particles are minimal lexemes words that occur at the end of a sentence and that do not carry referential meaning but may relate to linguistic modality register or other pragmatic effects They may be used to indicate how the speaker thinks that the content of the sentence relates to the participants common knowledge or change the emotional character of the sentence Particles are noted for keeping their tones regardless of the remainder of the sentence Most of the particles are borrowed from southern Chinese varieties with the tones intact Research on Singlish discourse particles have been many but varied often focusing on analysing their functions in the sentences they appear in 93 Singlish phrases Edit Wah Lau WalaoWah lau wa lǎu is used as an interjection or exclamation at the beginning of a sentence and it usually has a negative connotation It is derived from a Hokkien or Teochew phrase that means my father 我老 abbreviated form of my father s 我老的 goa lau e Wah lau I can t believe the teacher gave us so much work to do in such a tight deadline Kena Edit Kena kena or kana can be used as an auxiliary to mark the passive voice in some varieties of Singlish 94 It is derived from a Malay word that means to encounter or to come into physical contact 95 and is only used with objects that have a negative effect or connotation Verbs after kena may appear in the infinitive form i e without tense or as a past participle It is similar in meaning to passive markers in Chinese such as Hokkien 著 tio h or Mandarin 被 bei He kena scold scolded He was scolded Dun listen later you kena punish punished then you know If you don t listen to me you will be punished after which you will know that you were wrong Kena is not used with positive things He kena praised He kena lottery He kena jackpot Use of kena as in the above examples will not be understood and may even be greeted with a confused reply But strike lottery good wat But it s a good thing to win the lottery However when used in sarcasm kena can be used in apparently positive circumstances though with an ironic modicum of success for example He kena jackpot come back to school after so long den got so much homework He received a lot of homework upon returning to school after a long absence When the context is given kena may be used without a verb to mean will be punished Better do your homework otherwise you kena You will be punished unless you do your homework Don t listen to me later you kena Using another auxiliary verb with kena is perfectly acceptable as well Better do your homework otherwise you will kena Don t listen to me later you will kena Tio Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed October 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message From Hokkien 著 tio h tio tio pronounced with a low tone due to Hokkien tone sandhi can be used interchangeably with kena in many scenarios While kena is often used in negative situations tio can be used in both positive and negative situations He tio cancer He was diagnosed with cancer He tio jackpot He struck the jackpot He tio lottery He struck lottery Tio fined lor what to do I got fined couldn t help it Tio has a lighter negative tone when used negatively compared to kena Kena fined lor what to do Tio fined lor what to do Both mean the same but kena makes the speaker sound more unhappy with the situation than tio Tio also sounds more sympathetic when talking about an unfortunate incident about someone close Her mum tio cancer Her mum was diagnosed with cancer Sad sia so young tio cancer How sad he was diagnosed with cancer at such a young age Using kena in the following might not be appropriate as they seem impolite as if the speaker is mocking the victim Her mum kena cancer He kena cancer One Edit The word one is used to emphasise the predicate of the sentence by implying that it is unique and characteristic It is analogous to the use of particles like 嘅 ge or 㗎 ga in Cantonese 啲 e in Hokkien は wa in Japanese or 的 de in some dialects of Mandarin One used in this way does not correspond to any use of the word one in Standard English It might also be analysed as a relative pronoun though it occurs at the end of the relative clause instead of the beginning as in Standard English 96 Wah lau So stupid one Oh my gosh He s so stupid I do everything by habit one I always do everything by habit He never go school one He doesn t go to school unlike other people Is like that one It is how it is Some bilingual speakers of Mandarin may also use 的 de in place of one Then Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed February 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message The word then is often pronounced or written as den dɛn When used it represents different meanings in different contexts In this section the word is referred to as den i Den can be synonymous with so or therefore It is used to replace the Chinese grammatical particle 才 纔 cai see ii When it is intended to carry the meaning of therefore it is often used to explain one s blunder negative consequences In such contexts it is a translation from Chinese 所以 When used in this context the den is prolonged twice the usual length in emphasis as opposed to the short emphasis it is given when used to mean cai Never do homework den two beats with shifts in tone sandhi tone 2 indicating replacement of 所以 kena scold lor I did not do my homework that s why therefore I got a scolding Never do homework pause den two beats with shifts in tone sandhi tone 2 indicating replacement of 然后 然後 kena scold lor I did not do my homework I got a scolding after that Never do homework den one beat with no shift in tone sandhi indicating 才 kena scold lor It is only due to the fact that I did not do my homework that I was scolded However den cannot be freely interchanged with so The following examples are incorrect uses of den which will sound grammatically illogical to a Singlish speaker I m tired den I m going to sleep I m late den I m going to take a taxi The reason for this is that den often marks a negative non volitional outcome either in the future or the past while the above sentences express volition and are set in the present Consider the following examples I damn tired den langgar the car lor I was really tired which is why I knocked into that car I late den take taxi otherwise don t take When I m late only then do I take a taxi otherwise I don t take taxis I only take a taxi when I m late see usage vi ii Den is also used to describe an action that will be performed later It is used to replace the Chinese particle 才 纔 cai When used in this context the den is pronounced in one beat instead of being lengthened to two beats as in i If shortened the meaning will be changed or incorrectly conveyed For example I go home liao den two beats call you will imbue the subtext with a questionable sense of irony a lasciviousness for seduction three beats or just general inappropriateness random two beats indicating a Hong Kong comedy influenced moleitou 無理頭 Singaporean sense of humour I go home liao den call you I will call you when I reach home Later den say We ll discuss this later iii Den can used at the beginning of a sentence as a link to the previous sentence In this usage den is used to replace the Mandarin grammatical particle which is approximately equivalent in meaning but not in grammatical usage only to then or 然后 然後 ran hou as in ranhou hor In such cases it often carries a connotation of an exclamation We were doing everything fine den he fuck everything up I was at a park Den hor I was attacked by dinosaur leh I woke up at 10 Den boss saw me coming in late So suay iv Den can be used to return an insult negative comment back to the originator When used in such a way there must first be an insult negative comment from another party In such contexts it is a translation from the Chinese 才 纔 cai A You re so stupid B You den stupid la You re the stupid one A You re late B You den late lor You re the late one v Den can be used as a single worded phrase Even if den is used in a single worded phrase even with the same pronunciation it can represent four different meanings It can either be synonymous with so what or it can be a sarcastic expression that the other party is making a statement that arose from his her actions or similarly an arrogant expression which indicating that the other party is stating the obvious or it can be used as a short form for what happened then Synonymous with so what A I slept at 4 last night leh B Den Sarcastic expression Speakers tend to emphasise the pronunciation of n Context A is supposed to meet B before meeting a larger group but A is late for the first meeting A Late liao leh B Dennn Arrogant expression Speakers have the option of using den in a phrase as in Ah bu den or Ah den In this case it serves approximately the same purpose as duh in American English slang A Wah seh You actually make this computer all by yourself ah B Ah bu den Ah but then What happened after that A I found 100 today B Den what vi Den can also indicate a conditional an if then condition implying an omitted if when I late den take taxi otherwise dun take When I m late only then do I take a taxi otherwise I don t take taxis I only take a taxi when I m late You want to see Justin Bieber den go lah If you want to see Justin Bieber then go to the concert Oi Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed October 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message See also Oi interjection Oi originating from the Hokkien 喂 oe is commonly used in Singlish as in other English varieties to draw attention or to express surprise or indignation Some examples of the usage of Oi include Oi you forgot to give me my pencil Oi Hear me can Oi You know how long I wait for you Oi Wake up lah As oi has connotations of disapproval it is considered to be slightly offensive if it is used in situations where a more polite register is expected e g while speaking to strangers in public people in the workplace or one s elders Lah Edit The ubiquitous word lah la or la sometimes spelled as la and rarely spelled as larh luh or lurh is used at the end of a sentence 97 It originates from the Chinese word 啦 POJ lah or the same word in Malay 98 It simultaneously softens the force of an utterance and entices solidarity 99 though it can also have the opposite meaning so it is used to signal power 100 In addition there are suggestions that there is more than one lah particle so there may be a stressed and an unstressed variant 101 and perhaps as many as nine tonal variants all having a special pragmatic function 102 In Malay lah is used to change a verb into a command or to soften its tone particularly when usage of the verb may seem impolite To drink is minum but Here drink is minumlah Similarly lah is frequently used with imperatives in Singlish Drink lah Just drink Lah also occurs frequently with yah and no hence Yah lah and No lah This can with the appropriate tone result in a less brusque declaration and facilitate the flow of conversation No more work to do we go home lah However if the preceding clause is already diminutive or jocular suffixing it with lah would be redundant and improper one would not say yep lah nope lah or ta lah as in the British ta for thank you Lah with a low tone might indicate impatience Eh hurry up lah Lah is often used with brusque short negative responses I dun have lah I just don t have any of that which you were requesting Dun know oreddy lah Argh I don t know any more than what I told you or I give up trying to understand this Lah is also used for reassurance Dun worry he can one lah Don t worry he will be capable of doing it Okay lah It s all right Don t worry about it Lah is sometimes used to curse people Go and die lah Lah can also be used to emphasise items in a spoken list appearing after each item in the list Although lah can appear nearly anywhere it does not appear with a yes no question Other particles are used instead He do that ah Later free or not Don t tell me he punch her ah Wat Edit The particle wat wat also spelled what is used to remind or contradict the listener 103 especially when strengthening another assertion that follows from the current one But he very good at Maths wat But he is very good at mathematics Shouldn t you know this already having known him for years You never give me wat It s not my fault since You didn t give it to me Or else I would have gotten it right I never punch him wat I did not punch him I did not punch him Or else I am the one right It can also be used to strengthen any assertion 104 The food there not bad wat Can try lah This usage is noticeably characterised by a low tone on wat and parallels the assertive Mandarin particle 嘛 in expressions like 不错嘛 Mah Edit Mah ma originating from Chinese 嘛 ma is used to assert that something is obvious and final 105 and is usually used only with statements that are already patently true It is often used to correct or cajole and in some contexts is similar to English s duh This may seem condescending to the listener This one also can work one mah Can t you see that this choice will also work He also know about it mah He knew about it as well so it s not my fault Lor Edit Lor lɔ also spelled lorh or loh from Chinese 囖 咯 lo1 is a casual sometimes jocular way to assert upon the listener either direct observations or obvious inferences 103 It also carries a sense of resignation or alternatively dismissiveness 106 that it happens this way and can t be helped If you don t do the work then you die liao lor If you don t do the work then you re dead Kay lor you go and do what you want Fine go ahead and do what you want Dun have work to do den go home lor If you re done working you should go home What are you waiting for Ya lor Used when agreeing with someoneLeh Edit Leh lɛ or le from Chinese 咧 leh is used to soften a command request claim or complaint that may be brusque otherwise Gimme leh Please just give it to me How come you don t give me leh Why aren t you giving it to me The ticket seriously ex leh Argh the tickets are really expensive But I believe safe better than sorry leh The thing is I believe it s better to be safe than sorry Why you never give up your seat leh Especially when on a low tone it can be used to show the speaker s disapproval 104 You call her walk there very far leh If you ask her to go there on foot it will be a rather long distance Hor Edit Hor hɔ from Hokkien 乎 hō also spelled horh is used to ask for the listener s attention and consent support agreement 107 It is usually pronounced with a low tone Then hor another person came out of the house And then another person came out of the house This shopping center very nice hor This shopping centre is very nice isn t it Oh yah hor Oh yes realising something Like that can hor So can it be done that way Ar Edit Ar ǎ also spelled arh or ah is inserted between topic and comment 108 It often but not always gives a negative tone This boy ah always so rude one This boy is so rude Ar ǎ with a rising tone is used to reiterate a rhetorical question How come like dat one ah Why is it like that Why are you like that Ar a with a mid level tone on the other hand is used to mark a genuine question that does require a response or not can also be used in this context You going again ar Are you going again Hah Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed October 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Hah hǎ also spelled har originating from the British English word huh or Hokkien 唅 hannh is used to express disbelief shock or used in a questioning manner Har He really ponned class yesterday ar What Is it true that he played truant ponteng shortened to pon and converted into past tense hence ponned yesterday Har How come he tio caning What How did he end up being caned Meh Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed October 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Meh mɛ from Cantonese 咩 meh is used to form questions expressing surprise or scepticism They never study meh Didn t they study I thought they did You don t like that one meh You don t like that I thought you did Really meh Is that really so I honestly thought otherwise I don t believe you Siah Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed October 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message siǎ also spelled sia or siah is used to express envy or emphasis It is a derivative of the Malay vulgar word sial derivative of the parent used interchangeably but sometimes may imply a stronger emphasis Originally it is often used by Malay peers in informal speech between them sometimes while enraged and other times having different implications depending on the subject matter Kau ade problem ke ape sial Do you have a problem or what negative enraged Sial ah Joe bawak iPad ni ari Whoa Joe brought an iPad today positive envy Takde lah sial No way man or I don t have it man positive neutral Joe kene marah sial Joe got scolded man positive emphasis Malays may also pronounce it without the l not following the ia but rather a nasal aah This particular form of usage is often seen in expressing emphasis There is a further third application of it in that a k is added at the end when it will then be pronounced saak with the same nasal quality only when ending the word It is similarly used in emphasis However Singlish itself takes influence only from the general expression of the term without any negative implication and non Malay speakers or Malays speaking to non Malays pronounce it either as a nasal sia or simply siah He damn zai sia He s damn capable Wah heng sia Goodness me Wahlau That was a close shave heng Siao Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed October 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message siao Derived from Hokkien 痟 siau Siao is a common word in Singlish Literally it means crazy You siao ah Are you crazy with sarcasm Siao ang moh Crazy white people Summary Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed October 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Summary of discourse and other particles Function Example MeaningAffirmation Can It can be done Solidarity Can lah soft Rest assured it can be done Seeking attention support implicit Can hor soft hah It can be done right Defensive Can hor sharp Please do not doubt that it can be done Impatient Defensive Can lah sharp Clearly it works I m not sure why are you questioning it Characteristic Can one de 的 Despite your doubts I know it can be done Vividness Liddat like that very nice This looks very nice Acceptance Resignation Can lor Well seems that it can be done since you say so Completion Finished Can loh Can liao oreddy It s done Assertion implies that listener should already know Can wat Can lor in some situations when used firmly It can be done shouldn t you know this Assertion strong Can mah See It can be done Assertion softened Can leh Can t you see that it can be done Yes No question Can anot Can it be done Yes No question confirmation Can izzit Is it It can be done right Yes No question skepticism Can meh Um are you sure it can be done Confirmation Can ar low tone So it can really be done Rhetorical Can ar rising Alright then don t come asking for help if problems arise Amazement Can sia Can wor sia is stronger than wor Amazingly it works Indifference Questioning in a calm manner Can huh low tone Can it be done Joyful Can loh Hurray It s done Anger Annoyance Alamak Why you go mess up Argh Why did you go and mess it up Miscellaneous Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed February 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message Nia which originated from Hokkien means only mostly used to play down something that has been overestimated Anna I not so old lah I 18 nia Then you know is a phrase often used at the end of a sentence or after a warning of the possible negative consequences of an action Can be directly translated as and you will regret not heeding my advice Also a direct translation of the Chinese 你才知道 Mother Ah boy don t run here run there wait you fall down then you know ah Aiyyo also spelled aiyo A state of surprise Originally from Chinese 哎哟 There is there are and has have are both expressed using got so that sentences can be translated in either way back into British American Australasian English This is equivalent to the Chinese 有 yǒu to have Got question Any questions Is there a question Do you have a question Yesterday ar Marina Bay Sands got so many people one There were so many people at Marina Bay Sands yesterday Marina Bay Sands had so many people there yesterday This bus got air con or not Is there air conditioning on this bus Does this bus have air conditioning Where got Where is there this or less politely There isn t aren t any also more loosely What are you talking about generic response to any accusation Translation of the Malay mana ada which has the same usage Can is used extensively as both a question particle and an answer particle The negative is cannot Gimme can Can you please give that to me Can Sure Cannot No way Can can be repeated for greater emphasis or to express enthusiasm Boss Can you send me the report by this afternoon Employee Can can No problem The Malay word with the same meaning boleh can be used in place of can to add a greater sense of multiculturalism in the conversation The person in a dominant position may prefer to use boleh instead Employee Boss tomorrow can get my pay check or not Boss Boleh lah sure possibly The phrase like that is commonly appended to the end of the sentence to emphasize descriptions by adding vividness and continuousness Due to its frequency of use it is often pronounced lidat laɪˈdaet He so stupid like that He really seems pretty stupid you know He acting like a one year old baby like that He s really acting like a one year old baby you know Like that can also be used as in other Englishes Why he acting like that Why is he acting this way If like that how am I going to answer to the gong shi ting If that s the case how am I going to answer to the board of directors In British English also is used before the predicate while too is used after the predicative at the end of the sentence In Singlish also in American and Australian English also pronounced oso see phonology section above can be used in either position I oso like dis one I also like this one I like dis one also I like this one too Also is also used as a conjunction In this case A also B corresponds to B although A This stems from Chinese where the words 也 ye 还 hai or 都 dōu meaning also though usage depends on dialect or context would be used to express these sentences I try so hard oso cannot do I tried so hard and still I can t do it or I can t do it even though I tried so hard The order of the verb and the subject in an indirect question is the same as a direct question Eh you know where is he or not Excuse me do you know where he is Ownself is often used in place of yourself or more accurately yourself being an individual in a state of being alone Har He ownself go party yesterday for what Why did he go to the party alone yesterday Not all expressions with the self pronouns should be taken literally but as the omission of by Wah hungry liao You eat yourself we eat ourself can Hey I you should be hungry by this time Let s split up and eat then meet up again Some people have begun to add extra eds to the past tense of words or to pronounce ed separately sometimes in a form of exaggeration of the past tense Most of the time the user uses it intentionally to mock proper English Just now go and play game character dieded siah When I played a game just now my character died Vocabulary Edit Many signs in Singapore include all four official languages English Chinese Tamil and Malay Main article Singlish vocabulary Much of Singlish vocabulary is derived from British English in addition to many loanwords from Sinitic languages Malay and Tamil There has been a rise in American English influence in recent years An instance of a borrowing from Hokkien is kiasu which means frightened of losing out 109 and is used to indicate behaviour such as queueing overnight to obtain something and the most common borrowing from Malay is makan meaning to eat 110 In many cases words of English origin take on the meaning of their Chinese counterparts resulting in a shift in meaning This is most obvious in such cases as borrow lend which are functionally equivalent in Singlish and mapped to the same Hokkien word 借 chio which can mean to lend or to borrow Oi from Southern Min although Singaporeans spell it as oi can borrow me your calculator and send can be used to mean accompany someone as in Let me send you to the airport possibly under the influence of the Hokkien word 送 sang 111 However the Malay meng hantar can also be used to mean both send a letter and take children to school 112 so perhaps both Malay and Chinese have combined to influence the usage of send in Singapore editorializing See also Edit Singapore portal Language portalSinglish vocabulary List of Singapore abbreviations Languages of Singapore Singapore English Standard Singapore English IPA chart for English dialects Mandarin Chinese Papia Kristang Peranakans Singaporean Mandarin Singdarin Singaporean Hokkien Speak Good English Movement Tamil language Indian languages in Singapore Manglish HinglishNotes and references Edit Yoon David STANDARD ENGLISH AND SINGLISH THE CLASH OF LANGUAGE VALUES IN CONTEMPORARY SINGAPORE PDF La Trobe University Archived from the original PDF on 29 May 2015 Retrieved 29 May 2015 Singaporean English or Singlish as it is better known to the local populace is an English creole that has long been a contesting issue between pro Singlish and anti Singlish proponents LEIMGRUBER JAKOB R E Events Faculty of Linguistics Philology and Phonetics PDF www ling phil ox ac uk Archived from the original PDF on 7 January 2011 Retrieved 31 March 2022 Chinese based lexicon in Singapore English and Singapore Chinese culture PDF Archived from the original PDF on 27 November 2010 Retrieved 18 April 2010 Gupta Anthea Fraser 1994 The Step tongue Children s English in Singapore Clevedon UK Multilingual Matters p 35 a b Ong Kenneth Keng Wee 2017 Textese and Singlish in multiparty chats World Englishes 36 4 5 17 doi 10 1111 weng 12245 Historically Singlish has evolved from an English based pidgin Napitupulu Andi Simanjuntak Be Singapore English Singlish Yuan Ze University 3 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help a b c d e Wong Tessa 6 August 2015 The rise of Singlish BBC News Wardhaugh 2002 56 57 Tongue R K 1979 The English of Singapore and Malaysia second edition Singapore Eastern Universities Press p 17 Labov William 1969 The logic of non standard English Georgetown Monograph on Language and Linguistics 22 1 44 CAVALLARO FRANCESCO NG BEE CHIN SEILHAMER MARK FIFER 1 September 2014 Singapore Colloquial English Issues of prestige and identity World Englishes 33 3 378 397 doi 10 1111 weng 12096 hdl 10220 38871 ISSN 0883 2919 Sin Yuen 5 February 2017 Don t play play Singlish is studied around the globe The Straits Times Retrieved 5 July 2022 Platt John T 1975 The Singapore English Speech Continuum and Its Basilect Singlish as a Creoloid Anthropological Linguistics 17 7 363 374 Gopinathan S 1998 Language policy changes 1979 1997 Politics and pedagogy in S Gopinathan Anne Pakir Ho Wah Kam and Vanithamani Saravanan eds Language Society and Education in Singapore 2nd edn Singapore Times Academic Press pp 19 44 Harada Shinichi The Roles of Singapore Standard English and Singlish Bunkyo University pp 69 81 Pakir Anne 1991 The range and depth of English knowing bilinguals in Singapore World Englishes 10 2 167 179 Gupta Anthea Fraser 1992 Contact features of Singapore Colloquial English In Kingsley Bolton and Helen Kwok eds Sociolinguistics Today International Perspectives London and New York Routledge pp 323 345 Content Code for Nationwide Managed Transmission Linear Television Services PDF Infocomm Media Development Authority Retrieved 13 March 2022 See for example an entire opinion column written in Singlish by The Straits Times regular columnist Koh Buck Song To have or not to have a dictionary big question leh published 24 April 1995 available online at http freepages family rootsweb ancestry com jacklee Files 19950424 ST BadNewsforAllEngPurists pdf a b Foley Joseph 2001 Is English a first or second language in Singapore in Vincent B Y Ooi ed Evolving Identities The English Language in Singapore and Malaysia Singapore Times Academic Press pp 12 32 Deterding David 1998 Approaches to Diglossia in the Classroom The Middle Way REACT 2 18 23 on line version Harbeck James The language the government tried to suppress Retrieved 5 November 2018 Singlish Is Being Studied In Universities Around The World Leh The Finder The Finder 6 February 2017 Retrieved 5 November 2018 hermesauto 12 May 2016 Shiok 19 Singlish items added to the Oxford English Dictionary The Straits Times ABDUL RAHMAN NOOR ASHIKIN 13 May 2016 Some find new Singlish terms in Oxford dictionary ridiculous AsiaOne Retrieved 5 November 2018 Rubdy Rani 2001 Creative destruction Singapore English s Speak Good English movement World Englishes 20 3 341 355 Jeremy Au Young 22 September 2007 Singlish Don t make it part of Spore identity PM The Straits Times Deterding David 2007 Singapore English Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press pp 90 91 NYT op ed on Singlish makes light of efforts to promote standard English PM s press secretary Channel NewsAsia Retrieved 5 November 2018 Fox 1999 O Grady et al 2001 p 7 Fasold amp Connor Linton 2006 p 387 Lim L 2000 Ethnic group differences aligned Intonation patterns of Chinese Indian and Malay Singaporean English In A Brown D Deterding amp E L Low Eds The English Language in Singapore Research on Pronunciation SAAL Tan Y Y 2010 Singing the same tune Prosodic norming in bilingual Singaporeans In M Cruz Ferreira Ed Multilingual norms Frankfurt Peter Lang Deterding D amp Poedjosoedarmo G 2000 To what extent can the ethnic group of young Singaporeans be identified from their speech In A Brown D Deterding amp E L Low Eds The English Language in Singapore Research on Pronunciation pp 1 9 Sngapore SAAL Sim Jasper Hong 1 February 2019 But you don t sound Malay English World Wide 40 1 79 108 doi 10 1075 eww 00023 sim ISSN 0172 8865 S2CID 151307960 Leimgruber Jakob R E 2013 Singapore English Structure Variation and Usage Cambridge University Press p 66 a b c Bao Zhiming 1998 The sounds of Singapore English In J A Foley et al eds English in New Cultural Contexts Reflections from Singapore Singapore Singapore Institute of Management Oxford University Press pp 152 174 Deterding David 2007 Singapore English Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press p 14 Moorthy Shanti Marion and Deterding David 2000 Three or tree Dental fricatives in the speech of educated Singaporeans In Adam Brown David Deterding and Low Ee Ling Eds The English Language in Singapore Research on Pronunciation Singapore Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics pp 76 83 Deterding David and Poedjosoedarmo Gloria 1998 The Sounds of English Phonetics and Phonology for English Teachers in Southeast Asia Singapore Prentice Hall p 157 Tan Kah Keong 2005 Vocalisation of l in Singapore English In David Deterding Adam Brown and Low Ee Ling eds English in Singapore Phonetic Research on a Corpus Singapore McGraw Hill Education Asia pp 43 53 Low Ee Ling and Brown Adam 2005 English in Singapore An Introduction Singapore McGraw Hill p 142 Brown Adam 1988 The staccato effect in the pronunciation of English in Malaysia and Singapore in Foley ed New Englishes the Case of Singapore Singapore Singapore University Press pp 115 28 Brown Adam and Deterding David 2005 A checklist of Singapore English pronunciation features In David Deterding Adam Brown and Low Ee Ling eds English in Singapore Phonetic Research on a Corpus Singapore McGraw Hill Education Asia pp 7 13 Deterding David 2005 Emergent patterns in the vowels of Singapore English English World Wide 26 2 179 197 Gut Ulrike 2005 The realisation of final plosives in Singapore English phonological rules and ethnic differences In David Deterding Adam Brown and Low Ee Ling eds English in Singapore Phonetic Research on a Corpus Singapore McGraw Hill Education Asia pp 14 25 Deterding David and Poedjosoedarmo Gloria 1998 The Sounds of English Phonetics and Phonology for English Teachers in Southeast Asia Singapore Prentice Hall p 156 Deterding David 2003 An instrumental study of the monophthong vowels of Singapore English English World Wide 24 1 1 16 Suzanna Bet Hashim and Brown Adam 2000 The e and ae vowels in Singapore English In Adam Brown David Deterding and Low Ee Ling eds The English Language in Singapore Research on Pronunciation Singapore Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics pp 84 92 Poedjosoedarmo Gloria 2000 The media as a model and source of innovation in the development of Singapore Standard English In Adam Brown David Deterding and Low Ee Ling eds The English Language in Singapore Research on Pronunciation Singapore Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics pp 112 120 Deterding David 2007 The Vowels of the Different Ethnic Groups in Singapore In David Prescott ed fg English in Southeast Asia Literacies Literatures and Varieties Newcastle UK Cambridge Scholars Press pp 2 29 Tay Wan Joo Mary 1982 The phonology of educated Singapore English English World Wide 3 2 135 45 Deterding David 2005 Emergent patterns in the vowels of Singapore English English World Wide 26 2 179 97 Lim Siew Siew and Low Ee Ling 2005 Triphthongs in Singapore English In David Deterding Adam Brown and Low Ee Ling eds English in Singapore Phonetic Research on a Corpus Singapore McGraw Hill Education Asia pp 64 73 Deterding David 2000 Measurements of the eɪ and oʊ vowels of young English speakers in Singapore In Adam Brown David Deterding and Low Ee Ling eds The English Language in Singapore Research on Pronunciation Singapore Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics pp 93 99 Lee Ee May and Lim Lisa 2000 Diphthongs in Singaporean English their realisations across different formality levels and some attitudes of listeners towards them In Adam Brown David Deterding and Low Ee Ling eds The English Language in Singapore Research on Pronunciation Singapore Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics pp 100 111 Heng Mui Gek and Deterding David 2005 Reduced vowels in conversational Singapore English In David Deterding Adam Brown and Low Ee Ling eds English in Singapore Phonetic Research on a Corpus Singapore McGraw Hill Education Asia pp 54 63 Deterding David 2006 Reduced vowels in SE Asia should we be teaching them SOUTHEAST ASIA A Multidisciplinary Journal 6 1 71 78 on line version Lim Lisa 2011 Tone in Singlish Substrate Features from Sinitic and Malay PDF Typological Studies in Language Philadelphia Amsterdam John Benjamins 95 doi 10 1075 tsl 95 16lim a b Deterding David 1994 The intonation of Singapore English Journal of the International Phonetic Association 24 2 61 72 Low Ee Ling Grabe Esther and Nolan Francis 2000 Quantitative characterisations of speech rhythm syllable timing in Singapore English Language and Speech 43 377 401 Deterding David 2001 The Measurement of Rhythm A Comparison of Singapore and British English Journal of Phonetics 29 2 217 230 Ong Po Keng Fiona Deterding David and Low Ee Ling 2007 Rhythm in Singapore and British English a comparison of indexes In David Deterding Adam Brown and Low Ee Ling eds 2005 English in Singapore Phonetic Research on a Corpus Singapore McGraw Hill Education Asia pp 74 85 Brown Adam 1988 The staccato effect in the pronunciation of English in Malaysia and Singapore In Foley ed New Englishes the Case of Singapore Singapore Singapore University Press pp 115 128 Deterding David 2007 Singapore English Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press p 37 Lim Lisa 2004 Sounding Singaporean In Lisa Lim ed Singapore English A Grammatical Description Amsterdam John Benjamins pp 20 56 Levis John M 2005 Prominence in Singapore and American English evidence from reading aloud In David Deterding Adam Brown and Low Ee Ling eds 2005 English in Singapore Phonetic Research on a Corpus Singapore McGraw Hill Education Asia pp 86 94 Low Ee Ling 2000 A comparison of the pitch range of Singapore English and British English speakers In Adam Brown David Deterding and Low Ee Ling eds 2000 The English Language in Singapore Research on Pronunciation Singapore Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics pp 46 52 Deterding David 2007 Singapore English Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press p 35 Lim Lisa 2000 Ethic group differences aligned Intonation patterns of Chinese Indian and Malay Singapore English In Adam Brown David Deterding and Low Ee Ling eds 2000 The English Language in Singapore Research on Pronunciation Singapore Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics pp 10 21 Tan Ludwig 2003 Topic prominence and null arguments in Singapore Colloquial English In David Deterding Low Ee Ling and Adam Brown Eds English in Singapore Research on Grammar Singapore Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics pp 1 10 Tan Ludwig 2007 Null Arguments in Singapore Colloquial English Unpublished PhD thesis University of Cambridge Leong Alvin 2003 Subject omission in Singapore Colloquial English In David Deterding Low Ee Ling and Adam Brown Eds English in Singapore Research on Grammar Singapore Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics pp 11 21 Gupta Anthea Fraser 1994 The Step tongue Children s English in Singapore Clevedon UK Multilingual Matters pp 10 11 Wee Lionel and Ansaldo Umberto 2004 Nouns and noun phrases In Lisa Lim ed Singapore English A Grammatical Description Amsterdam John Benjamins pp 57 74 a b Alsagoff Lubna and Ho Chee Lick 1998 The grammar of Singapore English In J A Foley et al eds English in New Cultural Contexts Reflections from Singapore Singapore Singapore Institute of Management Oxford University Press pp 201 217 Brown Adam 1999 Singapore English in a Nutshell Singapore Federal pp 62 63 Deterding David 2007 Singapore English Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press p 42 a b Platt John and Weber Heidi 1980 English in Singapore and Malaysia Status Features Functions Singapore Oxford University Press p 31 Fong Vivienne 2004 The verbal cluster In Lisa Lim ed Singapore English A Grammatical Description Amsterdam John Benjamins pp 75 104 Platt John and Weber Heidi 1980 English in Singapore and Malaysia Status Features Functions Singapore Oxford University Press p 32 a b Platt John and Weber Heidi 1980 English in Singapore and Malaysia Status Features Functions Singapore Oxford University Press p 88 Platt John and Weber Heidi 1980 English in Singapore and Malaysia Status Features Functions Singapore Oxford University Press p 87 Deterding David 2003 Tenses and will would in a corpus of Singapore English In David Deterding Low Ee Ling and Adam Brown eds English in Singapore Research on Grammar Singapore McGraw Hill Education Asia p 34 Bao Zhiming 1995 Already in Singapore English World Englishes 14 2 181 188 Alsagoff Lubna 2001 Tense and aspect in Singapore English In Vincent B Y Ooi ed Evolving Identities The English Language in Singapore and Malaysia Singapore Times Academic Press pp 79 88 Brown Adam 1999 Singapore English in a Nutshell Singapore Federal pp 116 117 Ansaldo Umberto 2004 The evolution of Singapore English in Lisa Lim ed Singapore English A Grammatical Description Amsterdam John Benjamins pp 127 149 Wee Lionel 2004 Reduplication and discourse particles in Lisa Lim ed Singapore English A Grammatical Description Amsterdam John Benjamins pp 105 126 Lim Choon Yeoh and Wee Lionel 2001 Reduplication in Colloquial Singapore English In Vincent B Y Ooi ed Evolving Identities The English Language in Singapore and Malaysia Singapore Times Academic Press pp 89 101 Deterding David 2007 Singapore English Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press p 55 Wee Lionel Lor in colloquial Singapore English Journal of Pragmatics 2002 p 711 Wee Lionel 2004 Singapore English morphology and syntax In Bernd Kortmann Kate Burridge Rajend Mesthrie Edgar W Schneider and Clive Upton eds A Handbook of Varieties of English Volume 2 Morphology and Syntax Berlin Mouton de Gruyter pp 1058 72 Bao Zhiming and Wee Lionel 1999 The passive in Singapore English World Englishes 18 1 1 11 Alsagoff Lubna 1995 Colloquial Singapore English the relative clause construction in Teng Su Ching and Ho Mian Lian eds The English Language in Singapore Implications for Teaching Singapore Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics pp 77 87 Wee Lionel 2004 Reduplication and discourse particles in Lisa Lim ed Singapore English A Grammatical Description Amsterdam John Benjamins pp 105 126 Deterding David 2007 Singapore English Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press p 71 Richards Jack C and Tay Mary W J 1977 The la particle in Singapore English in William Crewe ed The English Language in Singapore Singapore Eastern Universities Press pp 141 156 Bell Roger and Ser Peng Quee Larry 1983 Today la Tomorrow lah The LA particle in Singapore English RELC Journal 14 2 1 18 Kwan Terry Anna 1978 The meaning and the source of the la and the what particles in Singapore English RELC Journal 9 2 22 36 Loke Kit Ken and Low Johna M Y 1988 A proposed descriptive framework for the pragmatic meanings of the particle LA in colloquial Singaporean English Asian Pacific Papers Applied Linguistics of Australia Occasional Papers 2 150 61 a b Wee Lionel 2004 Singapore English morphology and syntax In Bernd Kortmann Kate Burridge Rajend Mesthrie Edgar W Schneider and Clive Upton eds A Handbook of Varieties of English Volume 2 Morphology and Syntax Berlin Mouton de Gruyter pp 1058 1072 a b Platt John and Ho Mian Lian 1989 Discourse particles in Singaporean English World Englishes 8 2 215 221 Low Ee Ling and Brown Adam 2005 English in Singapore An Introduction Singapore McGraw Hill Education Asia p 179 Low Ee Ling and Brown Adam 2005 English in Singapore An Introduction Singapore McGraw Hill Education Asia p 178 Low ee Ling and Brown Adam 2005 English in Singapore An Introduction Singapore McGraw Hill Education Asia p 177 Deterding David and Low Ee Ling 2003 A corpus based description of particles in spoken Singapore English In David Deterding Low Ee Ling and Adam Brown eds English in Singapore Research on Grammar Singapore McGraw Hill Education Asia pp 58 66 Singlish Guide 125 Phrases Words That Define SG Singaporean English www guidesify com 13 August 2017 Retrieved 10 September 2018 Brown Adam 1999 Singapore English in a Nutshell Singapore Federal pp 123 amp 135 Deterding David 2000 Potential influences of Chinese on the written English of Singapore In Adam Brown Ed English in Southeast Asia 99 Proceedings of the Fourth English in Southeast Asia Conference Singapore National Institute of Education pp 201 209 on line version Collins 2002 Easy Learning Bilingual Dictionary English Malay Malay English Subang Jayar Malaysia HarperCollins p 716 Sources cited Edit Fasold Ralph W Connor Linton Jeff 2006 An Introduction to Language and Linguistics Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 84768 1 Fox Margalit 12 September 1999 The Way We Live Now 9 12 99 On Language Dialects The New York Times Retrieved 23 March 2009 O Grady William Archibald John Aronoff Mark Rees Miller Janie 2001 Contemporary Linguistics Boston Bedford St Martin s ISBN 9780312247386 Wardhaugh Ronald 2002 Pidgins and Creoles An Introduction to Sociolinguistics fourth ed Blackwell Publishing pp 57 86Further reading EditBrown Adam 1999 Singapore English in a Nutshell An Alphabetical Description of its Features Singapore Federal Publications ISBN 981 01 2435 X Crewe William ed 1977 The English Language in Singapore Singapore Eastern Universities Press Deterding David 2007 Singapore English Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press ISBN 978 0 7486 2545 1 Deterding David Brown Adam and Low Ee Ling eds 2005 English in Singapore Phonetic Research on a Corpus Singapore McGraw Hill Education Asia ISBN 0 07 124727 0 Deterding David Low Ee Ling and Brown Adam eds 2003 English in Singapore Research on Grammar Singapore McGraw Hill Education Asia ISBN 0 07 123103 X Deterding David and Hvitfeldt Robert 1994 The Features of Singapore English Pronunciation Implications for Teachers Teaching and Learning 15 1 98 107 on line version Deterding David and Poedjosoedarmo Gloria 2001 The Grammar of English Morphology and Syntax for English Teachers in Southeast Asia Singapore Prentice Hall Chapter 19 Singapore English ISBN 0 13 093009 1 Foley Joseph ed 1988 New Englishes the Case of Singapore Singapore Singapore University Press Foley J A T Kandiah Bao Zhiming A F Gupta L Alsagoff Ho Chee Lick L Wee I S Talib and W Bokhorst Heng eds 1998 English in New Cultural Contexts Reflections from Singapore Singapore Singapore Institute of Management Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 588415 9 Gopinathan S Pakir Anne Ho Wah Kam and Saravanan Vanithamani eds 1998 Language Society and Education in Singapore 2nd edition Singapore Times Academic Press Gupta Anthea Fraser 1992 Contact features of Singapore Colloquial English In Kingsley Bolton and Helen Kwok eds Sociolinguistics Today International Perspectives London and New York Routledge pp 323 45 Gupta Anthea Fraser 1994 The Step Tongue Children s English in Singapore Clevedon UK Multimedia Matters ISBN 1 85359 229 3 Ho Mian Lian and Platt John Talbot 1993 Dynamics of a contact continuum Singapore English Oxford Clarendon Press New York Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 824828 8 Lim Lisa ed 2004 Singapore English a grammatical description Amsterdam Philadelphia John Benjamins ISBN 1 58811 576 3 Low Ee Ling and Brown Adam 2005 English in Singapore An Introduction Singapore McGraw Hill Melcher A 2003 Unlearning Singlish 400 Singlish isms to avoid Singapore Andrew Melcher Pte Ltd ISBN 981 04 8952 8 Newbrook Mark 1987 Aspects of the syntax of educated Singaporean English attitudes beliefs and usage Frankfurt am Main New York P Lang ISBN 3 8204 9886 9 Ooi Vincent B Y ed 2001 Evolving Identities the English Language in Singapore Singapore Times Academic ISBN 981 210 156 X Pakir Anne 1991 The range and depth of English knowing bilinguals in Singapore World Englishes 10 2 167 79 Platt John Talbot and Weber Heidi 1980 English in Singapore status features functions Kuala Lumpur Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 580438 4 Shelley R Beng K S amp Takut bin Salah 2000 Sounds and sins of Singlish and other nonsense Kuala Lumpur Times Books International ISBN 981 204 392 6 Tongue R K 1979 The English of Singapore and Malaysia 2nd edition Singapore Eastern Universities Press VJ Times Editorial Team 2000 Singlish to English basic grammar guide Singapore VJ Times ISBN 981 221 161 6 Wee Lionel 2004 Singapore English Phonology In Edgar W Schneider Kate Burridge Bernd Kortmann Rajend Mesthrie and Clive Upton eds A Handbook of Varieties of English Volume 1 Phonology Berlin Mouton de Gruyter pp 1017 33 Wee Lionel 2004 Singapore English morphology and syntax In Bernd Kortmann Kate Burridge Rajend Mesthrie Edgar W Schneider and Clive Upton eds A Handbook of Varieties of English Volume 2 Morphology and Syntax Berlin Mouton de Gruyter pp 1058 72 Wong J O 2001 The natural semantic metalanguage approach to the universal syntax of the Singlish existential primitive CAS research paper series no 30 Singapore Centre for Advanced Studies National University of Singapore ISBN 981 04 3817 6External links EditThe Coxford Singlish Dictionary Talkingcock com A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English Singlish Books to Get Intimate with Locals Hover amp Hear pronunciations in a Standard Singapore English accent and compare side by side with other English accents from around the World An Annotated Bibliography of Works on Singapore English The NIE Corpus of Spoken Singapore English The Lim Siew Lwee Corpus of Informal Singapore Speech Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Singlish amp oldid 1149413960, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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