As a country, Singapore is certainly in a unique situation: it is one of a tiny
number of city-states, and probably the one that has the highest degree of
political independence. It has, within its surface area of just over 700 km2,
not only around 5 million people, but also an ‘indigenous’ population that
is so diverse that this diversity was made official policy. In this system, the
English language is not just one of its four official languages, but undeniably
also the most important one, be it simply for its role in the education system.
As a result, knowledge of English has increased over the years, with 28.1% of
the population now indicating it as their most frequent household language
(Leow 2006).
The shape of the English language in Singapore is influenced by many
factors, not least by the multitude of languages with which it co-exists.
Singlish, English in its most localised Singaporean form, has, at several
points in its history, been criticised for a number of ills — including impairing
speakers’ learning of the standard, reducing employability, and threatening
the nation’s competitive edge in a global economy where English is very much
the lingua franca. Some speakers, however, have come to treasure Singlish
for its potential in expressing a Singaporean identity. If none of them would
deny the importance of knowing English in addition to Singlish, the fact that
it is increasingly becoming a native variety of many Singaporeans is starting
to cast it as a powerful tool for expression of national identity. After all, if
the official languages Mandarin, Tamil, Malay, and English all also ‘belong’
to other countries, Singlish is indeed uniquely Singaporean.
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