Standard Singapore English

Standard Singapore English is the high variety dialect of English spoken in Singapore. While generally based on British English due to Singapore's status as a former colony, there are some features of the language that are distinctly American, due to America being the global hegemon of the 21st century.

History of SSE
The roots of SSE are derived, of course, from the country's 141 years as a Crown Colony of the British Empire (discounting the Japanese occupation).

During the colonial era, the received standard of English was British English (colloquially known as Queen's English) and Received Pronunciation. The English dialect of the streets was a sort of pidgin. After independence, British English in Singapore evolved into SSE, and the Pidgin English into Singlish.

After the two World Wars, the role of the United Kingdom as the global hegemon became nought, and the role was taken over by the United States. In the 21st century, especially, this hegemony began to show itself in SSE, and many British-inherited features of SSE were lost.

Description
Because of colonial influence, Standard Singapore English generally retains British features such as spelling and pronunciation. 'Tyre', 'colour', and 'aluminium' are generally preferred over their American spellings, for example. There are increasing exceptions to this due to American hegemony, though, as discussed in the section on American influence.

Usage
SSE is spoken in formal contexts, like workplaces and schools. The government, through the Speak Good English Movement, are pushing for the use of SSE even in informal situations.

Accents
There are several accents, not divided by region as in Britain, but rather by class and occupation. The most prestigious accent is the 'Channel 5' accent, used by local television and radio newsreaders.

American influence on a Commonwealth English dialect
Because of the United State's status as the global hegemon after the Second World War (displacing the British Empire) and its corresponding influence in media and culture, traits of American English are increasingly found in SSE. Examples of this influence can be found in grammar rules and pronunciation. Unlike British English, which allows for collective nouns taking plural verbs, collective nouns always take singular verbs in SSE. The phrase 'The Ministry are taking steps to eradicate non-standard English usage', as an example, is never heard. Collective nouns like 'police', which take plural verbs in both major dialects of English, continue to follow received grammar rules. Exclusively British pronunciations like ˈprɪv.ə.si/ and /ˈɡær.ɑːʒ/ (or /ˈɡær.ɪdʒ/) for 'privacy' and 'garage' respectively are rare amongst speakers of SSE. A 2012 NTU study also revealed increasing rhoticity in native SSE speakers (contrary to most English accents in the South of England and elsewhere), and a poor view of the intrusive-r as found in the Received Pronunciation accent. The American media are also accelerating the accepted usage of exclusively American vocabulary and slang, where British slang is relatively unknown. Cockney, for example, has little foothold where American linguistic hegemony happens. This is within the sphere of slang - in more formal registers, the incidence of American words also appear to be on the rise, particularly in the young - in this video for example, the exclusively American term 'elevator' is used.

Grammar
Grammar rules may deviate amongst some speakers, due to linguistic interference from other languages. A list of these unique traits follows.

Plurals
Nouns that appear to refer to countable items tend to be used in the plural form in the appropriate contexts. In British English, 'stuffs' is a singular verb, and not a noun.
 * Example: I am selling all my unwanted stuffs to the karang-guni man later.

Redundant morphemes
Inflectional morphemes like '-ed' are unnecessarily tacked on the words by some.
 * Example: It came to 'passed' that America's hegemony was showing in SSE.

Words unique to SSE
Standard Singapore English has unique vocabulary, some shared with its more colloquial form.

American words, phrases and other constructions commonly found in SSE
Owing to increasing American linguistic hegemony, uniquely American words are slowly starting to replace their British equivalents in SSE. Users of AmE vocabulary tend to be the young, who tend to be more in touch with American media.

Pronunciations unique to SSE
Unique pronunciations not heard of in British or American Englishes are found in SSE. A non-exhaustive list of these words is found below. As with grammar, these pronunciations may very amongst speakers; these are based on common observations.

American pronunciations
Because of American linguistic hegemony, the British pronunciations of certain words are effectively unheard of in Singapore.