Standard Singapore English

Standard Singapore English is the high variety dialect of English spoken in Singapore.

History of SSE

The roots of SSE are derived, of course, from the country's 141 years under British rule (discounting the Japanese occupation).

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.

American influence on a Commonwealth English dialect

Because of America's status as the global hegemon after the 2nd World War, 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. Exclusively British pronunciations like ˈprɪv.ə.si/ and /ˈɡær.ɑːʒ/ (or /ˈɡær.ɪdʒ/) for 'privacy' and 'garage' respectively are rare in Singapore. 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. 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.