Difference between revisions of "Singlish"

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{{Refimprove|date=September 2009}}
[[File:KopiSingapore.jpeg|thumb|right|250px|A visual guide behind the definitions of ordering Singapore's common Kopi drink variations using the lexicon of Singlish (Visual guide sourced from Fun Toast Cafe)]]
{{Infobox Language
'''Colloquial Singaporean English''', better known as '''Singlish''', is an English-based creole language and accent spoken in Singapore. The term Singlish is a blend of Singaporean slang and English and was first recorded in the early 1970s. English is one of Singapore's official languages, along with Mandarin, Malay and Tamil. Although English is the lexifier language, Singlish has its unique slang and syntax, which are more pronounced in informal speech.
|name=Singlish
|familycolor=Creole
|region=[[Singapore]]
|speakers=5 000 000<ref>http://www.mom.gov.sg/publish/momportal/en/press_room/mom_speeches/2008/20080122-Speech_Emirates.html</ref>{{Dead link|date=October 2010}}
|fam1=[[English-based creole languages|English Creole]]}}


{{See also|Singapore English|Languages of Singapore}}
The vocabulary of Singlish consists of words originating from English, which are complemented by other Asian languages such as Malay, Cantonese, Japanese, Hokkien, Mandarin, Teochew, and Tamil. It is used in casual contexts between Singaporeans, but is avoided in formal events when certain Singlish phrases may be considered unedifying. Singapore English can be broken into two subcategories. Standard Singapore English (SSE) and Colloquial Singapore English (CSE) or Singlish as locals call it. The relationship between SSE and Singlish is viewed as a diglossia, in which SSE is restricted to be used in situations of formality where Singlish/CSE is used in most other circumstances.


'''Singlish''', sometimes known in the academic community as '''Singapore Colloquial English''', is an [[English-based creole language]]<ref>http://www.latrobe.edu.au/rclt/ALS2009/abstracts/Yoong.pdf</ref><ref>http://www.nbu.bg/PUBLIC/IMAGES/File/departamenti/4ujdi%20ezitsi%20i%20literaturi/Doklad_Adrien_2.pdf</ref><ref>http://www.ling-phil.ox.ac.uk/events/lingo/papers/jakob.leimgruber.pdf</ref> spoken in [[Singapore]]. According to the 2000 census, 71% of Singaporeans are literate in the English language,<ref>Singapore Census of Population, 2000, Advance Data Release No.3, "Literacy and Language" [http://www.singstat.gov.sg/pubn/papers/people/c2000adr-literacy.pdf], Sec. 2.</ref> although there is no way to know who among these are Singlish speakers. Singlish is commonly regarded with low [[Prestige (sociolinguistics)|prestige]] in Singapore. For this reason, more [[basilect]]al forms of Singlish are not generally used in formal communication.
Since the turn of the century, there have been recent surges in the interest of Singlish internationally, sparking several national conversations. Some of the most popular Singlish terms have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) since 2000, including wah, sabo, lepak, shiok and hawker centre. On 11 February 2015, kiasu was chosen as OED's Word of the Day. Reactions were generally positive by Singaporeans, with Singlish being commonly associated with the country and is considered a unique aspect of Singaporean culture.  


The vocabulary of Singlish consists of words originating from [[English language|English]], [[Malay language|Malay]], [[Min Nan|Hokkien]], [[Teochew dialect|Teochew]], [[Yue Chinese|Cantonese]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]], [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] and to a lesser extent various other European, [[Indic languages|Indic]] and [[Sinitic languages]], while Singlish syntax resembles southern varieties of Chinese.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} Also, elements of [[American slang|American]] and [[Australian slang]] have come through from imported television series and films.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} In the last two decades, an increasing amount of Mandarin words have found their way into Singlish because [[Mandarin Chinese]] is taught to most Singaporean Chinese students in school.  Japanese words are becoming more common{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} as young Singaporeans become exposed to Japanese culture, particularly through [[Anime]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}
It is one of two English dialects spoken in Singapore, the other being the higher variety [[Standard Singapore English]]. Singlish is used in informal contexts, where SSE is used in formal settings.


Singlish shares many similarities with [[Manglish]], the creole of neighbouring [[Malaysia]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} However, the social context of English in Singapore, where it is the most dominant official language, and the medium of all education, is rather different from the social contexts in Malaysia and Brunei, where Malay is dominant.<ref>http://www.leeds.ac.uk/english/staff/afg/pragp3.doc</ref>
==Overview==


The Singaporean government currently discourages the use of Singlish in favour of [[Standard English]], citing the need for Singaporeans to be able to effectively communicate with the other English users in the world. The government created the [[Speak Good English Movement]] to emphasise the point.<ref>Tan Hwee Hwee, [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,501020729-322685,00.html "A War of Words Over 'Singlish'"], ''Time Magazine'', New York, 22 July 2002.</ref> In response, efforts to emphasize the proper usage of Singlish in everyday settings have been initiated at the grassroots level.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}
===History===
English in Singapore derives from 141 years of British colonialization. The received standards of English during these years were [[British English]] and Received Pronunciation. Singlish developed as a pidgin form of English, spoken by those who acquired the language without formal institutional training. Over the years, Singlish has stabilized into a creole.  


==Overview and history==
===Usage===
Singapore English derives its roots from 146 years (1819–1965) of British colonial rule over Singapore.  Prior to 1965, the standard form of English in Singapore had always been [[British English]] and [[Received Pronunciation]].  After Singapore declared independence in 1965, English in Singapore began to take a life of its own, leading to the development of modern day [[Standard Singapore English]]. [[Standard Singapore English]] began to take root and Singlish began to evolve among the working classes who learned English without formal schooling.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}
Where SSE is used in formal contexts, Singlish is used in informal contexts - at home, with friends in a 'hawker centre'. Because of its lack of prestige, Singlish is generally avoided in formal contexts like meetings and interviews. However, select Singlish phrases are occasionally used to inject humour or build affinity in the audience, especially when a number of them are local.


Singlish originated with the arrival of the British and the establishment of [[English language]] schools in Singapore.<ref>Gupta, Anthea Fraser (1994) ''The Step-tongue: Children's English in Singapore'', Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, p. 35.</ref> Soon, [[English language|English]] filtered out of schools and on to the streets, to be picked up by non-English-speakers in a [[pidgin]]-like form for communication purposes. After some time, this new form of English, now loaded with substantial influences from [[Indian English]], [[Peranakan|Baba]], [[Bahasa Melayu|Malay]], and the southern varieties of [[Chinese language|Chinese]], became the language of the streets and began to be learned as a first language in its own right.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} [[Creole language|Creolization]] occurred, and Singlish is now a fully formed, stabilized, and independent English-based creole language.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}
The usage of Singlish in all contexts is strongly discouraged by the Government, who have stated that it is a 'bad' English that is incomprehensible to non-locals and stifles the proper learning and usage of English.  


Singlish shares substantial linguistic similarities with [[Manglish|Malaysian English]] (Manglish) in [[Malaysia]], although distinctions can be made, particularly in vocabulary. Manglish generally now receives more Malay influence and Singlish more Chinese (Mandarin, Hokkien, etc.) influence. In addition, Singlish has a set [[grammar]] and particular [[phonological]] and [[grammatical]] rules, whereas [[Manglish]] does not follow any grammatical rules, and is not mutually [[intelligible]] within different variants of Manglish, even disparate regions in Malaysia itself.{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}}
==Some examples==
* ''Ah'' - a expression to express something is already known in a sentence, stressing on something.
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<ref>Tongue, R. K. (1979) ''The English of Singapore and Malaysia'' (second edition), Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, p. 17.</ref> when Singapore and [[peninsular Malaysia]] were for many purposes a ''de facto'' single entity.  
* ''Ah Mu or Ah Bu'' - in Hokkien is the name for Mother.
 
* "Aiyo/Aiya" - to express something that is not this way, also used as an exclaimation.
In Singapore, English was the language of administration, which the British used, with the assistance of English-educated Straits-born Chinese, to control the administration in Malaya and governance of trading routes such as the British East Indies spice routes with China, Japan, Europe and America in those ports and colonies of Singapore, Malacca and Penang through the colonial governing seat in [[Singapore]].
* ''AngMoh'' - in local Singlish or Hokkien (literally with red hair) means a westerner.
 
* "Blur-like-sotong" - a very confused person.
In British Malaya, English was the language of the British administration whilst Malay was spoken as the lingua franca of the street, as the British did not wish to antagonize the native Malays.
* ''Chapalang'' - literally in Hokkien means people who had eaten their fill. This is abusively used to label certain people who are likely busybodies or gossipers. The normal greeting for all Hokkien people in Singapore or those compatriots in Taiwan and Mainland China always greet one another with "have you eaten your fill? " Chapa buay"? as one would say "Good Morning" in English. The old locals are a polite people and they always say "chapa buay?"
 
* ''Chope'' - Singaporean slang for "reserved".
In British Singapore, however, as the seat of the colonial government and international commerce, English was both the language of administration and the lingua franca.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}
* "Chu pattern" - to describe something that is one track in nature.
 
* ''Eh'' - a expression to express surprise (in question mark), or used to address a context, or stressing on something (used at the end of a sentence)
Thus, in Malaysia, even the Chinese would revert to Malay when speaking to Chinese who did not speak the same Chinese varieties. However, in British Singapore, the Chinese would use English when speaking to other Chinese of a different dialect.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}}
* ''Garmen'' - Singaporean slang for "government".
 
* ''Good-for-nothing'' - a rude way of telling someone. It is used as a catch phrase to try and draw someone's attention as in Singlish.
In Malaya, the Chinese varieties themselves also contained many loan-words from Malay, and more Chinese loan-words from the Cantonese, rather than the Hokkien languages e.g. Cantonese: Cantonese-influenced "baa sat" instead of the Hokkien-influenced "baa saak" in Singapore (from Malay 'pasar' meaning 'market'), "loti" (from Malay 'roti' meaning 'bread'), Hokkien "gu li" and "jam bban" (from Malay 'guli' meaning 'marble', 'jamban' meaning 'latrine'/WC).
* "hor" - used at the end of sentence to check with someone on something.
 
* "kiasu" -  someone who has a selfish attitude due to a fear of missing out on something.
In Singlish, "eating bread" would be translated as "jiak bread", jiak being the Hokkien verb for "to eat",{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} whereas in Malaysia, "eating bread" would be translated as "makan roti" (Malay verb for "eat" + Hokkien transliteration of the Malay word for "bread").
* "kiasee" - someone who is overly afraid and scared, of timid nature.
 
* ''kena'' - derived from a Malay word that means "to encounter or to come into physical contact", usually used negatively in context.
[[File:Quadrilingual danger sign - Singapore (gabbe).jpg|thumb|300px|right|Many signs in Singapore include all four official languages: [[English language|English]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]] and [[Malay language|Malay]].]]
* ''lah''/''leh'' - a word filler as in Singlish.
 
* "liddat" - a short form of "like that", used to describe something or someones behaviour.
After Singapore's independence in 1965, and successive [[Speak Mandarin Campaign|"Speak Mandarin" campaigns]],<ref>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.</ref> 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 [[Min Nan|Hokkien]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}
* "lor" - used to express something that is already known or is how it is.
 
* ''mah'' - a word filler as in Singlish, used at the end of sentences to describe something that is already known.
==Sociolect continuum==
* ''meh'' - a word filler as in Singlish, used to at the end of sentences express surprise or to used to ask a question.
 
* ''one'' - used at the back of sentences to express effect of something. (usually used for describing scenarios or behaviour).
The English language in Singapore is a [[sociolect]] continuum.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} The [[post-creole speech continuum|continuum]] runs through the following varieties:
* "orh" - an expression to mention a point was taken or noted.
 
* Orh hor - used to tell someone that they should feel guilty of what they just did.
'''[[Acrolect]]al''': Acrolectal Singaporean English exhibits an absence of or a much smaller degree of Singlish pronunciation features than do Mesolectal, Basilectal, and pidgin variants of Singlish. {{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}
* ''oso'' - a short form of also.
 
* "sia/siah" - used at the end of sentence, to express emphasis of something, usually surprise and shock.
'''[[Mesolect]]al''': This is a mix between [[Standard English]] and Singlish. At this level, a number of features not found in other forms of English begin to emerge.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}
* ''tio'' - with the same meaning as ''kena'', but can be used to express both positive and negative scenarios.
 
* ''wah'' - same as wow-lau, used to express surprise or shock.
'''[[Basilect]]al''': This is the colloquial speech.<ref>Pakir, Anne (1991) "The range and depth of English-knowing bilinguals in Singapore", ''World Englishes'', 10(2), 167–179.</ref> educated or not, in informal settings, and is the speech usually referred to as "Singlish". Here, one can find all of the unique [[phonology|phonological]], lexical, and [[grammar|grammatical]] features of Singlish. Many of these features can be attributed to Asian languages such as the [[Chinese language|Chinese]] languages, [[Malay language|Malay]], or Indian languages such as [[Tamil language|Tamil]], though some cannot.
* "what" - usually used as a filler to express sarcastic surprise or shock, in response to either a stupid question or nonsensical idea.
 
'''[[Pidgin]]''': This is the "pidgin" level of Singlish, which is probably a good representative of an earlier stage of Singlish, before [[Creole language|creolization]] took place and solidified Singlish as a fully formed creole. As with all [[pidgin]]s, speakers at the pidgin level 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.<ref>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.</ref> This is because by definition, a [[pidgin]] is not learned natively.
 
The coexistence of basilectal Singlish and acrolectal [[Standard Singapore English]] can also be analysed as a [[diglossia]], which is a split between a "high" formal language and a "low" informal language.
 
'''The Sociolect Continuum of Singaporean English'''<br />Each of the following means the same thing, but the basilectal and mesolectal versions incorporate some colloquial additions for illustrative purposes.
{| width=100% cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 style="text-align: center;"
|-
| width=20% style="background-color: #ccf; text-align: left;" | '''Basilect ("Singlish")''' <br /> "Dis guy Singrish si beh<br /> powerful sia."<!--  Hoh seh liao lah! Damn steady wan la! These confuses the point of the illustration-->
| width=10% style="background-color: #cdf;" |
| width=10% style="background-color: #cef;" |
| width=20% style="background-color: #cff;" | '''Mesolect''' <br /> "Dis guy Singlish <br />damn powerful one lah."
| width=10% style="background-color: #cfe;" |
| width=10% style="background-color: #cfd;" |
| width=20% style="background-color: #cfc; text-align: right;" | '''Acrolect ("Standard")''' <br /> "This person's Singlish <br /> is very good."
|}
 
The phenomenon of [[code-switching|code switching]], or the alternation between multiple languages within the same conversation, further complicates the linguistic situation in Singapore. Due to international commerce in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, many well-educated Singaporeans aged 40 and below can, in addition to British English, speak French, Japanese, German and Mandarin Chinese.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}
 
Since many Singaporeans can speak English at multiple points along the sociolect spectrum, code-switching can occur very frequently between the acrolectal ([[Standard Singapore English]]) and the basilectal (Singlish). In addition, as many Singaporeans are also speakers of the [[Chinese language|Chinese]] languages, [[Malay language|Malay]], or Indian languages such as [[Tamil language|Tamil]], code-switching between English and other languages also occurs dynamically.
 
For example, a local Singaporean might speak in a Singlish consisting of English, Mandarin and Malay, loan-words, when chatting with his friends.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}
 
===Usage in society===
 
Singlish is commonly regarded with low prestige in Singapore. For this reason, Singlish is not used in formal communication. [[Standard Singapore English]] is preferred by many educated Singaporeans.
 
Due to its origins, Singlish shares many similarities with [[pidgin]] varieties of English, and can easily give the impression of "broken English" or "bad English" to a speaker of some other, less divergent variety of English. In addition, the profusion of Singlish features, especially [[loanword]]s from Asian languages, [[Grammatical mood|mood]] [[Grammatical particle|particles]], and [[Topic-prominent language|topic-prominent]] structure, can easily make Singlish incomprehensible to a speaker of Standard English. As a result, the use of Singlish is greatly frowned on by the government, and two former prime ministers, [[Lee Kuan Yew]] and [[Goh Chok Tong]], have publicly declared<ref>Deterding, David (2007) ''Singapore English'', Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 90-91.</ref> that Singlish is a substandard English that handicaps Singaporeans, presents an obstacle to learning proper English, and renders the speaker incomprehensible to everyone except another Singlish speaker.
 
Current prime minister [[Lee Hsien Loong]] has also said that Singlish should not be part of Singapore's identity.<ref name="Jeremy Au Young">{{cite news|title=Singlish? Don't make it part of Spore identity: PM |work=The Straits Times |date=2007-09-22 |author=Jeremy Au Young |url=http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/STIStory_160322.html }}</ref> In the interests of promoting equality and better communication with the rest of the world, in 2000 the government launched the [[Speak Good English Movement]] to eradicate it,<ref>Rubdy, Rani (2001) "Creative destruction: Singapore English's Speak Good English movement", ''World Englishes'', 20(3), 341–355.</ref> at least from formal usage. The [[Media Development Authority]]'s free-to-air TV code states that the use of Singlish "should not be encouraged and can only be permitted in interviews, where the interviewee speaks only Singlish."<ref name="tvcode">http://www.mda.gov.sg/wms.file/mobj/mobj.612.fta_tv_prog_code.pdf</ref>  In spite of 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.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}
 
Singlish is strongly discouraged in [[Education in Singapore|Singaporean schools]] at a governmental level as it is believed to hinder the proper learning of Standard English, and so faces a situation of [[diglossia]].<ref>Deterding, David (1998) 'Approaches to Diglossia in the Classroom: The Middle Way. REACT, 2, 18-23.' [http://videoweb.nie.edu.sg/phonetic/papers/diglossia.html (on-line version)]</ref> The use of Singlish when speaking in classes or to teachers, however officially frowned upon, is rather inevitable given that many teachers themselves are comfortable with the variety.<ref>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.</ref> For many students, using Singlish is also inevitable when interacting with their peers, siblings, parents and elders.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} The government continues to wage an uphill battle in discouraging students from developing a Singlish-speaking habit.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}
 
In most workplaces, Singlish is avoided in formal settings, especially at job interviews, meetings with clients, presentations or meetings. Standard Singapore English is preferred. Nevertheless, select Singlish phrases are sometimes injected into discussions to build rapport or for a humorous effect, especially when the audience consists mainly of locals.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}
 
In other informal settings, such as during conversation with friends, or transactions in [[kopi tiam]]s and shopping malls, Singlish is used without restriction. {{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}
 
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'.
 
==Phonology==
===Background===
{{Unreferenced section|date=October 2008}}
Singlish [[pronunciation]], while built on a base of [[British English]], is also heavily influenced by Malay, Hokkien and Cantonese.
 
There are variations within Singlish, both geographically and ethnically. Chinese, Malays, Indians, Eurasians, and other ethnic groups in Singapore all have distinct accents.
 
 
All of these communities were formed by the earliest immigrants to Singapore and thus have been British subjects for three or more generations. Thus, they have received no other "native education" than solely British colonial education. Especially for those born before 1965, all the education received has been direct English rather than British influences. Many of the East Coast communities were descendants or in other ways, privileged to be granted British colonial education similar to those in Britain. As such the acrolectal standard of English does not diverge substantially from the acrolectal standard in Britain at this time, though (as in other colonial outposts) it always tended to be somewhat "out of date" compared with contemporary speech patterns in Britain.
 
The English-educated in Singapore received their English pedagogical instruction through missionary schools and convents such as the [[Anglo-Chinese School]] (ACS), [[Methodist Girls' School]] (MGS), Marymount Convent School, [[Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus]] (CHIJ), Canossa's Convent (Located in Ajunied). However, as decolonization occurred, many expatriate English returned to Britain; Hence, in an unregulated socio-linguistic environment, the spontaneous varieties of a creolized English began to form after the 1960s.
 
In the East Coast, the teaching professions, especially teaching English, was a popular option in the European, Eurasian, Peranakan and Chinese communities who descended from privileged colonial Civil Service families for the Queen's Crown, from the beginning of the last century up till the 1970s. From the 1970s onwards, the permanent decolonization meant that the original Queen's English taught began to experience deformation and modification from other languages. As a result, whole generations of school-children in the Siglap/Katong districts were taught English with an "English-ed", modified Queen's English accent minimally influenced by Eurasian, Peranakan and Hokkien Chinese intonation. Their Siglap/Katong accent, though not a pure form of Queen's English, is considered to be the prestigious variant of English in Singapore.{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}} Because that area has also tended to supply the ruling and civil service classes, many uneducated immigrant Chinese, Malay (from Malaysia), and Indian (new Tamil immigrants) who are trapped in the lower rungs of the social scale, often mock and ridicule this "un-modern" and "foreign-sounding" English. With the rise of the consumerist and mass middle-class, second-generation immigrants of humble origins have begun to deliberately deform taught acrolectal English for street pidgin patois as a form of identity-creation, self-actualization and self-determination.
 
Prominent members of society still speak the acrolectal [[Queen's English]] in formal situations including [[Benjamin Sheares]], [[David Marshall]], Harry [[Lee Kuan Yew]], Lee Siew Chow, [[Francis Seow]] and other affluent descendants of the East Coast communities.
 
However, after 1965, with colonial attitudes being unpopular politically, a new "culture-free" English was promoted through the usages of television presenters in the former SBC (Singapore Broadcasting Corporation), through to its renaming as TCS (Television Corporation of Singapore) and to the current MediaCorp. This post-1965 accent, is sometimes known as the "Channel 5 accent", after the English channel owned by the State media group.{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}} This gave rise to a new standard of artificially-constructed but standardised acrolectal English for Singapore that did not equate to [[Received Pronunciation]] in Britain but corresponded to the latter's social function and status within the new Singaporean national context due to state monopoly, censorship and control over media in this early stage of Singaporean national politics. Despite this, the more affluent English-educated classes continued to support the original Christian missionary and Convent schools financially to stem the degradation of English language instruction.{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}} Despite all attempts, the English language in Singapore began to naturally creolize. The post-1965 English-educated accent is hence different from that of the pre-1965 "English-ed accent". For example, PM Lee Hsien Loong and Lee Hsien Yang, sons of the political figure Lee Kuan Yew, do not speak their father's [[Queen's English]]. The pure English diphthongs in words like "home", the liaison in pronunciation of "r" at the end of words ending with "r" followed by a word beginning with a vowel (such as "ever emerging", pronounced in [[Queen's English]] as "eveR emerging" does not occur. Instead, diphthongs are converted into simplified vowels, and elements of Chinese, Malay and other accents and influences begin to exert itself on the evolving acrolect.
 
Parallel to this, British economic, political and linguistic influence began to decline starkly throughout the world as colonies gained independence, such as India, while the United States of America rose as a superpower and American English largely took over as the international economic and [[cultural prestige]] variant. This change became more pervasive with the rise of Hollywood and American popular culture. As such, even among the "English-educated classes", the type and use of English shifted again as more affluent families, scholarship boards and charities sent the youth to boarding schools, colleges and universities in the United States over the United Kingdom.{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}} Many more Singaporeans then began to be born abroad to a jetsetting English-ed class and descendants of the ex-Civil Service class for left for higher-paying education, legal and corporate positions in the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom, and a huge middle-class segment to Australia and New Zealand. As such, the English-educated class born after 1965 do not speak the Queen's English any more, nor do they hold the "Channel 5 accent" as a standard, reverting between the prestige variant of the countries they received schooling in, and the bourgeois patois for familiarity. As such, the English accent in Singapore has become an international hybrid similar to that of affluent families in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei and Tokyo.
 
When unemployment rose during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, Singlish came under official attack as undermining an economic competitiveness factor - English language fluency.
 
===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
! &nbsp;
! [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! [[Labiodental consonant|Labiodental]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! [[Stop consonant|Stops]]
| {{IPA|p b}}
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| {{IPA|t d}}
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| {{IPA|k ɡ}}
| &nbsp;
|-
! [[Affricate consonant|Affricates]]
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| {{IPA|tʃ dʒ}}
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
|-
! [[Fricative consonant|Fricatives]]
| &nbsp;
| {{IPA|f (v)}}
| {{IPA|(θ ð)}}
| s (z)
| {{IPA|ʃ (ʒ)}}
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| h
|-
! [[Nasal consonant|Nasals]]
| {{IPA|m}}
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| n
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| {{IPA|ŋ}}
| &nbsp;
|-
! [[Lateral consonant|Laterals]]
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| {{IPA|l}}
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
|-
! [[Approximant consonant|Approximants]]
| {{IPA|w}}
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| {{IPA|r}}
| &nbsp;
| {{IPA|j}}
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
|}
(See [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] for an in-depth guide to the symbols.)
 
In general:
 
* The [[Dental consonant|dental]] [[fricative]]s{{ndash}} {{IPA|/θ/}} and {{IPA|/ð/}}{{ndash}} merge with {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/d/}}, so that '''three''' = '''tree''' and '''then''' = '''den'''.<ref name="Bao Zhiming 1998 pp. 152-174">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.</ref> In syllable-final position, '''-th''' is pronounced as '''-f''' {{IPA|/f/}}, so '''with''' and '''birth''' are pronounced ''weeff'' {{IPA|/wif/}} and ''bəff'' {{IPA|/bəf/}} respectively.<ref>Deterding, David (2007). ''Singapore English'', Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, p. 14</ref> Under the influence of '''with''', '''without''' is often pronounced with {{IPA|/v/}} in place of {{IPA|/ð/}}: {{IPA|/wivaut/}}. The dental fricatives do occur in acrolectal speech, though even among educated speakers there is some variation.<ref>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.</ref>
* The voiceless stops{{ndash}} {{IPA|/p/, /t/}} and {{IPA|/k/}}{{ndash}} are sometimes [[unaspirated]],<ref name="Bao Zhiming 1998 pp. 152-174"/> especially among Malays.<ref>Deterding, David and Poedjosoedarmo, Gloria (1998) ''The Sounds of English: Phonetics and Phonology for English Teachers in Southeast Asia'', Singapore: Prentice Hall, p. 157</ref> ([[Aspiration (phonetics)|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 '''p'''at, '''t'''in and '''c'''ome sound more similar to '''bat''', '''din''', and '''gum''' than in other varieties of English.
* The distinction between {{IPA|/l/}} and {{IPA|/r/}} is not stable at the basilectal level, as evinced by 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). One might note, however, that both these examples involve initial consonant clusters (/bl/ and /pl/ respectively), and conflation of {{IPA|/l/}} and {{IPA|/r/}} is found less often when they are not part of a cluster.
* /l/ at the end of a syllable, pronounced as a velarised "[[Velarised alveolar lateral approximant|dark l]]" in British or American English, is often so velarised in Singlish that it approaches the [[Close-mid back unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|[ɤ]}}, e.g. '''sale''' {{IPA|[seɤ]}}. /l/ also tends to be lost after the back vowels {{IPA|/ɔ/}}, /o/, /u/, and for some basilectal speakers, the central vowel {{IPA|/ə/}}. Hence '''pall''' = '''paw''' {{IPA|/pɔ/}}, '''roll''' = '''row''' /ro/, '''tool''' = '''two''' /tu/, and for some, '''pearl''' = '''per''' {{IPA|/pə/}}<ref>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.</ref>
* Syllabic consonants never occur. Hence '''taken''' {{IPA|[tekən]}} and '''battle''' {{IPA|[bɛtəɤ]}}, never {{IPA|[tekn̩]}} or {{IPA|[bɛtl̩]}}. When the final /l/ is vocalised, '''little''' and '''litter''' may be homophones.<ref>Low, Ee Ling and Brown, Adam (2005) ''English in Singapore: An Introduction'', Singapore: McGraw-Hill, p. 142.</ref>
* {{IPA|[ʔ]}}, the [[glottal stop]], is inserted at the beginning of all words starting with a vowel, similar to [[German pronunciation|German]]. As a result, final consonants do not experience [[liaison (linguistics)|liaison]], i.e. run onto the next word. For example, "run out of eggs" would be "run-'''n'''out-'''t'''o-'''v'''eggs" in most dialects of English (e.g. {{IPA|[rʌ nau ɾə vɛɡz]}} in General American), but "run 'out 'of 'eggs" (e.g. {{IPA|[rʌn ʔau ʔɔf ʔeks]}} in Singlish. This contributes to what some have described as the 'staccato effect' of Singapore English.<ref>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.</ref>
* {{IPA|[ʔ]}} replaces final plosive consonants of [[syllable]]s in regular- to fast-paced speed speech, especially [[stop consonant|stops]]: '''Goodwood Park''' becomes '''Gu'-wu' Pa' ''' {{IPA|/ɡuʔ wuʔ pɑʔ/}}, and there may be a glottal stop at the end of words such as '''back''' and '''out'''.<ref>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.</ref>
* In final position, the distinction between voiced and voiceless sounds{{ndash}} i.e. /s/ & /z/, /t/ & /d/, etc.{{ndash}} is usually not maintained, especially for [[fricative]]s. As a result, '''cease''' = '''seize''' /sis/ and '''race''' = '''raise''' /res/.<ref>Deterding, David (2005) 'Emergent patterns in the vowels of Singapore English', ''English World-Wide'', 26(2), 179–197.</ref> This leads to some mergers of noun/verb pairs, such as '''belief''' with '''believe''' /bilif/.
* Final consonant clusters simplify, especially in fast speech.<ref>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.</ref> In general, [[stop consonant|stop]]s, especially /t/ and /d/, are lost if they come after another consonant: '''bent''' = '''Ben''' {{IPA|/bɛn/}}, '''tact''' = '''tack''' {{IPA|/tɛk/}}, '''nest''' = '''Ness''' {{IPA|/nɛs/}}. /s/ is also commonly lost at the end of a consonant cluster: '''relax''' = '''relac''' {{IPA|/rilɛk/}}.
 
===Vowels===
 
Broadly speaking, there is a one-to-many mapping of Singlish vowel [[phoneme]]s 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.<ref name="Bao Zhiming 1998 pp. 152-174"/><ref>Deterding, David and Poedjosoedarmo, Gloria (1998) ''The Sounds of English: Phonetics and Phonology for English Teachers in Southeast Asia'', Singapore: Prentice Hall, p. 156.</ref><ref>Deterding, David (2003) 'An instrumental study of the monophthong vowels of Singapore English', English World Wide, 24(1), 1–16.</ref>  Some speakers may further merge {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/ɛ/}};<ref>Low, Ee Ling and Brown, Adam (2005) ''English in Singapore: An Introduction'', Singapore: McGraw-Hill, p. 117.</ref> other speakers (especially better educated ones) make a distinction between {{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/ɪ/}}, {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and {{IPA|/ɛə/}}, or {{IPA|/ɑ/}} and {{IPA|/ʌ/}}. There is generally no distinction between the non-close front monophthongs, so '''pet''' and '''pat''' are pronounced the same {{IPA|/pɛt/}}.<ref>Suzanna Bte Hshim and Borwn, Adam (2000) 'The [e] and [æ] 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.</ref>
 
At the acrolectal level, the merged vowel [[phoneme]]s are distinguished to some extent, and for some speakers elements from [[American English]] are introduced, such as pre-consonantal [r] (pronouncing the "r" in bi'''r'''d, po'''r'''t, etc.).<ref>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.</ref> This is caused by the popularity of American TV programming. Current estimates are that about 20 per cent of university undergraduates sometimes use this American-style pre-consonantal [r] when reading a passage.<ref>Deterding, David (2007). 'The Vowels of the Different Ethnic Groups in Singapore'. In David Prescott (ed.), ''English in Southeast Asia: Literacies, Literatures and Varieties''. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press, pp. 2–29.</ref>
 
'''[[Monophthong]]s'''
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|-
! &nbsp;
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA|i}}
| &nbsp;
| {{IPA|u}}
|-
! [[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
| {{IPA|e}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|ə}}
| {{IPA|o}}
|-
! [[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
| {{IPA|ɛ}}
| {{IPA|ɔ}}
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| &nbsp;
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|ɑ}}
|}
 
'''[[Diphthongs]]'''
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|-
| {{IPA|ai}}
| {{IPA|au}}
| {{IPA|ɔi}}
| {{IPA|iə}}
| {{IPA|uə}}
|-
|}
 
Mapping between Singlish and British RP vowels:
 
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Singlish [[phoneme]]
! [[Received Pronunciation|RP]] [[phoneme]](s)
! as in
|-
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/i/}}
| {{IPA|/iː/}}
| m'''ee'''t
|-
| {{IPA|/ɪ/}}
| p'''i'''t
|-
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/e/}}
| {{IPA|/eɪ/}}
| d'''ay'''
|-
| {{IPA|/ɛ/}} (before a voiced plosive)
| l'''e'''g
|-
| rowspan="3" | {{IPA|/ɛ/}}
| {{IPA|/ɛ/}}
| s'''e'''t
|-
| {{IPA|/æ/}}
| m'''a'''p
|-
| {{IPA|/ɛə/}}
| h'''air'''
|-
| rowspan="5" | {{IPA|/ɑ/}}
| rowspan="3" | {{IPA|/ɑː/}}
| c'''ar'''
|-
| p'''a'''ss
|-
| f'''a'''ther
|-
| {{IPA|/ʌ/}}
| b'''u'''s
|-
| {{IPA|/aɪ/}} (before /l/)
| m'''i'''le
|-
| rowspan="3" | {{IPA|/ɔ/}}
| {{IPA|/ɒ/}}
| m'''o'''ck
|-
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/ɔː/}}
| th'''ough'''t
|-
| c'''our'''t
|-
| /o/
| {{IPA|/əʊ/}}
| l'''ow'''
|-
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/u/}}
| {{IPA|/uː/}}
| f'''oo'''d
|-
| {{IPA|/ʊ/}}
| p'''u'''t
|-
| rowspan="3" | {{IPA|/ə/}} - see below
| {{IPA|/ɜː/}}
| b'''ir'''d
|-
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/ə/}}
| ide'''a'''
|-
| bett'''er'''
|-
| {{IPA|/ai/}}
| {{IPA|/aɪ/}}
| m'''y'''
|-
| {{IPA|/au/}}
| {{IPA|/aʊ/}}
| m'''ou'''th
|-
| {{IPA|/ɔi/}}
| {{IPA|/ɔɪ/}}
| b'''oy'''
|-
| {{IPA|/jə/}}
| {{IPA|/ɪə/}}
| h'''ere'''
|-
| {{IPA|/wə/}}
| {{IPA|/ʊə/}}
| t'''our'''
|-
| {{IPA|/jɔ/}}
| {{IPA|/jʊə/}}
| c'''ure'''
|-
| {{IPA|/ai jə/}}
| {{IPA|/aɪə/}}
| f'''ire'''
|-
| {{IPA|/au wə/}}
| {{IPA|/aʊə/}}
| p'''ower'''
|}
 
* {{IPA|/ɛ/}} remains {{IPA|/ɛ/}} in Singlish, except when followed by a voiced plosive (/b/, /d/, or /g/), in which case it becomes {{IPA|/e/}} among some speakers.<ref>Tay Wan Joo, Mary (1982) 'The phonology of educated Singapore English', ''English World-Wide'', 3(2), 135–45.</ref> 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''').<ref>Deterding, David (2005) 'Emergent patterns in the vowels of Singapore English', ''English World-Wide'', 26(2), 179–97.</ref> Which vowel occurs in each word therefore appears in these cases not to be predictable.
* {{IPA|/ai/}} remains {{IPA|/ai/}} in Singlish, except when followed by /l/, in which case it is the monophthong {{IPA|/ɑ/}}.
* Examples of words have idiosyncratic pronunciations: '''flour''' {{IPA|/flɑ/}} (expected: {{IPA|/flɑ wə/}} = '''flower'''),;<ref>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.</ref> and '''their''' {{IPA|/djɑ/}} (expected: {{IPA|/dɛ/}} = '''there'''). Flour/flower and their/there are therefore not homophones in Singlish. This also applies to [[Manglish]].
* In general, Singlish vowels are tenser{{ndash}} 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 [[diphthong]]s in RP, so they can be regarded as [[monophthong]]s{{ndash}} i.e. vowels with no glide.<ref>Deterding, David (2000) 'Measurements of the {{IPA|/eɪ/}} and {{IPA|/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.</ref><ref>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.</ref>
* Where other varieties of English have an unstressed {{IPA|/ə/}}, i.e. a reduced vowel, Singlish tends to use the full vowel based on orthography. This can be seen in words such as '''a'''ccept {{IPA|/ɛksɛp/}}, '''e'''xample {{IPA|/ɛ(k)sɑmpəl/}}, purch'''a'''se {{IPA|/pətʃes/}}, maint'''e'''nance {{IPA|/mentɛnəns/}}, pr'''e'''s'''e'''ntation {{IPA|/prisɛnteʃən/}}, and so on. However, this does not mean that the reduced vowel {{IPA|/ə/}} never occurs, as '''about''' and '''again''' have {{IPA|/ə/}} in their first syllable. It seems that the letter 'a' is often pronounced {{IPA|/ə/}}, but the letter 'o' usually has a full vowel quality, especially in the '''con''' prefix ('''control''', '''consider''', etc.).<ref>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.</ref> 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 '''ab'''sorb {{IPA|/ɛbzɔb/}} than '''a'''fford {{IPA|/əfɔd/}}.<ref>Deterding, David (2006) 'Reduced vowels in SE Asia: should we be teaching them?', ''SOUTHEAST ASIA: A Multidisciplinary Journal'', 6 (1), 71-78.[http://videoweb.nie.edu.sg/phonetic/papers/red-vowels-in-se-asia.pdf (on-line version)]</ref>
* In loanwords from [[Min Nan|Hokkien]] that contain [[nasal vowel]]s, the nasalisation is often kept{{ndash}} one prominent example being the [[Grammatical mood|mood]] [[Grammatical particle|particle]] '''hor''', pronounced {{IPA-nan|hõ]|}}.
 
===Tones===
Singlish is semi-tonal as all words of Chinese origin retain their original tones in Singlish. 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 [[British English|British]], [[American English|American]] or [[Australian English]], etc.<ref name="Deterding, David 1994">Deterding, David (1994) 'The intonation of Singapore English', ''Journal of the International Phonetic Association'', 24(2), 61–72.</ref> For example:
 
* Singlish is [[Timing (linguistics)|syllable-timed]] compared to most traditional varieties of English, which are usually stress-timed.<ref>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.</ref><ref>Deterding, David (2001) 'The Measurement of Rhythm: A Comparison of Singapore and British English', ''Journal of Phonetics'', 29 (2), 217–230.</ref><ref>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.</ref> This in turn gives Singlish rather a [[staccato]] feel.<ref>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.</ref>
* There is a tendency to use a rise-fall tone to indicate special emphasis.<ref name="Deterding, David 1994"/> 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.<ref>Deterding, David (2007) ''Singapore English'', Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, p. 37.</ref> 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.<ref>Lim, Lisa (2004) 'Sounding Singaporean'. In Lisa Lim (ed.) ''Singapore English: A Grammatical Description'', Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 20-56.</ref>
* 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.<ref>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.</ref>
* There is often an 'early booster' at the start of an utterance,<ref>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.</ref> so an utterance like "I think they are quite nice and interesting magazines" may have a very high pitch occurring on the word '''think'''.<ref>Deterding, David (2007) ''Singapore English'', Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, p. 35.</ref><br/>[[File:Coxford Singlish Dictionary.jpg|thumb|150px|right|''Coxford Singlish Dictionary'', a published book on Singlish]]
* 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 [[Tone (linguistics)|tones]] of Chinese, especially when speakers sometimes maintain the original tones of words that are borrowed into Singlish from Chinese languages.
 
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.<ref>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.</ref>
 
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 creolization.
 
==Grammar==
 
The grammar of Singlish has been heavily influenced by other languages and dialects in the region, such as [[Bahasa Melayu|Malay]] and [[Chinese language|Chinese]], with some structures being identical to ones in Mandarin and other Chinese languages. As a result, Singlish has acquired some unique features, especially at the basilectal level. Note that all of the features described below disappear at the acrolectal level, as people in formal situations tend to adjust their speech towards accepted norms found in other varieties of English.
 
===Topic prominence===
 
Singlish is [[Topic-prominent language|topic-prominent]], like [[Chinese language|Chinese]] and [[Japanese language|Japanese]]. This means that Singlish sentences often begin with a topic (or a known reference of the conversation), followed by a comment (or new information)<ref>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.</ref><ref>Tan, Ludwig (2007) Null Arguments in Singapore Colloquial English. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Cambridge.</ref><ref>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.</ref> Compared to other varieties of 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:
 
* '''Dis country''' weather very hot one.{{ndash}} ''In this country, the weather is very warm.''
* '''Dat person there''' cannot trust.{{ndash}} ''That person over there is not trustworthy.''
* '''Tomorrow''' dun need bring camera.{{ndash}} ''You don't need to bring a camera tomorrow.''
* '''He play soccer''' also very good one leh.{{ndash}} ''He's very good at playing soccer too.''
* '''Walao, I want eat chicken rice''' {{ndash}} ''I am craving for chicken rice.''
* '''I go bus-stop wait you''' {{ndash}} ''I will be at the bus stop waiting for you''
The above constructions can be translated analogously into [[Chinese language|Chinese]], with a 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 [[Dialects of English|most other varieties of English]], and so called PRO-drop utterances may be regarded as a diagnostic feature of Singapore Colloquial English (or 'Singlish').<ref>Gupta, Anthea Fraser (1994) ''The Step-tongue: Children's English in Singapore', Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, pp. 10-11.</ref> For example:
 
* No good lah.{{ndash}} ''This isn't good.''
* Cannot anihow go liddat one leh.{{ndash}} ''You/it can't go just like that.''
* How come never show up?{{ndash}} ''Why didn't you/he/it show up?'' (See the use of ''never'' in place of ''didn't'' under the "Past tense" section.)
* I li' badminton, dat's why I every weekend go play.{{ndash}} ''I like badminton, so I play it every weekend.''
* He sick, so he stay home sleep lor.{{ndash}} ''He's not feeling well, so he decided to stay home and sleep!''
 
===Nouns===
 
Nouns are optionally marked for [[plural]]ity. [[article (grammar)|Article]]s are also optional.<ref>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.</ref> For example:
 
* He can play '''piano'''.
* I like to read '''storybook'''.
* Your computer got '''virus''' anot? (Does your computer have a virus?)
* This one ten '''cent''' only one.
 
It is more common to mark the plural in the presence of a [[Grammatical modifier|modifier]] that implies plurality, such as "many" or "four".<ref name="Alsagoff 1998 pp. 201-217">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.</ref>
 
Many nouns which seem logically to refer to a countable item are used in the plural, including '''furniture''' and '''clothing'''.<ref>Brown, Adam (1999) ''Singapore English in a Nutshell'', Singapore: Federal, pp. 62, 63</ref> Examples of this usage from corpus recordings are:
 
* so I bought a lot of furnitures from IKEA
* I had to borrow some winter clothings<ref>Deterding, David (2007) ''Singapore English'', Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, p. 42.</ref>
 
===To be===
 
The [[Copula (linguistics)|copula]], which is the verb "to be" in most varieties of English, is treated somewhat differently in Singlish:
 
When occurring with an adjective or adjective phrase, the verb "to be" tends to be omitted:
 
* I damn naughty.<ref name="Platt 1980 p. 31">Platt, John and Weber, Heidi (1980) ''English in Singapore and Malaysia: Status, Features, Functions'', Singapore: Oxford University Press, p. 31.</ref>
 
Sometimes, an adverb such as "very" occurs, and this is reminiscent of [[Chinese language|Chinese]] usage of the word 'hen' (很）or 'hao' (好):
 
* Dis house '''very''' nice.
 
It is also common for the verb "to be" to be omitted before passives:
 
* She punished.<ref name="Platt 1980 p. 31"/>
 
and before the "-ing" form of the verb.:<ref>Fong, Vivienne (2004) 'The verbal cluster'. In Lisa Lim (ed.) ''Singapore English: A Grammatical Description", Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 75-104.</ref>
 
* I still finding.<ref name="Platt 1980 p. 31"/>
* How come you so late still '''playing''' music, ah?
* You '''looking''' for trouble, izzit?
 
Slightly less common is the dropping out of "to be" when used as an equative between two nouns, or as a [[locative]]:
 
* Dat one his wife lah. ("That lady is his wife.")<ref>Platt, John and Weber, Heidi (1980) ''English in Singapore and Malaysia: Status, Features, Functions'', Singapore: Oxford University Press, p. 32.</ref>
* Dis boy the class monitor. (=class president)
* His house in Ang Mo Kio.
 
In general, "to be" drops out more 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 [[strong verb]]s (or irregular verbs), as well as verbs where the past tense suffix is pronounced {{IPA|/ɪd/}}.<ref name="Platt 1980 p. 88">Platt, John and Weber, Heidi (1980) ''English in Singapore and Malaysia: Status, Features, Functions'', Singapore: Oxford University Press, p. 88.</ref> 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]]:<ref name="Platt 1980 p. 88"/>
 
* He '''talk''' so long, never '''stop''', I '''ask''' him also never.
 
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:<ref>Platt, John and Weber, Heidi (1980) ''English in Singapore and Malaysia: Status, Features, Functions'', Singapore: Oxford University Press, p. 87.</ref>
 
* When I was young, ah, I '''go''' to school every day.
* When he was in school, he always '''get''' good marks one.
* Last night I '''mug''' so much, so sian already. (''to mug'' is to cram for an examination. ''[[Singlish vocabulary#S|sian]]'' is an adjective for "bored/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<ref>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.</ref>
 
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'' ({{IPA|/liɑ̂u/}}) to the end of the sentence, analogous to [[Chinese language|Chinese]] 了 (''le'').<ref>Bao Zhiming, (1995) 'Already in Singapore English', ''World Englishes'', 14(2), 181-188.</ref> This is not the same as the past tense, but more of an [[aspect (linguistics)|aspect]], as it does not cover past habitual or continuous occurrences, and it can refer to a real or hypothetical change of state in the past, present or future.
 
The frequent use of '''already''' (pronounced more like "oreddy" and often spelt that way) in Singapore English is probably a direct influence of the Hokkien ''liao'' particle.<ref>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.</ref> For example:
 
* Aiyah, cannot wait any more, must go '''oreddy'''. (Oh dear, I cannot wait any longer. I must leave immediately.)
* Yesterday, dey go there '''oreddy'''. (They already went there yesterday.)
* Ah Song kana sai '''oreddy''', then how? (If Ah Song were to get in trouble, what would you do?)
** '''kana''' is a phonetical mispronunciation of "kena" by non-Malay speakers, which is itself a Malay word that may mean either "to (have) encounter(ed) something" or "to have to (do something)" (notes further below). '''Sai''' is a Hokkien word that means "faeces", and figuratively it means trouble. So '''kana Sai''' means touched by trouble, or get into trouble.
 
Some examples of the direct use of the Hokkien particle are:
* 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 [[modal]]s, 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/dun ({{IPA|[dõ]}}) want.{{ndash}} ''I don't want to.''
 
Another effect of this is that in the verb "can", its positive and negative forms are distinguished only by [[vowel]]:
 
* This one can {{IPA|/kɛn/}} do lah.
* This one can't {{IPA|/kɑn/}} 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 way of forming [[yes-no question]]s, Singlish uses two more constructions:
 
In a construction similar (but not identical) to [[Chinese language|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:
* This book you want '''or not'''?{{ndash}} ''Do you want this book?''
* Can '''or not'''?{{ndash}} ''Is this possible / permissible?''
 
The phrase '''is it''' is also appended to the end of sentences to form yes-no questions.<ref>Brown, Adam (1999) ''Singapore English in a Nutshell'', Singapore: Federal, pp. 116-117.</ref> It is generic like the [[French language|French]]'' n'est-ce pas?'' (''isn't it so?''), regardless of the actual verb in the sentence, and is strongly reminiscent of the Chinese 是吗 (Pinyin: shi ma) as well as its frequent use amongst South Indian speakers of English. '''Is it''' implies that the speaker is simply confirming something he/she has already inferred:
* They never study, '''is it'''? (No wonder they fail!)
* You don't like that, '''is it'''? (No wonder you had that face!)
* Alamak, you guys never read newspaper '''is it'''?{{ndash}} "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.<ref name="Alsagoff 1998 pp. 201-217"/>
 
There are also many discourse particles, such as '''hah''', '''hor''', '''meh''', '''ar''', that are used in questions. (See the "Discourse particles" section further down in this article.)
 
===Reduplication===
 
Another feature strongly reminiscent of [[Chinese language|Chinese]] and [[Malay language|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:<ref>Ansaldo, Umberto (2004) 'The evolution of Singapore English', in Lisa Lim (ed.) ''Singapore English: A Grammatical Description'', Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 127-149.</ref>
 
* 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 Orcher '''walk walk see see''' or not? (Let's go shopping/sightseeing at Orchard Road.)
* Dun anyhow '''touch''' here '''touch''' there leh. (Please don't mess with my things.)
 
In another usage reminiscent of Chinese, [[noun]]s referring to people can be repeated for intimacy.<ref>Wee, Lionel (2004) 'Reduplication and discourse particles', in Lisa Lim (ed.) ''Singapore English: A Grammatical Description'', Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 105-126.</ref> 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 bisyllabic nouns:
 
* We '''buddy-buddy'''. You don't play me out, OK?<ref>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.</ref>
* Im the kind who is '''buddy-buddy''' person.<ref>Deterding, David (2007) ''Singapore English'', Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, p. 55.</ref>
 
[[Adjective]]s of one or two syllables can also be repeated for intensification:
 
* You go take the '''small-small''' one ah. (Retrieve the smaller item, please.)
* You want a raise from this boss? Wait '''long long''' ah. (It will never happen.)
 
Due to the frequent use of these repetitions on short words, Singlish expressions often sound to speakers of American or British English as if they are spoken by children, which non-Singlish speakers find quite amusing, and contributes to the impression of Singlish as an informal and sometimes intimate language.
 
===''Kena''===
 
''Kena'' can be used as an auxiliary to mark the passive voice in some varieties of Singlish.<ref>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.</ref>
 
It is derived from a Malay word that means "to encounter or to come into physical contact",<ref>Bao Zhiming and Wee, Lionel (1999) 'The passive in Singapore English', ''World Englishes'', 18 (1), 1-11.</ref> and is only used with objects that have a negative effect or connotation. It is interesting to note that 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 ''tio'' or Mandarin 被 ''bèi'':
 
* He was scolded. = He got scolded. = He '''kena''' scold/scolded.
* If you don't listen to me, you will get punished, after which you will know that you were wrong = If u dun listen, later you get punished, and then you know = dun listen, later you '''kena''' punish/punished then you know.
 
Note that '''kena''' is not used with positive things:
 
* *He '''kena''' praised.
* *He '''kena''' lottery.
* *He '''kena''' jackpot. (huge winnings from playing the slot machine)
Usage 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!).
 
It is mostly used in vulgar, obscene and offensive contexts{{Dubious|date=July 2009}}, such as:
 
* He '''kena''' fucked in the Singtel share buyout. (lost large amounts of money)
* He '''kena''' defamation imprisonment. (Imprisoned as a result of defamation proceedings)
However, when used in sarcasm, kena can be used in apparently positive circumstances, though this is considered grammatically incorrect by the true natives of Singapore. It is mostly incorrectly used by European expatriates or Hong Kong and Mainlanders trying to integrate and assimilate into Singapore society{{Dubious|date=July 2009}}, 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, similar to the colloquial-English construction "I am/you're/he is going to get it."
 
* Better clean the room, otherwise you '''kena'''. (You will be punished if you don't tidy the room.)
* Dun listen to me, later you '''kena'''.
 
Using another auxiliary verb with ''kena'' is perfectly acceptable as well:
* Better clean the room, otherwise you will '''kena'''.
* Dun listen to me, later you will '''kena'''.
 
Some examples of Singlish phrases with ''Kena'':
 
* kena arrow: be assigned an undesirable task. (derives from [[National Service in Singapore|National Service/military]] practice of placing arrows on a name list to denote those responsible for a task)
* kena bully: get bullied
* kena fine: get 'fined', or charged by the police
* kena hantam: be hit by something, such as a ball, or to be beaten up (hantam is another Malay word)
* kena sabo: become a victim of sabotage or a practical joke
* kena sai: literally "hit by shit"; be harmed by an unpleasant event or object
* kena tekan: tekan means "press", as in "pressure", in Malay; the phrase means to be physically tortured or punished. Often used in the army, which all male citizens must serve in.
* kena whack: be beaten badly, in games or in physical fights
* kena ban/silence: one of the newer uses of kena, it means to be banned/silenced in a computer game. Please note the "silence" is only used when silenced from talking in chat by GMs (Game Masters), not having the "silence" effect that stops you from doing spells.
* kena zero: getting a zero mark for that paper that he/she was [[cheating]]
 
The word is many a times phonetically mispronounced "kana" by most non-Malays, especially those of the Chinese tongue. It is also interesting to note that informal Malay will socio-linguistically dictate it be pronounced as ''kene'' (as in ''kernel'' without the ''r'' and ''l''), while the word itself in reality has two different meanings; "to have (to) encounter(ed) something" as how it is explained above or "to have to (do something)":
 
"Kau '''kene''' angkat ni." -- ''You have to carry this.''<br>
"Joe '''kene''' marah tadi." -- ''Joe just got scolded.''
 
Singlish, however, is only influenced by the latter application of the word.
 
===''One''===
 
The word ''one'' is used to emphasize the [[predicate (grammar)|predicate]] of the sentence by implying that it is unique and characteristic. It is analogous to the use of particles like 嘅 ''ge'' or 架 ''ga'' in Cantonese, 啲 ''e'' in Hokkien, ''-wa'' in spoken Japanese, or 的 ''de'' in some varieties of Mandarin. ''One'' used in this way '''does not''' correspond to any use of the word "one" in [[British English|British]], [[American English]], [[Australian English]], etc: It can be compared to the British usage of 'eh'. 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)<ref>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.</ref>
 
* 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).''
 
For speakers of [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]], 的''de'' can also be used in place of ''one''.
 
===''Then''===
 
The word '''then''' is often pronounced or written as '''den''' {{IPA|/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 (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 cai2.
 
*Never do homework '''den''' (2 beats with shifts in tone sandhi, tone 2) indicating replacement of "所以") kena scolding lor.
- ''I did not do my homework, that's why (therefore) I got a scolding''
 
*Never do homework (pause) '''den''' (2 beats with shifts in tone sandhi, tone 2) indicating replacement of "然后") kena scolding lor.
- ''I did not do my homework; I got a scolding after that''
 
*Never do homework '''den''' (1 beat with no shift in tone sandhi, indicating "才") kena scolding lor.
- ''It is only due to the fact that I did not do my homework that I was scolded.''
 
Be very careful because "den" cannot be freely interchanged with "so".
 
It will sound grammatically erroneous when employed inappropriately. This is because the grammatical rules in English do not correspond to the grammatical rules in Chinese on a one-for-one basis.
 
The following examples are inappropriate use of "den", which will immediately sound grammatically illogical to a Singlish speaker: <!-- why? what is the reason for this? In the following sentences, in Singlish, the Singlish particle "so" would be used, or no particle at all, "then" is not used. -->
 
*I'm tired, '''den''' I'm going to sleep.
*I'm late, '''den''' I'm going to take a taxi.
 
'''ii)''' "Den" is also used to describe an action that will be performed later. It is used to replace the Chinese particle, "才". 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 / incorrectly conveyed. For example, "I go home liao, "den" (2 beats) call you" will imbue the subtext with a questionable sense of irony, a lasciviousness for seduction (3 beats), or just general inappropriateness (random 2 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 "ran2hou4", as in "ran2hou4 hor". In such cases, it often carries a connotation of an exclamation.
 
When used in this context, in formal Singlish, the particle is lengthened to 2 beats to indicate replacement of "ran2hou4" or 1 beat when used in conjunction with "hor" as in "den hor".
 
It can also be shortened to 1 beat if the other speaker is a fluent Singapore speaker of Singlish (who tends to speak fast and can deduce via contextual clues which form of meaning the use of den is taking on), but the Singlish variant used when spoken to a wider Southeast Asian audience, is lengthening of the word to 2 beats.
 
The subtle usage of these particles differentiates a Malaysian speaking Manglish trying to assimilate into society, and a true-blue native-born Singaporean (whether it's a Chinese, Indian, Eurasian, Malay or Caucasian speaker of Singlish). In many cases, a mixed child born and bred in Singapore will speak a more subtle form of Singlish (together with the influence of another language such as Dutch, Swedish, German) than a first-generation Malaysian of Chinese descent assimilating into Singapore.
 
*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 Chinese "才".
 
*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 4 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 emphasize 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?
 
===Discourse particles===
 
[[Grammatical particle|Particles]] in Singlish are highly comparable to [[Chinese language|Chinese]]. In general, [[discourse particle]]s occur at the end of a sentence. Their presence changes the meaning or the tone of the sentence, but not its grammaticality.
 
Particles are noted for keeping their [[Tone (linguistics)|tones]] regardless of the remainder of the sentence. Most of the particles are directly 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.<ref>Wee, Lionel. "Lor in colloquial Singapore English". Journal of Pragmatics, 2002, p. 711</ref>
 
====''Oi''====
 
The ubiquitous word '''Oi''' is commonly used in Singlish.It has a resemblance to the word ''Hey!'', and is used to draw attention and/or express indignation.
 
Here are some phrases of ''Oi'' used in sentences.(please note that these are used in Singapore)
 
Oi, you forgot to give me my Pencil!
 
Oi! Hear me can-can lah !
 
Oi! You know how long I wait for you?!
 
Please note that ''Oi'' is considered slightly rude if used on strangers in public, in the workplace, or on one's elders.
 
====''Lah''====
 
The ubiquitous word '''lah''' ({{IPA|/lɑ́/ or /lɑ̂/}}), rarely spelled as '''larh''', '''luh''' or '''lurh''', is used at the end of a sentence.<ref>Wee, Lionel (2004) 'Reduplication and discourse particles', in Lisa Lim (ed.) ''Singapore English: A Grammatical Description'', Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 105-126</ref> It may originate from the Chinese character ({{lang|zh|啦}}, [[Pinyin]]: ''Lè/Là''), though its usage in Singapore is also influenced by its occurrence in Malay.<ref>Deterding, David (2007) ''Singapore English'', Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, p. 71.</ref>  It simultaneously softens the force of an utterance and entices solidarity,<ref>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.</ref> though it can also have the opposite meaning so it is used to signal power.<ref>Bell, Roger and Ser Peng Quee, Larry (1983) '"Today la?" "Tomorrow lah!" The LA particle in Singapore English', ''RELC Journal'', 14(2), 1–18.</ref> In addition, there are suggestions that there is more than one '''lah''' particle, so there may be a stressed and an unstressed variant<ref>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.</ref> and perhaps as many as nine tonal variants, all having a special pragmatic function<ref>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.</ref>
 
Note that 'lah' is occasionally after a comma for clarity, though true locals never bother with punctuation, because there is never a pause before 'lah'. This is because in Malay, 'lah' is appended to the end of the word and is not a separate word by itself. It must also be noted that although 'lah' is usually spelled in the Malay fashion, its use is more akin to the Hokkien use.
 
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'''!{{ndash}} 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'''!{{ndash}} I just don't have any of that (which you were requesting)!
* Dun know oreddy '''lah'''!{{ndash}} Argh, I don't know anymore 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'''.{{ndash}} Don't worry, he will be capable of doing it.
* Okay '''lah'''.{{ndash}} It's all right. Don't worry about it.
 
''Lah'' is sometimes use 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 '''cannot''' appear with a yes-no question. Other particles should be used instead:
 
* He do that '''ar'''?
* Later free '''or not'''?
* Don't tell me he punch her '''ar'''?
 
====''Wat''====
 
The particle '''wat''' ({{IPA|/wɑ̀t/}}), also spelled '''what''', is used to remind or contradict the listener,<ref name="Wee, Lionel 1072">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.</ref> especially when strengthening another assertion that follows from the current one:
* But he very good at sports '''wat'''.{{ndash}} But he is very good at sports. (Shouldn't you know this already, having known him for years?)
* You never give me '''wat'''!{{ndash}} (It's not my fault, since) You didn't give it to me! (Or else I would have gotten it, right?)
 
It can also be used to strengthen any assertion:<ref name="Platt 1989">Platt, John and Ho, Mian Lian (1989) 'Discourse particles in Singaporean English', ''World Englishes'', 8 (2), 215-221.</ref>
 
* The food there not bad '''what'''. Can try la.
 
====''Mah''====
 
'''Mah''' ({{IPA|/mɑ́/}}), originating from the Cantonese (嘛,''ma''), is used to assert that something is obvious and final,<ref>Low Ee Ling and Brown, Adam (2005) ''English in Singapore: An Introduction'', Singapore: McGraw-Hill Education (Asia), p. 179.</ref> 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 ''[[wikt:duh|duh]]''. This may seem condescending to the listener:
* This one also can work one '''mah'''! {{ndash}} ''Can't you see that this choice will also work?''
* He also know about it '''mah'''! {{ndash}} ''He knew about it as well, [so it's not my fault!]''
 
====''Lor''====
 
'''Lor''' ({{IPA|/lɔ́/}}), also spelled '''lorh''' or '''loh''', from Cantonese (囉, ''lor'') , is a casual, sometimes jocular way to assert upon the listener either direct observations or obvious inferences.<ref name="Wee, Lionel 1072"/> It also carries a sense of resignation, or alternatively, dismissiveness.<ref>Low Ee Ling and Brown, Adam (2005) ''English in Singapore: An Introduction'', Singapore: McGraw-Hill Education (Asia), p. 178.</ref> that "it happens this way and can't be helped":
* If you don't do the work, then you die '''lor'''!{{ndash}} ''If you don't do the work, then you're dead!''
* Kay '''lor''', you go and do what you want.{{ndash}} ''Fine, go ahead and do what you want.''
* Dun have work to do, den go home '''lor'''.{{ndash}} ''If you're done working, you should go home.  (What are you waiting for?)''
 
====''Leh''====
 
'''Leh''' ({{IPA|/lɛ́/}}), from Hokkien, is used to soften a command, request, claim, or complaint that may be brusque otherwise:
* Gimme '''leh'''.{{ndash}} Please, just give it to me.
* How come you don't give me '''leh'''?{{ndash}} Why aren't you giving it to me?
* The ticket seriously ex '''leh'''.{{ndash}} Argh, The tickets are really expensive.
* But I believe safe better than sorry '''leh'''.{{ndash}} The thing is, I believe it's better to be safe than sorry.
 
Especially when on a low tone, it can be used to show the speaker's disapproval:<ref name="Platt 1989"/>
 
* You call her walk there, very far leh.
 
====''Hor''====
 
'''Hor''' ({{IPA|/hɔ̨̌/}}), from Hokkien and Cantonese, also spelled '''horh''', is used to ask for the listener's attention and consent/support/agreement:<ref>Low ee Ling and Brown, Adam (2005) ''English in Singapore: An Introduction'', Singapore: McGraw-Hill Education (Asia), p. 177.</ref>
* Then '''horh''', another person came out of the house.{{ndash}} And then, another person came out of the house.
* This shopping center very nice '''horh'''.{{ndash}} This shopping center is very nice isn't it?
* Oh yah '''horh'''! - Oh, yes! (realising something)
 
====''Ar''====
 
'''Ar''' ({{IPA|/ɑ̌/}}), also spelled '''arh''' or '''ah''', is inserted between topic and comment.<ref>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'', Sinigapore; McGraw-Hill Education (Asia), pp. 58-66.</ref> It often gives a negative tone:
* This boy '''arh''', always so naughty one!{{ndash}} ''This boy is so naughty!''
 
'''Ar''' ({{IPA|/ɑ̌/}}) with a rising tone is used to reiterate a rhetorical question:
* How come lidat one, '''arh'''?{{ndash}} ''Why is it like that? / Why are you like that?''
 
'''Ar''' ({{IPA|/ɑ̄/}}) 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'''?{{ndash}} "Are you going again?"
 
====''Hah''====
 
'''Hah''' ({{IPA|/hɑ̌/}}), also spelled '''har''', originating from the British English word '''huh''', is used to express disbelief 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 like that one? End up kena caning! - ''What? How did he end up being caned?''
 
====''Meh''====
 
'''Meh''' ({{IPA|/mɛ́/}}), from Cantonese (咩, ''meh''), is used to form questions expressing surprise or scepticism:
* They never study '''meh'''?{{ndash}} Didn't they study? (I thought they did.)
* You don't like that one '''meh'''?{{ndash}} You don't like that? (I thought you did.)
* Really '''meh'''?{{ndash}} Is that really so? (I honestly thought otherwise/I don't believe you.)
 
====''Siah''====
 
{{IPA|/sjɑ̀/}}, also spelled '''sia''' or '''siah''', is used to express envy or emphasis. It is a derivative of the Malay vulgor word "sial" or "siol" (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)<br>
"''Sial'' ah, Joe bawak iPod ni ari." -- ''Whoa, Joe brought an iPod today.'' (positive, envy)<br>
"Takde lah ''sial''." -- ''No way, man.'' or ''I don't have it, man.'' (positive, neutral)<br>
"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'''.{{ndash}} ''He's damn capable.''
* Wah, heng '''siah'''.{{ndash}} ''Goodness me (=Wahlau)! That was a close shave (=heng)!''
 
<!--
====''Sha Pi''====
 
'''Sha Pi''', from Mandarin, is used as a colloquial term to describe someone as behaving in a weird and idiotic manner, or someone who is full of nonsense. The term "sha" is derived from the Mandarin equivalent of "idiot" and "pi" is derived from the Mandarin equivalent of "fart". The term "sha pi" originated from Shanghai, and was thought to be used extensively by Singaporeans, especially young adults.
* "Don't '''sha pi'''!{{ndash}} Don't act like an idiot'' or ''Don't say such nonsense
====' 'Wa Lao Eh' ' ====
'''Wa Lao''' is a commonly used word by many Singlish speakers in Singapore. More and more children know how to use this term, which is a bit like a swear word.
-->
 
====Summary====
 
Summary of discourse and other particles:
 
{| class="wikitable"
!Function
!Example
!Meaning
!Notes
|-
|(Nothing)
|Can.
|"It can be done."
|
|-
|Solidarity
|Can lah.
|"Rest assured, it can be done."
|
|-
| Seeking attention / support (implicit)
| Can hor / hah?
| "It can be done, right?"
|
|-
|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 / <br /> Resignation
|Can lor.
|"Well, seems that it can be done, since you say so."
|
|-
|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 <br /> (confirmation)
|Can izzit?
|"It can be done, right?"
|
|-
|Yes / No question <br /> (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."
|
|-
| Change of state (finished)
| Can already / liao.
| "It's done!"
|
|-
| Indifference/ Questioning in a calm manner
| Can huh (low tone).
| "It can be done..."
|
|-
| Anger
| Alamak! Why you go and mess up!?
| "Argh! Why did you go and mess it up!?"
|}
 
===Miscellaneous===
 
'''Nia''' is originated from Hokkien which means 'only', mostly used to play down something that has been overestimated.
 
*Mary: ''"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 '你才会知道'.
 
* Mother: ''"Ah boy, don't run here run there, wait you fall down '''then you know''' ar."''
 
"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, East Coast Park '''got''' so many people one! ''There were so many people at East Coast Park yesterday.'' / ''East Coast Park 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''' (lye-dat):
* He so stupid '''lidat'''. - ''He really seems pretty stupid, you know.''
* He acting like a little kid '''lidat'''. - ''He's really acting like a little kid, you know.''
''Like that'' can also be used as in other Englishes:
* Why he acting '''lidat'''? - ''Why is he acting this way?''
 
* If '''lidat''', 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 '''oso'''. (I like this one too.)
 
"Also" is also used as a [[Grammatical conjunction|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, 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 anot?" ''"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 "ed"s to the past tense of words or to pronounce "ed" separately.
* "Jus now go and play game, character '''dieded''' siah!" ''"When I played a game just now, my character died!"''
 
==Vocabulary==
{{Main|Singlish vocabulary}}
 
Singlish formally takes after [[British English]] (in terms of [[spelling]] and [[abbreviation]]s), although naming conventions are in a mix of American and British ones (with American ones on the rise). For instance, local media have "sports pages" (sport in British English) and "soccer coverage" (the use of the word "soccer" is not common in British media), though the word "football" is also taken to be synonymous with "soccer" in Singapore.
 
Singlish also uses many words borrowed from [[Min Nan|Hokkien]], and from [[Malay language|Malay]]. The most well-known instance of a borrowing from Hokkien is 'kiasu', which means "frightened of losing out", 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".<ref>Brown, Adam (1999) ''Singapore English in a Nutshell''. Singapore: Federal, pp. 123 & 135.</ref>
 
In many cases, English words 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 Mandarin word, "借" (jiè), which can mean to lend or to borrow. ("Oi (also used as oy, 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 Mandarin word "送" (sòng).<ref>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. [http://videoweb.nie.edu.sg/phonetic/papers/chin-infl-on-eng.html (on-line version)]</ref> However, we might note that Malay '(meng)hantar' can also be used to mean both "send a letter" and "take children to school",<ref>Collins (2002) ''Easy Learning Bilingual Dictionary, English~Malay, Malay~English'', Subang Jayar, Malaysia: HarperCollins, p. 716</ref> so perhaps both Malay and Chinese have combined to influence the usage of 'send' in Singapore.
 
==In pop culture==
===Movies===
*''[[Army Daze]](1996)''
*''[[12 Storeys]](1997)''
*''[[Mee Pok Man]](1995)''
*''[[I Not Stupid]](2002)''
*''[[I Not Stupid Too]](2006)''
*''[[Money No Enough]](1998)''
*''[[One Leg Kicking]](2001)''
*''[[Talking Cock the Movie]](2002)''
*''[[Homerun (film)]](2003)''
*''[[Singapore Dreaming]](2006)''
*''[[Just Follow Law]](2007)''
*''[[Be With Me]](2005)''
*''Perth''<ref>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0444890/</ref>
*''[[Where Got Ghost?]](2009)''
*''[[Phua Chu Kang The Movie]](2010)''
 
===Notable Sites===
*''[[The Mr Brown Show]]''<ref>http://mrbrownshow.com/</ref>
 
===Musical===
 
*''Cinderel-Lah!''
*''Oi! Sleeping Beauty''
 
===Television===
* ''Comedy Night''
* ''[[Phua Chu Kang]]''
* ''[[Phua Chu Kang Sdn Bhd]]''
* ''[[ABC DJ]]''
* ''[[Under One Roof (Singaporean television programme)|Under One Roof]]''
* ''[[Maggi & Me]]''
* ''[[Cosmo and George]]''
* ''[[My Classmate Dad]]''
* ''[[Before I was Awesome]]''
* ''[[I am Christopher Khoo...]]''
 
===Literature===
 
For punctuation and spelling of Singlish see also [[Sylvia Toh Paik Choo]]'s:
 
* Eh, Goondu! (1982) Singapore: Eastern Universities Press. ISBN 9971-71-168-0.
* Lagi Goondu! (1986) Singapore: Times Books International. ISBN 9971-65-224-2.
 
These published works are generally in English, but they describe the prevalence of Singlish in Singapore, and use many Singlish terms such as in dialogue.
 
* Chiang, Michael, ''Army Daze'' (Singapore: Times Books International, 1987) ISBN 981-3002-12-3
* Chong C. S., ''NS: An Air-Level Story'' (Singapore: Times Books International, 1994) ISBN 981-204-312-8
* Gwee Li Sui, ''Who Wants to Buy a Book of Poems?'' (Singapore: Landmark Books, 1998) ISBN 981-3065-19-2
 
== Acceptance ==
On March 15, 2007, [[Demos (UK think tank)|Demos]], a UK [[think tank]], recommended that the [[UK]] embrace 'modern' [[English language|Englishes]], since far from being corruptions of English, new versions of the language, like [[Chinglish]] and Singlish, have values "that the [[UK|British]] need to learn to accommodate and relate to".<ref>{{cite news| url=http://education.guardian.co.uk/tefl/story/0,,2033824,00.html | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=UK must embrace 'modern' English, report warns | first=Liz | last=Ford | date=2007-03-15 | accessdate=2010-05-23}}</ref>
 
==See also==
{{Portalbox|Singapore|Languages}}
*[[Singlish vocabulary]]
*[[List of Singapore abbreviations]]
*[[Singapore English]]
*[[Standard Singapore English]]
*[[IPA chart for English dialects]]
*[[English Language]]
*[[Mandarin Chinese]]
*[[Papia Kristang]]
*[[Peranakan]]s
*[[Singaporean Mandarin]]
*[[Singdarin]]
*[[Singaporean Hokkien]]
*[[Speak Good English Movement]]
*[[Tamil language|Tamil Language]]
*[[Indian languages in Singapore]]
 
==Notes and references==
{{Reflist|2}}
 
==Further reading==
* Brown, Adam (1999). ''Singapore English in a Nutshell: An Alphabetical Description of its Features''. Singapore: Federal Publications. ISBN 981012435X.
* Crewe, William (ed. 1977) ''The English Language in Singapore''. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press.
* Deterding, David (2007). ''Singapore English''. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748625451.
* Deterding, David, Brown, Adam and Low Ee Ling (eds. 2005) ''English in Singapore: Phonetic Research on a Corpus''. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Education (Asia). ISBN 0071247270.
* Deterding, David, Low Ee Ling and Brown, Adam (eds. 2003) ''English in Singapore: Research on Grammar''. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Education (Asia). ISBN 007123103X.
* Deterding, David and Hvitfeldt, Robert (1994) 'The Features of Singapore English Pronunciation: Implications for Teachers', ''Teaching and Learning'', 15 (1), 98-107. [http://videoweb.nie.edu.sg/phonetic/papers/teach-sge.pdf (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 0130930091.
* 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 0195884159.
* 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.&nbsp;323–45.
* Gupta, Anthea Fraser (1994). ''The Step-Tongue: Children’s English in Singapore''. Clevedon, UK: Multimedia Matters. ISBN 1853592293.
* Ho, Mian Lian and Platt, John Talbot (1993). ''Dynamics of a contact continuum: Singapore English''. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198248288.
* Lim, Lisa (ed. 2004). ''Singapore English: a grammatical description''. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins. ISBN 1588115763.
* 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 9810489528
* Newbrook, Mark (1987). ''Aspects of the syntax of educated Singaporean English: attitudes, beliefs, and usage''. Frankfurt am Main; New York: P. Lang. ISBN 3820498869.
* Ooi, Vincent B. Y. (ed. 2001) ''Evolving Identities: the English Language in Singapore and Malaysia''. Singapore: Times Academic. ISBN 981210156X.
* 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 and Malaysia: status, features, functions''. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195804384.
* Shelley, R., Beng, K.-S., & Takut bin Salah. (2000). ''Sounds and sins of Singlish, and other nonsense''. Kuala Lumpur: Times Books International. ISBN 9812043926
* 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 9812211616
* 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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;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 9810438176


==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.goodenglish.org.sg/SGEM Singapore Speak Good English Movement]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singlish Wikipedia article]
*[http://www.facebook.com/pages/Speak-Good-Singlish-Movement/152213451475413 Singapore Speak Good Singlish Movement]
*[http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/4883/singlish.html&date=2009-10-25+11:29:46 Ah Beng's Guide to Singlish]
*[http://www.talkingcock.com/html/lexec.php?op=LexPKL&lexicon=lexicon The Coxford Singlish Dictionary @ Talkingcock.com]
*[http://www.singlishdictionary.com A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English]
*[http://www.soundcomparisons.com/Eng/Direct/Englishes/SglLgSingaporeStandard.htm 'Hover & Hear' pronunciations in a Standard Singapore English accent], and compare side by side with other English accents from around the World.
*[http://www.une.edu.au/langnet/definitions/singlish.html Singapore Colloquial English (Singlish)]
*[http://videoweb.nie.edu.sg/phonetic/books/singapore-english-bibliography.htm An Annotated Bibliography of Works on Singapore English]
*[http://videoweb.nie.edu.sg/phonetic/niecsse/index.htm The NIE Corpus of Spoken Singapore English]
*[http://videoweb.nie.edu.sg/phonetic/lim-siew-hwee-corpus/index.htm The Lim Siew Lwee Corpus of Informal Singapore Speech]
*[http://decayonnet.blogspot.com/2008/02/taiwan-celebrities-criticise.html Taiwanese Celebrities Criticize Singaporean English]
*[http://knol.google.com/k/david-deterding/singapore-english/3d16pmceq20qr/3# A 'knol' on Singapore English]
*[http://www.nus.edu.sg/prose/singlish.htm PROSE]
 
{{English dialects by continent}}
 
[[Category:English-based pidgins and creoles]]
[[Category:Singlish| ]]
[[Category:Languages of Singapore]]
[[Category:Macaronic language]]
 
[[de:Singlish]]
[[fr:Singlish]]
[[ko:싱글리시]]
[[he:סינגליש]]
[[ms:Singlish]]
[[nl:Singlish]]
[[ja:シングリッシュ]]
[[pl:Singlish]]
[[ru:Сингапурский вариант английского языка]]
[[simple:Singlish]]
[[fi:Singlish]]
[[vi:Singlish]]
[[zh:新加坡英语]]

Latest revision as of 12:30, 11 October 2022

A visual guide behind the definitions of ordering Singapore's common Kopi drink variations using the lexicon of Singlish (Visual guide sourced from Fun Toast Cafe)

Colloquial Singaporean English, better known as Singlish, is an English-based creole language and accent spoken in Singapore. The term Singlish is a blend of Singaporean slang and English and was first recorded in the early 1970s. English is one of Singapore's official languages, along with Mandarin, Malay and Tamil. Although English is the lexifier language, Singlish has its unique slang and syntax, which are more pronounced in informal speech.

The vocabulary of Singlish consists of words originating from English, which are complemented by other Asian languages such as Malay, Cantonese, Japanese, Hokkien, Mandarin, Teochew, and Tamil. It is used in casual contexts between Singaporeans, but is avoided in formal events when certain Singlish phrases may be considered unedifying. Singapore English can be broken into two subcategories. Standard Singapore English (SSE) and Colloquial Singapore English (CSE) or Singlish as locals call it. The relationship between SSE and Singlish is viewed as a diglossia, in which SSE is restricted to be used in situations of formality where Singlish/CSE is used in most other circumstances.

Since the turn of the century, there have been recent surges in the interest of Singlish internationally, sparking several national conversations. Some of the most popular Singlish terms have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) since 2000, including wah, sabo, lepak, shiok and hawker centre. On 11 February 2015, kiasu was chosen as OED's Word of the Day. Reactions were generally positive by Singaporeans, with Singlish being commonly associated with the country and is considered a unique aspect of Singaporean culture.

It is one of two English dialects spoken in Singapore, the other being the higher variety Standard Singapore English. Singlish is used in informal contexts, where SSE is used in formal settings.

Overview[edit]

History[edit]

English in Singapore derives from 141 years of British colonialization. The received standards of English during these years were British English and Received Pronunciation. Singlish developed as a pidgin form of English, spoken by those who acquired the language without formal institutional training. Over the years, Singlish has stabilized into a creole.

Usage[edit]

Where SSE is used in formal contexts, Singlish is used in informal contexts - at home, with friends in a 'hawker centre'. Because of its lack of prestige, Singlish is generally avoided in formal contexts like meetings and interviews. However, select Singlish phrases are occasionally used to inject humour or build affinity in the audience, especially when a number of them are local.

The usage of Singlish in all contexts is strongly discouraged by the Government, who have stated that it is a 'bad' English that is incomprehensible to non-locals and stifles the proper learning and usage of English.

Some examples[edit]

  • Ah - a expression to express something is already known in a sentence, stressing on something.
  • Ah Mu or Ah Bu - in Hokkien is the name for Mother.
  • "Aiyo/Aiya" - to express something that is not this way, also used as an exclaimation.
  • AngMoh - in local Singlish or Hokkien (literally with red hair) means a westerner.
  • "Blur-like-sotong" - a very confused person.
  • Chapalang - literally in Hokkien means people who had eaten their fill. This is abusively used to label certain people who are likely busybodies or gossipers. The normal greeting for all Hokkien people in Singapore or those compatriots in Taiwan and Mainland China always greet one another with "have you eaten your fill? " Chapa buay"? as one would say "Good Morning" in English. The old locals are a polite people and they always say "chapa buay?"
  • Chope - Singaporean slang for "reserved".
  • "Chu pattern" - to describe something that is one track in nature.
  • Eh - a expression to express surprise (in question mark), or used to address a context, or stressing on something (used at the end of a sentence)
  • Garmen - Singaporean slang for "government".
  • Good-for-nothing - a rude way of telling someone. It is used as a catch phrase to try and draw someone's attention as in Singlish.
  • "hor" - used at the end of sentence to check with someone on something.
  • "kiasu" - someone who has a selfish attitude due to a fear of missing out on something.
  • "kiasee" - someone who is overly afraid and scared, of timid nature.
  • kena - derived from a Malay word that means "to encounter or to come into physical contact", usually used negatively in context.
  • lah/leh - a word filler as in Singlish.
  • "liddat" - a short form of "like that", used to describe something or someones behaviour.
  • "lor" - used to express something that is already known or is how it is.
  • mah - a word filler as in Singlish, used at the end of sentences to describe something that is already known.
  • meh - a word filler as in Singlish, used to at the end of sentences express surprise or to used to ask a question.
  • one - used at the back of sentences to express effect of something. (usually used for describing scenarios or behaviour).
  • "orh" - an expression to mention a point was taken or noted.
  • Orh hor - used to tell someone that they should feel guilty of what they just did.
  • oso - a short form of also.
  • "sia/siah" - used at the end of sentence, to express emphasis of something, usually surprise and shock.
  • tio - with the same meaning as kena, but can be used to express both positive and negative scenarios.
  • wah - same as wow-lau, used to express surprise or shock.
  • "what" - usually used as a filler to express sarcastic surprise or shock, in response to either a stupid question or nonsensical idea.

External links[edit]

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