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Singlish is the dialect of the English language as spoken colloquially in Singapore. Singlish formally takes after British English (in terms of spelling and abbreviations), although naming conventions are in a mix of American and British ones. 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).
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2 Vocabulary 3 Grammar 4 Pronunciation 5 English words with different meanings in Singlish 6 External Links |
The Singaporean Government considers Singlish a "pidgin" and a "handicap", and in the interest of promoting equality and better communication with the rest of the world has launched the Speak Good English Movement to eradicate it. Use of Singlish on television or radio is banned and schools can fine students caught speaking Singlish.
Most Singaporeans, on the other hand, think "bladi Garmen si peh kaypoh one,
why always so bedek kacang hor?". This sentence can be approximately broken down into:
Singlish is influenced by both British- and increasingly American-English. It uses many words borrowed from Hokkien, the dialect of more than 50% of the Chinese population in Singapore, and from Malay.
Examples:
The ubiquitous word 'lah' is used at the end of a sentence, for emphasis. In Malay it is used to make a verb into a command. To drink is minuman, but 'drink!' is minumlah. Hence a Singaporean would say 'drink, lah!' In common with other non-native forms of English, is it? or isn't it? are generic, like the French n'est-ce pas?:
Singlish pronunciation, while built on a base of British English, is also heavily influenced by Chinese and Malay.
Politics
Vocabulary
Grammar
The order of the verb and the subject can also vary when asking a question.
The word one is used with an adjective:
When asking if you want something, it is common to drop the subject, and end the sentence with or not?
Instead of answering yes or no when asking whether one is able to or permitted do something, the answer is can or cannot.
Frequently the word already is used at the end of the sentence to indicate past tense.Pronunciation
English words with different meanings in Singlish
Other idioms include:External Links