Back to basics: Step 1
Arthur
JJC
Outgrowing 17
Dreamer
Poet
Lover
Atheist
Left-Handed Saggitarian
My passions: Step 2
Food
Company
Writing
Movies
Music
Debates
What i am: Step 3
Strengths:
Confident
Sensitive
Eloquent
Weaknesses:
Paranoid
Unorganized
Careless
Dreams of a globetrotter wannabe: Step 4
Paris
Shanghai
London
Gold Coast
Japan(Tokyo)
Rome
Taiwan
Hong Kong
New York
San Francisco
South Korea
Wishlist
My own domain
Scholarship
To publish a book
Want to know more about me?
Read my blog and you would start discovering fragments of me
P.S. All the works here posted belong to me unless stated otherwise. If you want to post them elsewhere, please seek prior permission from me before doing so. Thanks.
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This issue about Singlish being irrelevant and useless popped up in my mind today out of the blue. Our education system discourages the use of Singlish and promotes the use of English itself for a very practical reason, that being English is one of the most widely spoken languages. The same goes towards the increasing emphasis on the use of Chinese language with China rising.
But really, let us think about this. We have heard of various American slangs which are synonomous with our "Lah", "Leh", "Loh" in terms of function which is to achieve the desired impact through selective use of words.Why is it that we don't hear about the Americans trying to get rid of these slangs and replacing them with "proper" and "accurate" English? I would say it's because Americans are proud of it.
Language is an ever evolving entity, just like culture, which evolves with influence from external factors such as the country in question and it's historical background. It's just like how a fast-food restaurant won't have the same menu throughout all it's outlets in the world. Language is adapted and anything but static. This is however, not characteristic of the modern society that we live in today because modern English itself is a result of such evolution in English. We had Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English(The Language of Shakespeare) and now Modern English. In fact, even in Modern English, we have included words from those of French and Norman. Thus, we shouldn't see it as surprising that we have adopted modern english into Singlish.
Why is it that not many people understand Singlish as compared to it's counterparts such as American slangs? I personally feel it's probably a lack of exporting of our publications and the lack of influence of our language. This could partially be because we don't have a lot of established writers and probably also because what's written isn't interesting enough to attract international attraction.
This makes it almost impossible for us to have an identity associated to us in various forms such as language and various aspects because we simply just take what's pragmatic and of economic signifiance instead of trying to spread our beliefs and ideas. This would of course mean novelty is imperative for this to happen. Much of the problems associated to Singlish by academics probably wouldn't be a problem at all if we spread our influence and in fact would promote our identity. I think developing and promoting an identity is something that is coeval. When you promote an identity, you feel proud about it and devleop it in the process.
Why discourage Singlish?
Labels: Language, Singapore, Singlish