Singapore Language Change

A social analysis of language change in Singapore

A lot of factors have to play together in order for a language to change. It’s a complicated process which involves not only much human interaction but also a lot of social elements which influence and shape each other. In general, it can be stated that language change is a phenomenon which affects everyone all the time. Languages are always in a state of flux, similar to human societies and personal and individual networks. Therefore, as languages are humankind’s most used way of communication and expression, every individual practises language change every day, although on a small scale. Linguistic aspects such as borrowings and situational code-switching, changing one’s language variety

Malayan and Tamil, both also official languages of Singapore, tend to lose ground in both domains, informal and formal situations (Department of Statistics Singapore, 2010). At the first glance, a kind of diglossia seems to exist in Singapore, where English can be found as a high variety and Chinese as a low variety in informal domains. However, as multilingual communities are much more complex, the facts and circumstances cannot be treated as easy and simple as that. Singapore’s total population of around 5.61 million lives in an area which is a little bit smaller than Hamburg, a German city that has also a similar number of residents (Department of Statistics Singapore, 2017; Statistics Singapore – Latest Data, 2018; Statistisches Amt für Hamburg und Schleswig-Holstein - Anstalt des öffentlichen Rechts - (Statistikamt Nord), 2017). Such a large number of residents combined with different cultures and ethnic groups which constantly encounter each other on a small area lead to different speech communities. Gradually, not only have cultures mixed but also languages, leading to creoles; Singlish for example. At the present time, Standard Singaporean English is seen as the norm, enjoying an overt predige and signalling language

It is situated on an island, but only separated from it’s neighbour state Malaysia by the small straits of Johor. Formerly a British colony and trading point, Singapore has ever since benefited from it’s location. Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, a British governor, discerned that advantage and used his political influence and power to start building up a trading post in Singapore in 1819. Since then, Singapore has grown into one of the richest counties in the world, making it, for example, South East Asia’s financial centre. But Singapore’s present status would not have been possible without it’s multicultural society. Already before the foundation of Singapore as a trading point in 1819, a variety of people with different ethnic backgrounds lived on the island. Ever afterwards immigration has been a part of Singapore and shaped the country into it’s present form. Naturally, immigration has bought different languages into society. Today, Singapore has four official languages which represent the largest ethnic groups in the country. That selection ensured that each group feels accepted as they are all part of Singapore’s history, society and culture. As the first inhabitants of the island were Malays, the Malayan language has been selected as Singapore’s national language. Malays still make up a large part of Singapore’s population and are, after the Singaporean Chinese, the second largest ethnic group in the country (Faces