SINGLISH ( Singaporean English )

1. SINGLISH (Singaporean English) 林祈 2006年10月23日

2. Definition • Singlish,a portmanteau of "Singapore" and "English", is the English-based creole spoken colloquially in Singapore. Although English is the lexifier language, Singlish may be difficult to understand for speakers of standard varieties, such as British, American or Australian English. The main difficulties in understanding are Singlish's unique slang and syntax, which are more pronounced in informal speech. • 简单地说，新加坡英语就是：英文词汇+混合语法+以中文为主体的语气和语调。

3. Overview • English Creole • British English • Indian English (Tamil) • Baba Malay • the southern varieties of Chinese CREOLE

4. Overview • Sociolect continuum • Acrolectal: "highest-class" form of speech • Mesolectal: "middle-class", used in formal and semi-formal situations • Basilectal: colloquial speech, "Singlish" • Pidgin: a good representative of an earlier stage of Singlish, before creolization took place and solidified Singlish as a fully-formed creole. • The coexistence of basilectal Singlish and acrolectal Standard English can also be analyzed as a diglossia, which is a split between a "high" formal language and a "low" informal language. CATEGORY

5. Overview • The Sociolect Continuum of Singaporean English Basilect ★"Dis guy Singrish si beh powderful wan. Hoh seh liao lah!" Basilect ("Singlish") ★"Dis guy Singlish damn powerful one leh." Mesolect ★"This person's Singlishis very good." Acrolect ("Standard") EXAMPLES

6. Phonology • Consonants • The unvoiced stops and affricate—/p/ pat, /t/ tin, /k/ come, /tʃ/ chin—are sometimes unaspirated. The general effect of this is that, the Singlish pronunciation of pat, tin and come may sometimes seem closer to bat, din, and gum than other varieties of English. • The voiced fricatives—/v/ very, /z/ zero, /ʒ/ vision—are unstable at the basilectal level, and may be substituted with other phonemes, e.g. bery for very, gero for zero.

7. consonants • The dental fricatives—/θ/ thin and /ð/ then—merge into /t/ and /d/, so that three = tree and then = den. /θ/ is often replaced with a strongly aspirated /t/: [tʰ]. When put at the end of a word, -th are pronounced as -f, for example, with or path is read as wiff and paff respectively. Under the influence of "with", without is often pronounced with /v/ in place of /ð/. The dental fricatives are restored in acrolectal speech. • Final consonant clusters simplify, especially fast speech. In general, stops, especially /t/ and /d/, are lost if they come after another consonant: bent = Ben, act = ack, nest = Ness. /s/ is also commonly lost at the end of a consonant cluster: relax = relac, although this pair has also been explained as the result of a reanalysation of relax as a 3rd person plural verb, he *relacs

8. Singlish Joke • 丈夫对朋友介绍自己的妻子， 讲到年龄时他说：You know I’m dirty tree, already lah. But do you know my wife is also dirty tree? • 他的本意为：你知道我已经三十三岁了，但你知道我老婆也三十三了吗？ • 他的英语却在说：你知道我这人是棵脏树，但你知道我老婆也是棵脏树吗？

9. vowels • The vowel system of Singlish can be generally derived by merging vowel phonemes in the British Received Pronunciation vowel system. The following describes a typical system. Some speakers may further merge /e/ and /ɛ/; other speakers make a distinction between /i/ and /ɪ/, /ɛ/ and /ɛə/, or /ɑ/ and /ʌ/. • Examples of worlds have idiosyncratic pronunciations: flour /flɑ/ (expected: /flɑ wə/ = flower) their /djɑ/ (expected: /dɛ/ = there) • In loanwords from Hokkien that contain nasal vowels, the nasalization is often kept - one prominent example being the mood particle hor, pronounced as [hõ].

10. Intonation • syllable-timed • Pitch contours • Preserve the tones of loan words from Mandarin and other Chinese languages.

11. Coxford Singlish Dictionary • 英国人：I’m sorry, Sir, but we don’t seem to have the sweater you want in your size, but if you give me a moment, I can call the other outlets for you. 新加坡人：No stock! （没货！） • 英国人：Hello, this is Mr. Bean. Did anyone page for me a few moments ago? 新加坡人：Hello, who page? (喂，谁呼我？) • 英国人：Excuse me, but do you think it would be possible for me to enter through this door? 新加坡人：（while pointing at door) Can or Not?能不能？ • 英国人：Please make yourself right at home. 新加坡人：Don’t shy, leh!（别害臊了！） • 英国人：Excuse me, I’d like to get by. Would you please make way? 新加坡人：Lai,siam!或者 Siam, hor!或者Skius!（前两者乃闽南方言，大意为：让开；后者为不标准英语， 意即：对不起，让我过去。）

12. Typical Dialogue -“Aiyah！Vienna very Hot！”　 1 -“We bring the heat，mah 5！” -“Don’t kau peh，lah 5！” 2 -“I’m hungry，already lah5！Go where？3Meh Donner.” -“Can can,4 lah 5！”

13. Typical Dialogue -“Aiyah！Vienna very Hot！” 1（哎呀，维也纳真热！） -“We bring the heat，mah 5！” （我们把热带来了嘛！） -“Don’t kau peh(闽南话：哭爹) ，lah 5！” 2（别吵啦！） -“I’m hungry，already lah5！Go where？3Meh Donne（我已经饿啦！ 到哪儿吃饭去？去麦当劳好不好？） -“Can can,4 lah 5！” （可以啦！）

14. Grammar • 动词“To be” • 新加坡英语副词 very、so、not等代替to be、not to be的用法，与汉语用法相仿： Dis house very nice. — 这个房子很好看。 You so stupid! – 你真笨！ Dat car not worth the money. — 那辆车不值。 • -ing 可以独立作进行体，不需加to be，相当于汉语“在”、“正在”： How come so late in the night you still playing music, ar? — 怎么这么晚了你还在放音乐啊？ You looking for trouble, is it? — 你是不是在找岔儿啊？ • 其他省略to be的用法，如直接加介词： His house in Ang Mo Kio. — 他家在宏茂桥。 • 一般来说，to be在名词、人称代词后省略（I、he、she除外），在从句或指事代词（this、that）后保留。 GRAMMAR

15. Negation • Negation works in general like English, with not added after "to be", "to have", or modals, 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 nasalizing the previous vowel. This makes nasalization the only mark of the negative. e.g.I do ([dõ]) want. — 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: e.g.I can /kɛn/ do this lah. I can't /kɑn/ do this lah. GRAMMAR

16. Interrogative • In addition to the usual way of forming yes-no questions, Singlish uses two more constructions: • In a construction similar (but not identical) to Chinese, 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: (相当于汉语:X不X?) e.g. This book you want or not? — Do you want this book? Can or not? — Is this possible / permissible? • The phrase is it is also appended to the end of sentences to form yes-no questions. Is it implies that the speaker is simply confirming something he/she has already inferred: e.g. They never study, is it? (No wonder they fail!) You don't like that, is it? (No wonder you had that face!) GRAMMAR

17. Reduplication • 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: e.g. You go tink tink a little bit, maybe den you will 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 tink tink tink, until I get answer lor. (So I sat down, thought, thought and thought, until I understood.) • In another usage reminiscent of Chinese, nouns referring to people can be repeated for intimacy. Only monosyllabic nouns can be repeated: e.g. My boy-boy is going to Primary One already. — 我的儿子（仔仔）都上一年级了。 GRAMMAR

18. Discourse particles • Lah: used at the end of a sentence; simultaneously asserts a position and entices solidarity. e.g.used with imperatives: Drink, lah! (粤语：饮啦!) used with brusque, short, negative responses: You dun know one, lah! — 我看你根本不知道！ used for reassurance: It‘s okay lah. — 没事了。 • Mah: used to assert that something is obvious and final, and is usually used only with statements that are already patently true. It is often used to correct or cajole. This may seem condescending to the listener: e.g. But he very good at sports, dat's why can play soccer mah! — 他体育不错，所以球踢得这么好嘛！ GRAMMAR

19. Words with Different Meanings • blur - 笨 • cock - 胡说八道 "Don't talk cock, lah!"（“别胡说八道啦！”） • keep - （把东西）收起来 "Please keep your notes"（“请把你的笔记收起来。”） • send - 把人送到一个地方 "I'll send you to the airport."（“我会送你到机场。”） • spoil - 弄坏（动词）或是已经坏掉的（名词或形容词） "This one, spoil."（“这个已经坏了。”） • stay - 住在某处 "She's staying in Ang Mo Kio."（“她住在宏茂桥。”） • upgrade - 提高、变得更好 “The service has been upgraded.”（“服务提高了。”）