“We Have Won the Battle for Linguistics”: The Role of Singlish as a Uniquely Singaporean Identity Marker

In this thesis the author examines the attitudes of the Singaporean government and societal groupings towards Singlish. By assessing the change in the predominant themes explicated in the government’s stance towards Singlish, as well as the main themes present in the societal representation of Singlish amongst both the establishment leaning and non-establishment leaning sectors of society, the author attempts to ascertain whether Singaporean government policy regarding Singlish is at odds with the societal attitudes towards Singlish. Additionally, this thesis seeks to determine whether there is a divide within Singaporean society regarding Singlish. In order to do this the author uses thematic analysis of three main forms of sources, namely governmental speeches, letters to editor in the Straits Times online newspaper and user-generated content posted on YouTube. This thesis concludes that Singaporean government policy has changed regarding Singlish, becoming much less aggressive in...Show moreIn this thesis the author examines the attitudes of the Singaporean government and societal groupings towards Singlish. By assessing the change in the predominant themes explicated in the government’s stance towards Singlish, as well as the main themes present in the societal representation of Singlish amongst both the establishment leaning and non-establishment leaning sectors of society, the author attempts to ascertain whether Singaporean government policy regarding Singlish is at odds with the societal attitudes towards Singlish. Additionally, this thesis seeks to determine whether there is a divide within Singaporean society regarding Singlish. In order to do this the author uses thematic analysis of three main forms of sources, namely governmental speeches, letters to editor in the Straits Times online newspaper and user-generated content posted on YouTube. This thesis concludes that Singaporean government policy has changed regarding Singlish, becoming much less aggressive in its demotion of the dialect. The thesis also finds that there is a divide between the attitudes expressed in the traditional media and YouTube, with views on YouTube being decidedly more pro-Singlish in outlook. Indeed, this thesis also finds that young Singaporeans view Singlish as integral to identity construction and government attempts to demote the use of Singlish as misguided. These findings have implications more generally for the traditionally invasive style of governance adopted by the Singaporean government.Show less

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“We Have Won the Battle for Linguistics”: The Role of Singlish as a Uniquely Singaporean Identity Marker