What is Singlish?
Q: What is Singlish?
A: Singlish is a language used mostly in Singapore. It is the first language of many younger Singaporeans, especially those whose parents do not share a native language or dialect, and is the second language of nearly all the rest of the country's residents. The vocabulary of Singlish consists of words originating from English, Malay (mainly Bahasa Melayu rather than Indonesian), Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Tamil and to a lesser extent various other European, Indic and Sinitic languages.
Q: What does the syntax of Singlish resemble?
A: The syntax of Singlish resembles southern varieties of Chinese.
Q: What other languages have been incorporated into Singlish?
A: Elements of American and Australian slang have come through from imported television series. To date, other Asian languages like Japanese, Korean and other lesser known Chinese dialects such as Shanghainese have also been incorporated into Singlish. Recently because Mandarin is taught to all Singaporean Chinese in school, Mandarin words have also become a part of Singlish.
Q: Is there any relation between Manglish and Singlish?
A: Yes -Singlish is closely related to Manglish which comes from Malaysia.
Q: Why does the Singaporean government want people to use Standard English instead?
A: The Singaporean government wants people to use Standard English instead because it believes that Singaporeans need to be able to effectively communicate with other English users in the world.
Q: How does the government emphasize this point?
A: The government runs the Speak Good English Movement to emphasise this point.
