Singapore English: phonology

To understand the English language in Singapore, it is useful to make a distinction between two different varieties, Standard Singapore English and Colloquial Singapore English (CollSgE) (popularly known as Singlish). Though it is generally acknowledged that the variation within Singapore English is in actuality a continuum, language policies and attitudes, as well as academic perspectives, are often based on the polarization of this continuum into the two varieties just mentioned.

In this overview, I begin first with a brief historical sketch of the ‘arrival’ of English in Singapore under British colonial rule, followed by a discussion of modern Singapore society and its language policy of “English-knowing bilingualism”. I then continue with a description of attitudes towards the colloquial variety, Singlish, before concluding with academic debates on whether Singapore English is better described in terms of a lectal continuum or a framework of diglossia.