Singlish

Singlish
Native to	Singapore
Language family	Indo-European Germanic Ingvaeonic Anglo-Frisian Anglic English Singlish
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None
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Colloquial Singaporean English, better known as Singlish, is an English-based creole language^[1][2][3] spoken in Singapore.

While English is one of Singapore's official languages, Singlish is commonly regarded as having low prestige.^[4] The Singaporean government and some Singaporeans alike heavily discourage the use of Singlish in favour of Standard English. The government has created an annual Speak Good English Movement to emphasise the point. Singlish is also heavily discouraged in the mass media and in schools.^[5] However, such official discouragement and routine censorship is actually countered by other presentations in mainstream media, including routine usage by ordinary people in street interviews broadcast on TV and radio on a daily basis, as well as occasional usage in newspapers.^[6]

However, there have been recent surges in interest in Singlish usage, sparking several national conversations. In 2016, Oxford English Dictionary (OED) announced that it has added 19 new "Singapore English" items such as "ang moh", "shiok" and "sabo" in both its online and printed versions. Several Singlish words had previously made it into the OED's online version, which launched in March 2000. Words such as "Lah" and "sinseh" were already included in OED's debut, while "kiasu" made it into the online list in March 2007.^[7] Local celebrities were generally pleased for this Singaporean identity to be recognized on a global level.^[8]

The vocabulary of Singlish consists of words originating from English, Malay, Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Tamil. Also, elements of American and Australian slang have come through from imported television series and films.^[9]

Overview and history[edit]

Singapore English derives its roots from 146 years (1819–1965) of British colonial rule over Singapore. Prior to 1967 the standard form of English in Singapore had always been British English and Received Pronunciation. After Singapore declared independence in 1965, English in Singapore began to take a life of its own, leading to the development of modern-day Standard Singapore English. At the same time, Singlish evolved among the working classes who learned English without formal schooling.^{[citation needed]}

Singlish originated with the arrival of the British and the establishment of English language schools in Singapore.^[10] Soon, English filtered out of schools and onto the streets, to be picked up by non-English-speakers in a pidgin-like form for communication purposes. After some time, this new form of English, now loaded with substantial influences from Indian English, Baba, native Malay, and the southern varieties of Chinese, became the language of the streets and began to be learned as a first language in its own right.^[11] Creolization occurred, and Singlish is now a fully formed, stabilised, and independent English-based creole language.^{[citation needed]}

Singlish shares many linguistic similarities with Manglish of Malaysia, although a few distinctions can be made, particularly in vocabulary. Manglish generally now receives more Malay influence and Singlish more Chinese (Mandarin, Hokkien, etc.) influence. Initially, Singlish and Manglish were essentially the same dialect evolving from the British Malaya economy, born in the trading ports of Singapore, Malacca and Penang ^[12] when Singapore and peninsular Malaysia were for many purposes a de facto single entity.

In Singapore, English was the language of administration, which the British used, with the assistance of English-educated Straits-born Chinese, to control the administration in Malaya and governance of trading routes such as the British East Indies spice routes with China, Japan, Europe and America in those ports and colonies of Singapore, Malacca and Penang through the colonial governing seat in Singapore.

In British Malaya, English was the language of the British administration, whilst Malay was spoken as the lingua franca of the streets, as the British did not wish to antagonise the native Malays.

In British Singapore, however, as the seat of the colonial government and international commerce, English was both the language of administration and the lingua franca.^{[citation needed]}

In Malaya, the Chinese varieties themselves also contained many loan-words from Malay, and more Chinese loan-words from the Hokkien, rather than the Cantonese. For example, Hokkien-influenced pa sat instead of the Cantonese-influenced baa saak in Singapore (from Malay pasar meaning 'market'), loti (from Malay roti meaning 'bread'), Hokkien gu li and jam bban (from Malay guli meaning 'marble', and Malay 'jamban' meaning toilet).

After Singapore's independence in 1965, and successive "Speak Mandarin" campaigns,^[13] a subtle language shift among the post-1965 generation became more and more evident as Malay idiomatic expressions were, and continued to be, displaced by idioms borrowed from Chinese spoken varieties, such as Hokkien.^{[citation needed]}

Sociolect continuum[edit]

The English language in Singapore is a sociolect continuum.^[14] The continuum runs through the following varieties:

Acrolectal: Acrolectal Singaporean English exhibits an absence of or a much smaller degree of Singlish pronunciation features than do Mesolectal, Basilectal, and pidgin variants of Singlish.^{[citation needed]}

Mesolectal: This is the most commonly spoken form of Singlish. It is a mix between Standard English and Singlish. At this level, a number of features not found in other forms of English begin to emerge.^{[citation needed]}

Basilectal: This is the most colloquial form of speech.^[15] Here, one can find all of the unique phonological, lexical, and grammatical features of Singlish. Many of these features can be attributed to Asian languages such as Chinese, Malay, or Indian languages such as Tamil, though some cannot. Both the basilect and mesolect are referred to as "Singlish".

Pidgin: This is the "pidgin" level of Singlish, which is probably a good representative of an earlier stage of Singlish, before creolisation took place and solidified Singlish as a fully formed creole. As with all pidgins, speakers at the pidgin level speak another language as a first language, and Singlish as a second language. However, since a substantial number of people today learn Singlish natively, the number of speakers at the "pidgin" level of Singlish is dwindling.^[16] This is because by definition, a pidgin is not learned natively.

The coexistence of basilectal Singlish and acrolectal Standard Singapore English can also be analysed as a diglossia, which is a split between a "high" formal language and a "low" informal language.

The Sociolect Continuum of Singaporean English
Each of the following means the same thing, but the basilectal and mesolectal versions incorporate some colloquial additions for illustrative purposes.

Basilect ("Singlish") "Dis guy Singrish si beh zai sia."

Mesolect "Dis guy Singlish damn good eh."

Acrolect ("Standard") "This person's Singlish is very good."

Since many Singaporeans can speak English at multiple points along the sociolect spectrum, code-switching can occur very frequently between the acrolect (Standard Singapore English) and the mesolect (common Singlish). In addition, as many Singaporeans are also speakers of Chinese, Malay, or Indian languages such as Tamil, code-switching between English and other languages also occurs dynamically.^{[citation needed]}

For example, a local Singaporean might speak in a Singlish consisting of English, Hokkien, Malay and Indian loan-words, when chatting with their friends.^{[citation needed]}

Usage in society[edit]

Singlish is commonly regarded with low prestige in Singapore. For this reason, Singlish is not used in formal communication. Standard Singapore English is preferred by many educated Singaporeans.^[11]

Due to its origins, Singlish shares many similarities with pidgin varieties of English, and can easily give the impression of "broken English" or "bad English" to a speaker of some other, less divergent variety of English. In addition, the profusion of Singlish features, especially loanwords from Asian languages, mood particles, and topic-prominent structure, can easily make Singlish incomprehensible to a speaker of Standard English. As a result, the use of Singlish is greatly frowned on by the government, and two former prime ministers, Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong, have publicly declared^[17] that Singlish is a substandard English that handicaps Singaporeans, presents an obstacle to learning proper English and renders the speaker incomprehensible to everyone except another Singlish speaker.

Current prime minister Lee Hsien Loong has also said that Singlish should not be part of Singapore's identity.^[18] In the interests of promoting equality and better communication with the rest of the world, in 2000 the government launched the Speak Good English Movement to eradicate it,^[19] at least from formal usage. The Media Development Authority's free-to-air TV code states that the use of Singlish "should not be encouraged and can only be permitted in interviews, where only the interviewee speaks Singlish."^[20] Despite this, in recent years the use of Singlish on television and radio has proliferated as localised Singlish continues to be popular among Singaporeans, especially in comedies, such as Phua Chu Kang.^[11]

In 2016, then Prime Minister Lee Hsieen Loong's press secretary wrote in a rebuttal to a New York Times opinion piece by Singaporean poet and literary critic Gwee Li Sui, to reinforce the government's policy against Singlish - Standard English continues to be viewed as vital for its citizens to earn a living and be understood by fellow English speakers. ^[21]

Singlish is strongly discouraged in Singaporean schools at a governmental level as it is believed to hinder the proper learning of Standard English, and so faces a situation of diglossia.^[22] The use of Singlish when speaking in classes or to teachers, however officially frowned upon, is rather inevitable given that many teachers themselves are comfortable with the variety.^[23]

In most workplaces, Singlish is avoided in formal settings, especially at job interviews, meetings with clients, presentations or meetings. Standard Singapore English is preferred. Nevertheless, select Singlish phrases are sometimes injected into discussions to build rapport or for a humorous effect, especially when the audience consists mainly of locals, but more recent Speak Good English campaigns are conducted with tacit acceptance of Singlish as a valid patois.^[11]

In informal settings, such as during conversation with friends, or transactions in kopi tiams and shopping malls, Singlish is used without restriction. For many students, using Singlish is inevitable when interacting with their peers, siblings, parents and elders.^[11]

Singapore humour writer Sylvia Toh Paik Choo was the first to put a spelling and a punctuation to Singlish in her books Eh Goondu (1982) and Lagi Goondu (1986), which are essentially a glossary of Singlish, which she terms 'Pasar Patois'. This is later followed by publishing of a few other Singlish books including Coxford Singlish Dictionary (2002) by Colin Goh, An Essential Guide to Singlish (2003) by Miel and The Three Little Pigs Lah (2013) by Casey Chen, and Spiaking Singlish: A companion to how Singaporeans Communicate (2017) by Gwee Li Sui.

In recent times, Singlish is considered to be a fascinating language with its own systematic grammar. ^[24] Linguists from universities around the world have referred to local productions to demonstrate to students how Singlish has become a unique variety of the English language. ^[25]

Phonology[edit]

Background[edit]

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Singlish pronunciation, while built on a base of British English, is heavily influenced by Native Malay, Hokkien and Cantonese.

There are variations within Singlish, both geographically and ethnically. Chinese, Native Malays, Indians, Eurasians, and other ethnic groups in Singapore all have distinct accents.

All of these communities were formed by the earliest immigrants to Singapore and thus have been British subjects for three or more generations. Thus, they have received no other "native education" than solely British colonial education. Especially for those born before 1965, all the education received has been direct English rather than British influences. Many of the East Coast communities were descendants or in other ways, privileged to be granted British colonial education similar to those in Britain. As such the acrolectal standard of English does not diverge substantially from the acrolectal standard in Britain at this time, though (as in other colonial outposts) it always tended to be somewhat "out of date" compared with contemporary speech patterns in Britain.

The English-educated in Singapore received their English pedagogical instruction through missionary schools and convents such as the Anglo-Chinese School (ACS), Methodist Girls' School (MGS), Marymount Convent School, Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ), Canossa's Convent (Located in Aljunied). However, as decolonisation occurred, many expatriate English returned to Britain; Hence, in an unregulated socio-linguistic environment, the spontaneous varieties of a creolised English began to form after the 1960s.

In the East Coast, the teaching professions, especially teaching English, was a popular option in the European, Eurasian, Peranakan and Chinese communities who descended from privileged colonial Civil Service families for the Queen's Crown, from the beginning of the last century up till the 1970s. From the 1970s onwards, the permanent decolonisation meant that the original Queen's English taught began to experience deformation and modification from other languages. As a result, whole generations of school-children in the Siglap/Katong districts were taught English with an "English-ed", modified Queen's English accent minimally influenced by Eurasian, Peranakan and Hokkien Chinese intonation. Their Siglap/Katong accent, though not a pure form of Queen's English, is considered to be the prestigious variant of English in Singapore.^{[citation needed]} Because that area has also tended to supply the ruling and civil service classes, many uneducated immigrant Chinese, Native Malay and Indian (new Tamil immigrants) who are trapped in the lower rungs of the social scale, often mock and ridicule this "un-modern" and "foreign-sounding" English. With the rise of the consumerist and mass middle-class, second-generation immigrants of humble origins have begun to deliberately deform taught acrolectal English for street pidgin patois as a form of identity-creation, self-actualisation and self-determination.

Prominent members of society still speak the acrolectal Queen's English in formal situations including Benjamin Sheares, David Marshall, Harry Lee Kuan Yew, Lee Siew Chow, Francis Seow and other affluent descendants of the East Coast communities.

However, after 1965, with colonial attitudes being unpopular politically, a new "culture-free" English was promoted through the usages of television presenters in the former SBC (Singapore Broadcasting Corporation), through to its renaming as TCS (Television Corporation of Singapore) and to the current MediaCorp. This post-1965 accent is sometimes known as the "Channel 5 accent", so named after the English channel owned by the State media group.^{[citation needed]} This gave rise to a new standard of artificially constructed but standardised acrolectal English for Singapore that did not equate to Received Pronunciation in Britain but corresponded to the latter's social function and status within the new Singaporean national context due to state monopoly, censorship and control over media in this early stage of Singaporean national politics. Despite this, the more affluent English-educated classes continued to support the original Christian missionary and Convent schools financially to stem the degradation of English language instruction.^{[citation needed]} Despite all attempts, the English language in Singapore began to naturally creolise. The post-1965 English-educated accent is hence different from that of the pre-1965 "English-ed accent". For example, PM Lee Hsien Loong and Lee Hsien Yang, sons of the political figure Lee Kuan Yew, do not speak their father's Queen's English. The pure English diphthongs in words like "home", the liaison in pronunciation of "r" at the end of words ending with "r" followed by a word beginning with a vowel (such as "ever emerging", pronounced in Queen's English as "eveR emerging" does not occur. Instead, diphthongs are converted into simplified vowels, and elements of Chinese, Malay and other accents and influences begin to exert itself on the evolving acrolect.

Parallel to this, British economic, political and linguistic influence began to decline starkly throughout the world as colonies gained independence, such as India, while the United States of America rose as a superpower and American English largely took over as the international economic and cultural prestige variant. This change became more pervasive with the rise of Hollywood and American popular culture. As such, even among the "English-educated classes", the type and use of English shifted again as more affluent families, scholarship boards and charities sent the youth to boarding schools, colleges and universities in the United States over the United Kingdom.^{[citation needed]} Many more Singaporeans then began to be born abroad to a jetsetting English-ed class and descendants of the ex-Civil Service class for left for higher-paying education, legal and corporate positions in the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom, and a huge middle-class segment to Australia and New Zealand. As such, the English-educated class born after 1965 do not speak the Queen's English any more, nor do they hold the "Channel 5 accent" as a standard, reverting between the prestige variant of the countries they received schooling in, and the bourgeois patois for familiarity. As such, the English accent in Singapore has become an international hybrid similar to that of affluent families in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei and Tokyo.

When unemployment rose during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, Singlish came under official attack as undermining an economic competitiveness factor – English language fluency.

Consonants[edit]

The consonants in Singlish are given below:^[26]

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stops	p b			t d			k ɡ
Affricates					tʃ dʒ
Fricatives		f v	(θ ð)	s z	ʃ ʒ			h
Nasals	m			n			ŋ
Laterals				l
Approximants	w			r		j

(See International Phonetic Alphabet for an in-depth guide to the symbols.)

In general:

• The dental fricatives – /θ/ and /ð/ – merge with /t/ and /d/, so that three = tree and then = den.^[27] In syllable-final position, -th is pronounced as -f /f/, so with and birth are pronounced weeff /wif/ and bəff /bəf/ respectively.^[28] Under the influence of with, without is often pronounced with /v/ in place of /ð/: /wivaut/. The dental fricatives do occur in acrolectal speech, though even among educated speakers there is some variation.^[29]
• The voiceless stops – /p/, /t/ and /k/ – are sometimes unaspirated,^[27] especially among Malays.^[30] (Aspiration refers to the strong puff of air that may accompany the release of these stop consonants.) The acoustic effect of this is that the Singlish pronunciation of pat, tin and come sound more similar to bat, din, and gum than in other varieties of English.
• While it may be believed that the distinction between /l/ and /r/ is not stable at the basilectal level, as TV personality Phua Chu Kang's oft-repeated refrain to "Use your blain!" (use your brain) and "'Don pray pray!'" (Don't play-play, i.e. Don't fool around) may seem to indicate. It is more of a self-depreciating, rather self-aware joke, like "died-ed". One might note, however, that both these examples involve initial consonant clusters (/bl/ and /pl/ respectively), and conflation of /l/ and /r/ is found less often when they are not part of a cluster.
• /l/ at the end of a syllable, pronounced as a velarised "dark l" in British or American English, is often so velarised in Singlish that it approaches the Close-mid back unrounded vowel [ɤ], e.g. sale [seɤ]. /l/ also tends to be lost after the back vowels /ɔ/, /o/, /u/, and for some basilectal speakers, the central vowel /ə/. Hence pall = paw /pɔ/, roll = row /ro/, tool = two /tu/, and for some, pearl = per /pə/^[31]
• With some accents in Singapore, /l/ and /r/, when at the end of words such as will or or, will be replaced with [ɤ]. Hence /wiɤ/ or /ɔɤ/
• Syllabic consonants never occur. Hence taken [tekən] and battle [bɛtəɤ], never [tekn̩] or [bɛtl̩]. When the final /l/ is vocalised, little and litter may be homophones.^[32]
• [ʔ], the glottal stop, is inserted at the beginning of all words starting with a vowel, similar to German. As a result, final consonants do not experience liaison, i.e. run onto the next word. For example, "run out of eggs" would be very roughly "run-nout-to-veggs" in most dialects of English (e.g. [rʌn‿aʊɾ‿əv‿ɛɡz] in General American), but "run 'out 'of 'eggs" (e.g. [ran ʔau ʔɔf ʔeks]) in Singlish. This contributes to what some have described as the 'staccato effect' of Singapore English.^[33]
• [ʔ] replaces final plosive consonants of syllables in regular- to fast-paced speed speech, especially stops: Goodwood Park becomes Gu'-wu' Pa' /ɡuʔ wuʔ paʔ/, and there may be a glottal stop at the end of words such as back and out. Like in Cambodian, where a final 'g' becomes a 'k'; 'bad' becomes 'bat' with an unaspirated 't'.^[34]
• In final position, the distinction between voiced and voiceless sounds – i.e. /s/ & /z/, /t/ & /d/, etc. – is usually not maintained. As a result, cease = seize /sis/ and race = raise /res/.^[35] This leads to some mergers of noun/verb pairs, such as belief with believe /bilif/.
• Final consonant clusters simplify, especially in fast speech.^[36] In general, plosives, especially /t/ and /d/, are lost if they come after another consonant: bent = Ben /bɛn/, tact = tack /tɛk/, nest = Ness /nɛs/. /s/ is also commonly lost at the end of a consonant cluster: relax = relac /rilɛk/.

Vowels[edit]

Broadly speaking, there is a one-to-many mapping of Singlish vowel phonemes to British Received Pronunciation vowel phonemes, with a few exceptions (as discussed below, with regard to egg and peg). The following describes a typical system.^[27][37][38] There is generally no distinction between the non-close front monophthongs, so pet and pat are pronounced the same /pɛt/.^[39]

At the acrolectal level, the merged vowel phonemes are distinguished to some extent. These speakers may make a distinction between the tense vowels /i, u/ (FLEECE, GOOSE) and the lax vowels /ɪ, ʊ/ (KIT, FOOT) respectively. For some speakers elements from American English are introduced, such as pre-consonantal [r] (pronouncing the "r" in bird, port, etc.).^[40] This is caused by the popularity of American TV programming.^{[citation needed]} Current estimates are that about 20 per cent of university undergraduates sometimes use this American-style pre-consonantal [r] when reading a passage.^[41]

Monophthongs

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i (ɪ)		u (ʊ)
Close-mid	e	ə	o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Diphthongs

ai

au

ɔi

iə

uə

Vowel comparison between Singlish and English diaphonemic system:

Singlish phoneme	WP	as in
/i/	/iː/	meet
	/ɪ/	pit
/e/	/eɪ/	day
/e, ɛ/	/ɛ/ (before a voiced plosive)	leg
/ɛ/	/ɛ/	set
	/ɛər/	hair
	/æ/	map
/a/	(trap-bath split)	pass
	/ɑː/	father
	/ɑːr/	car
	/ʌ/	bus
/ɔ/	/ɒ/	mock
	/ɔː/	thought
	/ɔːr/	court
/o/	/oʊ/	low
/u/	/uː/	food
	/ʊ/	put
/ə/ – see below	/ɜːr/	bird
	/ə/	idea
	/ər/	better
/ai/	/aɪ/	my
/a/	/aɪ/ (before /l/)	mile
/au/	/aʊ/	mouth
/ɔi/	/ɔɪ/	boy
/iə/	/ɪər/	here
/uə/	/ʊər/	tour
/ɔ/	/ʊər/ (after /j/)	cure
/ai.ə/	/aɪər/	fire
/au.ə/	/aʊər/	power

• /ɛ/ remains /ɛ/ in Singlish, except when followed by a voiced plosive (/b/, /d/, or /g/), in which case it becomes /e/ among some speakers.^[42] However, this is not entirely predictable, as egg has a close vowel (so it rhymes with vague) while peg has an open vowel (and rhymes with tag); and similarly for most speakers bed has a close vowel (so it rhymes with made), while fed has a more open vowel (the same vowel as in bad).^[43] Which vowel occurs in each word therefore appears in these cases not to be predictable.
• /ai/ remains /ai/ in Singlish, except when followed by /l/, in which case it is the monophthong /a/.
• Examples of words have idiosyncratic pronunciations: flour /fla/ (expected: /flau.ə/ = flower),;^[44] and their /dja/ (expected: /dɛ/ = there). Flour/flower and their/there are therefore not homophones in Singlish. This also applies to Manglish.
• In general, Singlish vowels are tenser – there are no lax vowels (which RP has in pit, put, and so forth).
• The vowels in words such as day /de/ and low /lo/ are pronounced with less glide than the comparable diphthongs in RP, so they can be regarded as monophthongs – i.e. vowels with no glide.^[45][46]
• Where other varieties of English have an unstressed /ə/, i.e. a reduced vowel, Singlish tends to use the full vowel based on orthography. This can be seen in words such as accept /ɛksɛp/, example /ɛ(k)sampəl/, purchase /pətʃes/, maintenance /mentɛnəns/, presentation /prisɛnteʃən/, and so on. However, this does not mean that the reduced vowel /ə/ never occurs, as about and again have /ə/ in their first syllable. It seems that the letter 'a' is often pronounced /ə/, but the letter 'o' usually has a full vowel quality, especially in the con prefix (control, consider, etc.).^[47] There is a greater tendency to use a full vowel in a syllable which is closed off with a final consonant, so a full vowel is much more likely at the start of absorb /ɛbzɔb/ than afford /əfɔd/.^[48]
• In loanwords from Hokkien that contain nasal vowels, the nasalisation is often kept – one prominent example being the mood particle hor, pronounced Southern Min pronunciation: [hõ].

Tones[edit]

Singlish is semi-tonal as all words of Chinese origin retain their original tones in Singlish. On the other hand, original English words as well as words of Malay and Tamil origin are non-tonal.

Prosody[edit]

One of the most prominent and noticeable features of Singlish is its unique intonation pattern, which is quite unlike British, American or Australian English, etc.^[49] For example:

• Singlish is syllable-timed compared to most traditional varieties of English, which are usually stress-timed.^[50][51][52] This in turn gives Singlish rather a staccato feel.^[53]
• There is a tendency to use a rise-fall tone to indicate special emphasis.^[49] A rise-fall tone can occur quite often on the final word of an utterance, for example on the word cycle in "I will try to go to the park to cycle" without carrying any of the suggestive meaning associated with a rise-fall tone in British English.^[54] In fact, a rise-fall tone may be found on as many as 21 per cent of declaratives, and this use of the tone can convey a sense of strong approval or disapproval.^[55]
• There is a lack of the de-accenting that is found in most dialects of English (e.g. British and American), so information that is repeated or predictable is still given full prominence.^[56]
• There is often an 'early booster' at the start of an utterance,^[57] so an utterance like "I think they are quite nice and interesting magazines" may have a very high pitch occurring on the word think.^[58]
  
  

  Coxford Singlish Dictionary, a published book on Singlish
• There may be greater movement over individual syllables in Singlish than in other varieties of English. This makes Singlish sound as if it has the tones of Chinese, especially when speakers sometimes maintain the original tones of words that are borrowed into Singlish from Chinese.

Overall, the differences between the different ethnic communities in Singapore are most evident in the patterns of intonation, so for example Malay Singaporeans often have the main pitch excursion later in an utterance than ethnically Chinese and Indian Singaporeans.^[59]

Generally, these pronunciation patterns are thought to have increased the clarity of Singlish communications between pidgin-level speakers in often noisy environments, and these features were retained in creolisation.

Grammar[edit]

The grammar of Singlish has been heavily influenced by other languages in the region, such as Malay and Chinese, with some structures being identical to ones in Mandarin and other Chinese varieties. As a result, Singlish has acquired some unique features, especially at the basilectal level. Note that all of the features described below disappear at the acrolectal level, as people in formal situations tend to adjust their speech towards accepted norms found in other varieties of English.^{[citation needed]}

Topic prominence[edit]

Singlish is topic-prominent, like Chinese and Japanese. This means that Singlish sentences often begin with a topic (or a known reference of the conversation), followed by a comment (or new information)^[60][61][62] Compared to other varieties of English, the semantic relationship between topic and comment is not important; moreover, nouns, verbs, adverbs, and even entire subject-verb-object phrases can all serve as the topic:

• Dis country weather very hot one. – The weather is very warm in this country.
• Dat joker there cannot trust. – You cannot trust the person over there.
• Tomorrow don't need bring camera. – You don't need to bring a camera tomorrow.
• He play football also very good one leh. – He's very good at playing football too.
• Walau, I want to eat chicken rice – I am craving some chicken rice.
• I go bus-stop wait for you – I will be waiting for you at the bus-stop.

The above constructions can be translated analogously into Malay and Chinese, with little change to the word order.

The topic can be omitted when the context is clear, or shared between clauses. This results in constructions that appear to be missing a subject to a speaker of most other varieties of English, and so called PRO-drop utterances may be regarded as a diagnostic feature of Singapore Colloquial English (or 'Singlish').^[63] For example:

• No good lah. – This isn't good.
• Cannot anyhow go like dat one leh. – You/it can't just go like that.
• How come never show up? – Why didn't you/he/it show up? (See the use of never in place of didn't under the "Past tense" section.)
• I like badminton, dat's why I every weekend go play. – I play badminton every weekend because I like it.
• He sick, so he stay home sleep lor. – He's not feeling well, so he decided to rest at home and sleep!

Nouns[edit]

Nouns are optionally marked for plurality. Articles are also optional.^[64] For example:

• He can play piano.
• I like to read storybook.
• Your computer got virus or not? – Does your computer have a virus?
• This one ten cent only. – This one only costs 10 cents.

It is more common to mark the plural in the presence of a modifier that implies plurality, such as "many" or "four".^[65]

Many nouns which seem logically to refer to a countable item are used in the plural, including furniture and clothing.^[66] Examples of this usage from corpus recordings are:

• So I bought a lot of furnitures from IKEA...
• Where are all the stuffs I ordered?
• I had to borrow some winter clothings^[67]

To be[edit]

The copula, which is the verb "to be" in most varieties of English, is treated somewhat differently in Singlish:

When occurring with an adjective or adjective phrase, the verb "to be" tends to be omitted:

• I damn naughty.^[68]

Sometimes, an adverb such as "very" occurs, and this is reminiscent of Chinese usage of the word "很" (hen3) or "好" (hao3):

• Dis house very nice.

It is also common for the verb "to be" to be omitted before the present participle of the verb:^[69]

• I still finding.^[68]
• How come you so late still playing music, ah?
• You looking for trouble, is it?

Slightly less common is the dropping out of "to be" when used as an equative between two nouns, or as a locative:

• Dat one his wife lah. ("That lady is his wife.")^[70]
• Dis boy the class monitor. (= a subset of the disciplinary system; a monitor is empowered to enforce discipline by being an informant in the absence of the teacher or superior authority figure but his/her authority is restricted to the class; this is unlike a prefect whose authority is house-wide or even school-wide)
• His house in Toa Payoh

In general, "to be" drops out more after nouns and pronouns (except "I", "he", and "she"), and much less after a clause (what I think is...) or a demonstrative (this is...).

Past tense[edit]

Past tense marking is optional in Singlish. Marking of the past tense occurs most often in irregular verbs, as well as verbs where the past tense suffix is pronounced /ɪd/.^[71] For example:

• I went to Orchard Road yesterday.
• He accepted in the end.

Due to consonant cluster simplification, the past tense is most often unmarked when it is pronounced as /t/ or /d/ at the end of a consonant cluster:^[71]

• He talk so long, never stop, I ask him also never.

The past tense is more likely to be marked if the verb describes an isolated event (it is a punctual verb), and it tends to be unmarked if the verb in question represents an action that goes on for an extended period:^[72]

• When I young ah, I go school every day.
• When he was in school, he always get good marks one.
• Last night I mug so much, so sian already. (to mug is to cram for an examination. sian is an adjective for "bored/tired".)

There seems also to be a tendency to avoid use of the past tense to refer to someone who is still alive:

• The tour guide speak Mandarin^[73]

Note in the final example that although the speaker is narrating a story, she probably uses the present tense in the belief that the tour guide is probably still alive.—

Change of state[edit]

Instead of the past tense, a change of state can be expressed by adding already or liao (/liâu/) to the end of the sentence, analogous to Chinese 了 (le).^[74] This is not the same as the past tense, but more of an aspect, as it does not cover past habitual or continuous occurrences, and it refers to a real or hypothetical change of state in the past, present or future.

The frequent use of already (pronounced more like "oreddy" and sometimes spelt that way) in Singapore English is probably a direct influence of the Hokkien liao particle.^[75] For example:

• Aiyah, cannot wait any more, must go already. (Oh dear, I cannot wait any longer. I must leave immediately.)
• Yesterday, dey go there already. (They already went there yesterday.)
• Ah Song kana sai already, then how? (If Ah Song were to get in trouble, what would you do?)
  • kana is a phonetical mispronunciation of "kena" by non-Malay speakers, which is itself a Malay word that may mean either "to (have) encounter(ed) something" or "to have to (do something)" (notes further below). Sai is a Hokkien word that means "feces", and figuratively it means trouble. So kana Sai means touched by trouble, or get into trouble.

Some examples of the direct use of the Hokkien particle are:

• He throw liao. (He has already thrown it away.)
• I eat liao. (I ate or I have eaten.)
• This new game, you play liao or not? (As for this new game, have you played it yet?)

Negation[edit]

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 nasalising the previous vowel. This makes nasalisation the only mark of the negative.

• I do/don't ([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:

• This one can /kɛn/ do lah.
• This one can't /kan/ do lah.

Also, never is used as a negative past tense marker, and does not have to carry the English meaning. In this construction, the negated verb is never put into the past-tense form:

• How come today you never (=didn't) hand in homework?
• How come he never (=didn't) pay just now?

Interrogative[edit]

In addition to the usual^[which?] way of forming yes-no questions, Singlish uses two more constructions:

In a construction similar (but not identical) to Chinese A-not-A, 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:

• You want this book or not? – Do you want this book?
• Can or not? – Is this possible / permissible?

The phrase is it, appended to the end of sentences, forms yes-no questions.^[76] It is generic like the French n'est-ce pas? (isn't it so?), regardless of the actual verb in the sentence, and is strongly reminiscent of the Chinese "是吗" (shi4 ma) as well as of its frequent use amongst South Indian speakers of English. Is it implies that the speaker is simply confirming something he/she has already inferred:

• They never study, is it? (No wonder they failed!)
• You don't like that, is it? (No wonder you had that face!)
• Alamak, you guys never read newspaper is it? – "What? Haven't you guys ever read a newspaper?" (No wonder you aren't up to date!)

The phrase isn't it also occurs when the speaker thinks the hearer might disagree with the assertion.^[65]

There are also many discourse particles (such as hah, hor, meh, and ar) used in questions. (See the "Discourse particles" section elsewhere in this article.)

Reduplication[edit]

Another feature strongly reminiscent of Chinese and Malay, verbs are often repeated (e.g., TV personality Phua Chu Kang's "don't pray-pray!" pray = play). 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:^[77]

• You go ting ting a little bit, maybe den you 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 ting ting ting, until I get answer lor. (So I sat down, thought, thought and thought, until I understood.)

The use of verb repetition also serves to provide a more vivid description of an activity:

• Want to go Orchard walk walk see see (走走看看) or not? (Let's go shopping/sightseeing at Orchard Road.)
• Don't anyhow touch here touch there leh. (Please don't mess with my things.)

In another usage reminiscent of Chinese, nouns referring to people can be repeated for intimacy.^[78] Most commonly, monosyllabic nouns are repeated:

• My boy-boy is going to Primary One oreddy. (My son is about to enter Year/Grade/Standard One.)
• We two fren-fren one. (We are close friends.)

However, occasionally reduplication is also found with bisyllabic nouns:

• We buddy-buddy. You don't play me out, OK?^[79]
• I'm the kind who is buddy-buddy person.^[80]

Adjectives of one or two syllables can also be repeated for intensification:

• You go take the big-big one ah. (Retrieve the larger item, please.)
• You want a raise from this boss? Wait long long ah. (It will never happen.)

Due to the frequent use of these repetitions on short words, Singlish expressions often sound to speakers of American or British English as if they are spoken by children, which non-Singlish speakers find quite amusing, and contributes to the impression of Singlish as an informal and sometimes intimate language.

Discourse particles[edit]

Particles in Singlish are highly comparable to Chinese. In general, discourse particles, also known as "tags" occur at the end of a sentence. Their presence changes the meaning or the tone of the sentence, but not its grammatical meaning.

Particles are noted for keeping their tones regardless of the remainder of the sentence. Most of the particles are directly borrowed from southern Chinese varieties, with the tones intact.

Research on Singlish discourse particles have been many but varied, often focusing on analysing their functions in the sentences they appear in.^[81]

Singlish phrases[edit]

Wah Lau / Walao

Wah lau is derived from a Hokkien or Teochew phrase that means "my father". It is used as an interjection or exclamation at the beginning of a sentence, and it usually has a negative connotation.

• Wah lau! I can't believe the teacher gave us so much work to do in such a tight deadline!

Kena[edit]

Kena can be used as an auxiliary to mark the passive voice in some varieties of Singlish.^[82]

It is derived from a Malay word that means "to encounter or to come into physical contact",^[83] and is only used with objects that have a negative effect or connotation. Verbs after kena may appear in the infinitive form (i.e. without tense) or as a past participle. It is similar in meaning to passive markers in Chinese, such as Hokkien tio or Mandarin 被 bèi:

• He was scolded. = He got scolded. = He kena scold/scolded.
• If you don't listen to me, you will be punished, after which you will know that you were wrong = If you dun listen, later you get punished, and then you know = don't listen, later you kena punish/punished then you know.

Kena is not used with positive things:

• *He kena praised.
• *He kena lottery.
• *He kena jackpot. (huge winnings from playing the slot machine)

Use of kena as in the above examples will not be understood, and may even be greeted with a confused reply: But strike lottery good wat! (But it's a good thing to win the lottery!).

It may be used in vulgar, obscene and offensive contexts,^{[dubious – discuss]} such as:

• He kena fucked in the Singtel share buyout. (lost large amounts of money)
• He kena defamation imprisonment. (imprisoned as a result of defamation proceedings)

However, when used in sarcasm, kena can be used in apparently positive circumstances, though this is considered grammatically incorrect by the true natives of Singapore. It is mostly incorrectly used by European expatriates or Hong Kong and Mainlanders trying to integrate and assimilate into Singapore society,^{[dubious – discuss]} though with an ironic modicum of success, for example:

• He kena jackpot, come back to school after so long den got so much homework! (He received a lot of homework upon returning to school after a long absence.)

When the context is given, Kena may be used without a verb, similar to the colloquial-English construction "I am/you're/he is going to get it."

• Better do your homework, otherwise you kena. (You will be punished unless you do your homework.)
• Don't listen to me, later you kena.

Using another auxiliary verb with kena is perfectly acceptable as well:

• Better do your homework, otherwise you will kena.
• Don't listen to me, later you will kena.

Some examples of Singlish phrases with Kena:

• kena arrow: be assigned an undesirable task. (derives from National Service/military practice of placing arrows on a mail distribution list to denote addressees for the copy)
• kena bully: get bullied
• kena demolish: literally "was demolished" or "demolition"
• kena fine: get 'fined', or charged by the police
• kena hantam: be hit by something, such as a ball, or to be beaten up (hantam is another Malay word)
• kena sabo: become a victim of sabotage or a practical joke
• Kena fucked: get set up
• kena sai: literally "hit by shit"; be harmed by an unpleasant event or object
• kena tekan: tekan means "press", as in "pressure", in Malay; the phrase means to be physically tortured or punished. Often used in the army, which all male citizens must serve in.
• kena whack: be beaten badly, in games or in physical fights
• kena ban/silence: one of the newer uses of kena, it means to be banned/silenced in a computer game. The "silence" is only used when silenced from talking in chat by GMs (Game Masters), not having the "silence" effect that stops you from doing spells.
• kena zero: getting a zero mark for that paper that he/she was cheating

The word may be phonetically mispronounced "kana" by most non-Malays, especially by those of the Chinese tongue. Informal Malay may socio-linguistically dictate it be pronounced as kene (as in kernel without the r and l), while the word itself in reality has two different meanings; "to have (to) encounter(ed) something" as how it is explained above or "to have to (do something)":

"Kau kena angkat ni." – You have to carry this.
"Joe kena marah tadi." – Joe just got scolded.

Singlish, however, is only influenced by the latter application of the word.

Tio[edit]

Tio can be used interchangeably with kena in many scenarios. While kena is often used in negative situations, tio can be used in both positive and negative situations.

• He tio cancer. (He was diagnosed with cancer.)
• He tio jackpot. (He struck the jackpot.)
• He tio lottery. (He struck lottery.)
• Tio fined lor, what to do? (I got fined, couldn't help it.)

Tio has a lighter negative tone when used negatively, compared to kena.

• Kena fined lor, what to do?
• Tio fined lor, what to do?

Both mean the same, but kena makes the speaker sound more unhappy with the situation than tio.

Tio also sounds more sympathetic when talking about an unfortunate incident about someone close.

• Her mum tio cancer. (Her mum was diagnosed with cancer.)
• Sad sia, so young tio cancer. (How sad, he was diagnosed with cancer at such a young age.)

Using kena in the following might not be appropriate, as they seem impolite, as if the speaker is mocking the victim.

• Her mum kena cancer.
• He kena cancer.

One[edit]

The word one is used to emphasise the predicate of the sentence by implying that it is unique and characteristic. It is analogous to the use of particles like 嘅 (ge) or 架 (ga) in Cantonese, 啲 (e) in Hokkien, (-wa) in spoken Japanese, or 的 (de) in some varieties of Mandarin. One used in this way does not correspond to any use of the word "one" in British, American English, Australian English, etc.: It can be compared to the British usage of 'eh'. It might also be analysed as a relative pronoun, though it occurs at the end of the relative clause instead of the beginning (as in Standard English)^[84]

• Wah lau! So stupid one! – Oh my gosh! He's so stupid!
• I do everything by habit one. – I always do everything by habit.
• He never go school one. – He doesn't go to school (unlike other people).

For speakers of Mandarin, 的 (de) can also be used in place of one.

Then[edit]

The word then is often pronounced or written as den /dɛn/. When used, it represents different meanings in different contexts. In this section, the word is referred to as den.

i) "Den" can be synonymous with "so" or "therefore". It is used to replace the Chinese grammatical particle, 才 (see ii).

When it is intended to carry the meaning of "therefore", it is often used to explain one's blunder/negative consequences. In such contexts, it is a translation from Chinese "所以". When used in this context, the "den" is prolonged twice the usual length in emphasis, as opposed to the short emphasis it is given when used to mean cai2.

• Never do homework den (2 beats with shifts in tone sandhi, tone 2) indicating replacement of "所以") kena get scolding lor.

– I did not do my homework, that's why (therefore) I got a scolding

• Never do homework (pause) den (2 beats with shifts in tone sandhi, tone 2) indicating replacement of "然后") kena scolding lor.

– I did not do my homework; I got a scolding after that

• Never do homework den (1 beat with no shift in tone sandhi, indicating "才") kena scolding lor.

– It is only due to the fact that I did not do my homework that I was scolded.

Be very careful because "den" cannot be freely interchanged with "so". It will sound grammatically erroneous when employed inappropriately. This is because the grammatical rules in English do not correspond to the grammatical rules in Chinese on a one-for-one basis.

The following examples are inappropriate use of "den", which will immediately sound grammatically illogical to a Singlish speaker:

• I'm tired, den I'm going to sleep.
• I'm late, den I'm going to take a taxi.

The reason for this is that "den" often marks a negative, non-volitional outcome (either in the future or the past), while the above sentences express volition and are set in the present. Consider the following examples:

• I damn tired den langgar the car lor. - I was really tired, which is why I knocked into [that] car.
• I late den take taxi, otherwise don't take. - When I'm late, [only] then do I take a taxi; otherwise I don't take taxis. = I only take a taxi when I'm late. (see usage vi)

ii) "Den" is also used to describe an action that will be performed later. It is used to replace the Chinese particle, "才". When used in this context, the den is pronounced in one beat, instead of being lengthened to two beats as in (i).

If shortened, the meaning will be changed / incorrectly conveyed. For example, "I go home liao, "den" (2 beats) call you" will imbue the subtext with a questionable sense of irony, a lasciviousness for seduction (3 beats), or just general inappropriateness (random 2 beats indicating a Hong Kong comedy-influenced moleitou 無理頭 Singaporean sense of humour).

• I go home liao den call you. – I will call you when I reach home
• Later den say. – We'll discuss this later

iii) "Den" can used at the beginning of a sentence as a link to the previous sentence. In this usage, "den" is used to replace the Mandarin grammatical particle which is approximately equivalent in meaning (but not in grammatical usage) only to "then," or "然后" (ran2 hou4), as in "ran2hou4 hor". In such cases, it often carries a connotation of an exclamation.

When used in this context, in formal Singlish, the particle is lengthened to 2 beats to indicate replacement of "ran2hou4" or 1 beat when used in conjunction with "hor" as in "den hor".

It can also be shortened to 1 beat if the other speaker is a fluent Singapore speaker of Singlish (who tends to speak fast and can deduce via contextual clues which form of meaning the use of den is taking on), but the Singlish variant used when spoken to a wider Southeast Asian audience, is lengthening of the word to 2 beats.

The subtle usage of these particles differentiates a Malaysian speaking Manglish trying to assimilate into society, and a true-blue native-born Singaporean (whether it's a Chinese, Indian, Eurasian, Malay or Caucasian speaker of Singlish). In many cases, a mixed child born and bred in Singapore will speak a more subtle form of Singlish (together with the influence of another language such as Dutch, Swedish, German) than a first-generation Malaysian of Chinese descent assimilating into Singapore.

• We were doing everything fine, "den" he fuck everything up
• I was at a park. Den hor, I was attacked by dinosaur leh!
• I woke up at 10. Den boss saw me coming in late. So suay!

iv) "Den" can be used to return an insult/negative comment back to the originator. When used in such a way, there must first be an insult/negative comment from another party. In such contexts, it is a translation from Chinese "才".

• A: You're so stupid!
• B: You den stupid la – You're the stupid one
• A: You're late!
• B: You den late lor. – You're the late one

v) "Den?" can be used as a single-worded phrase. Even if "den" is used in a single-worded phrase, even with the same pronunciation, it can represent 4 different meanings. It can either be synonymous with "so what?", or it can be a sarcastic expression that the other party is making a statement that arose from his/her actions, or similarly an arrogant expression which indicating that the other party is stating the obvious, or it can be used as a short form for "what happened then?".

[Synonymous with "so what?"]

• A: I slept at 4 last night leh...
• B: Den?

[Sarcastic expression] Speakers tend to emphasise the pronunciation of 'n'. Context: A is supposed to meet B before meeting a larger group but A is late for the first meeting

• A: Late liao leh...
• B: Dennn?

[Arrogant expression] Speakers have the option of using "Den" in a phrase, as in "Ah Bu Den" or "Ah Den". In this case it serves approximately the same purpose as 'duh' in American English slang.

• A: Wah seh! You actually make this computer all by yourself ah?
• B: Ah bu den!

[Ah, but then? (What happened after that?)]

• A: I found $100 today...
• B: Den what?

vi) "Den" can also indicate a conditional (an if-then condition), implying an omitted "if"/"when":

• I late den take taxi, otherwise dun take. - When I'm late, [only] then do I take a taxi; otherwise I don't take taxis. = I only take a taxi when I'm late.
• You want to see Justin Bieber den go lah! - If you want to see Justin Bieber, then go [to the concert]!

Oi[edit]

Oi originating from the Hokkien (喂,oe), is commonly used in Singlish, as in other English varieties, to draw attention or to express surprise or indignation. Some examples of the usage of Oi include:

• Oi, you forgot to give me my pencil!
• Oi! Hear me can!
• Oi! You know how long I wait for you?!
• Oi! Wake up lah!

As "Oi" has connotations of disapproval, it is considered to be slightly offensive if it is used in situations where a more polite register is expected, e.g. while speaking to strangers in public, people in the workplace or one's elders.

Lah[edit]

The ubiquitous word lah (/lá/ or /lâ/), sometimes spelled as la and rarely spelled as larh, luh or lurh, is used at the end of a sentence.^[85] It originates from the Hokkien word (啦, POJ: lah) used by Chinese people when they speak Singlish, although its usage in Singapore is also been rarely influenced by its occurrence in Malay.^[86] It simultaneously softens the force of an utterance and entices solidarity,^[87] though it can also have the opposite meaning so it is used to signal power.^[88] In addition, there are suggestions that there is more than one lah particle, so there may be a stressed and an unstressed variant^[89] and perhaps as many as nine tonal variants, all having a special pragmatic function^[90]

Note that 'lah' is occasionally after a comma for clarity, though true locals never bother with punctuation, because there is never a pause before 'lah'. This is because in Malay, 'lah' is appended to the end of the word and is not a separate word by itself. It must also be noted that although 'lah' is usually spelled in the Malay fashion, its use is more akin to the Hokkien use. It is not related to 'la', found in the Scouse dialect in Liverpool, England, which is short for 'lad'.^[91]

In Malay, 'lah' is used to change a verb into a command or to soften its tone, particularly when usage of the verb may seem impolite. To drink is minum, but 'Here, drink!' is "minumlah!". Similarly, 'lah' is frequently used with imperatives in Singlish:

• Drink lah! – Just drink!

'Lah' also occurs frequently with "Yah" and "No" (hence "Yah lah!" and "No lah!..."). This can, with the appropriate tone, result in a less-brusque declaration and facilitate the flow of conversation. "No more work to do, we go home lah!" However, if the preceding clause is already diminutive or jocular, suffixing it with -lah would be redundant and improper: one would not say "yep lah", "nope lah", or "ta lah" (as in the British "Ta" for "thank you").

• 'Lah' with a low tone might indicate impatience. "Eh, hurry up lah."

Lah is often used with brusque, short, negative responses:

• I dun have lah! – I just don't have any of that (which you were requesting)!
• Dun know oreddy lah! – Argh, I don't know any more than what I told you! or I give up trying to understand this!

Lah is also used for reassurance:

• Dun worry, he can one lah. – Don't worry, he will be capable of doing it.
• Okay lah. – It's all right. Don't worry about it.

Lah is sometimes used to curse people

• Go and Die lah!.

Lah can also be used to emphasise items in a spoken list, appearing after each item in the list.

Although lah can appear nearly anywhere, it does not appear with a yes-no question. Other particles are used instead:

• He do that ah?
• Later free or not?
• Don't tell me he punch her ah?

Wat[edit]

The particle wat (/wàt/), also spelled what, is used to remind or contradict the listener,^[92] especially when strengthening another assertion that follows from the current one:

• But he very good at Math wat. – But he is very good at Mathematics. (Shouldn't you know this already, having known him for years?)
• You never give me wat! – (It's not my fault, since) You didn't give it to me! (Or else I would have gotten it, right?)
• I never punch him wat! – (I did not punch him) I did not punch him! (Or else I am the one, right?)

It can also be used to strengthen any assertion:^[93]

• The food there not bad wat. Can try lah.

This usage is noticeably characterised by a low tone on wat, and parallels the assertive Mandarin particle 嘛 in expressions like "不错嘛".

Mah[edit]

Mah (/má/), originating from both Hokkien and Cantonese (嘛, ma), is used to assert that something is obvious and final,^[94] and is usually used only with statements that are already patently true. It is often used to correct or cajole, and in some contexts is similar to English's duh. This may seem condescending to the listener:

• This one also can work one mah! – Can't you see that this choice will also work?
• He also know about it mah! – He knew about it as well, [so it's not my fault!]

Lor[edit]

Lor (/lɔ́/), also spelled lorh or loh, from Hokkien (啰, lor), is a casual, sometimes jocular way to assert upon the listener either direct observations or obvious inferences.^[92] It also carries a sense of resignation, or alternatively, dismissiveness.^[95] that "it happens this way and can't be helped":

• If you don't do the work, then you die liao lor! – If you don't do the work, then you're dead!
• Kay lor, you go and do what you want. – Fine, go ahead and do what you want.
• Dun have work to do, den go home lor. – If you're done working, you should go home. (What are you waiting for?)
• Ya lor. – ! Used when agreeing with someone

Leh[edit]

Leh (/lɛ́/ or /lé/), from Hokkien (leh 咧), is used to soften a command, request, claim, or complaint that may be brusque otherwise:

• Gimme leh. – Please, just give it to me.
• How come you don't give me leh? – Why aren't you giving it to me?
• The ticket seriously ex leh. – Argh, The tickets are really expensive.
• But I believe safe better than sorry leh. – The thing is, I believe it's better to be safe than sorry.
• Why you never give up your seat leh? –

Especially when on a low tone, it can be used to show the speaker's disapproval:^[93]

• You call her walk there, very far leh. (If you ask her to go there on foot, it will be a rather long distance.)

Hor[edit]

Hor (/hɔ̨̌/), from Hokkien (乎 honn), also spelled horh, is used to ask for the listener's attention and consent/support/agreement:^[96] It is usually pronounced with a low tone.

• Then hor, another person came out of the house. – And then, another person came out of the house.
• This shopping center very nice hor. – This shopping centre is very nice isn't it?
• Oh yah hoh! – Oh, yes! (realising something)

Ar[edit]

Ar (/ǎ/), also spelled arh or ah, is inserted between topic and comment.^[97] It often gives a negative tone:

• This boy ah, always so rude one! – This boy is so rude!

Ar (/ǎ/) with a rising tone is used to reiterate a rhetorical question:

• How come like dat one, ah? – Why is it like that? / Why are you like that?

Ar (/ā/) with a mid-level tone, on the other hand, is used to mark a genuine question that does require a response: ('or not' can also be used in this context.)

• You going again ar? – "Are you going again?"

Hah[edit]

Hah (/hǎ/), also spelled har, originating from the British English word huh or Hokkien (hannh 唅), is used to express disbelief, shock or used in a questioning manner.

• Har? He really ponned class yesterday ar! – What? Is it true that he played truant (=ponteng, shortened to 'pon' and converted into past tense, hence 'ponned') yesterday?
• Har? How he tio caning? – What? How did he end up being caned?

Meh[edit]

Meh (/mɛ́/), from Cantonese (咩, meh), is used to form questions expressing surprise or scepticism:

• They never study meh? – Didn't they study? (I thought they did.)
• You don't like that one meh? – You don't like that? (I thought you did.)
• Really meh? – Is that really so? (I honestly thought otherwise/I don't believe you.)

Siol[edit]

Siol is not a vulgar word. It is an adaptation of the word "Siul" (which means whistles). Often misunderstood as the word "Sial", Siol has no meaning at all (least if it's spelt Siul.) Siol is used to avoid using the word "Sial", which is a vulgarity and not acceptable in speech among most Malay families, and can be compared to the word "fuck". Sial is considered extremely rude if applied as a "sentence enhancer". To avoid getting "back-hand" (slapped across the face) by the elders between the families, the word "Siol" was created.

Example,

Using "Sial" - while having family dinner at home, a seven-year-old child says to his/her mother, "Apa "sial" Mak bebual?" - "What the fuck are you talking about, mom?"- risk of getting 'back-hand' from parents is highest.

Using Siol - same scenario as above, "Apa Siol Mak bebual?" - "What the whistle are you talking about, mom?" - risk of punishment from parents is lowest.

Siah[edit]

/sjà/, also spelled sia or siah, is used to express envy or emphasis. It is a derivative of the Malay vulgar word "sial" (derivative of the parent, used interchangeably but sometimes may imply a stronger emphasis). Originally, it is often used by Malay peers in informal speech between them, sometimes while enraged, and other times having different implications depending on the subject matter:

"Kau ade problem ke ape, sial?" – Do you have a problem or what? (negative, enraged)
"Sial ah, Joe bawak iPad ni ari." – Whoa, Joe brought an iPad today. (positive, envy)
"Takde lah sial." – No way, man. or I don't have it, man. (positive, neutral)
"Joe kene marah sial." – Joe got scolded, man. (positive, emphasis)

Malays may also pronounce it without the l, not following the ia but rather a nasal aah. This particular form of usage is often seen in expressing emphasis. There is a further third application of it, in that a k is added at the end when it will then be pronounced saak with the same nasal quality only when ending the word. It is similarly used in emphasis.

However, Singlish itself takes influence only from the general expression of the term without any negative implication, and non-Malay speakers (or Malays speaking to non-Malays) pronounce it either as a nasal sia or simply siah:

• He damn zai sia. – He's damn capable.
• Wah, heng sia. – Goodness me (=Wahlau)! That was a close shave (=heng)!

Sai[edit]

/sâi/ Also from Hokkien, it literally means excrement. This is also used in "kena sai", which means to be humiliated (see earlier part of this section for the definition of "kena").

Siao[edit]

/siâo/ derived from Hokkien Siao is a common word in Singlish. Literally, it means crazy.

• You siao ah? – * Are you crazy? (With sarcasm)

Summary[edit]

Summary of discourse and other particles:

Function	Example	Meaning
(Nothing)	Can.	"It can be done."
Solidarity	Can lah (soft).	"Rest assured, it can be done."
Seeking attention / support (implicit)	Can hor (soft) / hah?	"It can be done, right?"
Defensive	Can hor (sharp).	"Please do not doubt that it can be done."
Impatient/Defensive	Can lah (sharp).	"Clearly it works, I'm not sure why are you questioning it?"
Characteristic	Can one / de (的).	"(Despite your doubts) I know it can be done."
(Vividness)	Liddat (like that) very nice.	"This looks very nice."
Acceptance / Resignation	Can lor.	"Well, seems that it can be done, since you say so."
Completion / Finished	Can loh(!) / Can liao / oreddy.	"It's done!"
Assertion (implies that listener should already know)	Can wat/ Can lor (in some situations, when used firmly).	"It can be done... shouldn't you know this?"
Assertion (strong)	Can mah.	"See?! It can be done!"
Assertion (softened)	Can leh.	"Can't you see that it can be done?"
Yes / No question	Can anot?	"Can it be done?"
Yes / No question (confirmation)	Can izzit (Is it?)?	"It can be done, right?"
Yes / No question (skepticism)	Can meh?	"Um... are you sure it can be done?"
Confirmation	Can ar... (low tone).	"So... it can really be done?"
Rhetorical	Can ar (rising).	"Alright then, don't come asking for help if problems arise."
Amazement	Can sia(!)/ Can wor (sia is stronger than wor).	"Amazingly, it works!"
Indifference/ Questioning in a calm manner	Can huh (low tone).	"Can it be done?"
Joyful	Can loh!	"Hurray! It's done!"
Anger / Annoyance	Alamak! Why you go mess up!?	"Argh! Why did you go and mess it up!?"

Miscellaneous[edit]

Nia is originated from Hokkien which means 'only', mostly used to play down something that has been overestimated.

• Anna: "I not so old lah, I 18 nia."

"Then you know" is a phrase often used at the end of a sentence or after a warning of the possible negative consequences of an action. Can be directly translated as "and you will regret not heeding my advice". Also a direct translation of the Chinese '你才知道'.

• Mother: "Ah boy, don't run here run there, wait you fall down then you know ah."

Aiyyo (also spelled aiyo): A state of surprise. Originally from Chinese "哎哟".

"There is"/"there are" and "has"/"have" are both expressed using got, so that sentences can be translated in either way back into British / American / Australasian English. This is equivalent to the Chinese 有 yǒu (to have):

• Got question? Any questions? / Is there a question? / Do you have a question?
• Yesterday ar, Marina Bay Sands got so many people one! There were so many people at Marina Bay Sands yesterday. / Marina Bay Sands had so many people [there] yesterday.
• This bus got air-con or not? Is there air-conditioning on this bus? / Does this bus have air-conditioning?
• Where got!? Where is there [this]?, or less politely, There isn't/aren't any! also more loosely, What are you talking about?; generic response to any accusation. Translation of the Malay "mana ada?" which has the same usage.

Can is used extensively as both a question particle and an answer particle. The negative is cannot.

• Gimme can? Can you please give that to me?
• Can! Sure!
• Cannot. No way.

Can can be repeated for greater emphasis or to express enthusiasm:

• Boss: "Can you send me the report by this afternoon?" Employee: "Can, Can!" (No problem!)

The Malay word with the same meaning boleh can be used in place of can to add a greater sense of multiculturalism in the conversation. The person in a dominant position may prefer to use boleh instead:

• Employee: "Boss, tomorrow can get my pay check or not?" Boss: "Boleh lah ..." (sure/possibly)

The phrase like that is commonly appended to the end of the sentence to emphasise descriptions by adding vividness and continuousness. Due to its frequency of use, it is often pronounced lidat (lye-dat):

• He so stupid like that. – He really seems pretty stupid, you know.
• He acting like a one-year-old baby like that. – He's really acting like a one-year-old baby, you know.

Like that can also be used as in other Englishes:

• Why he acting like that? – Why is he acting this way?
• If like that, how am I going to answer to the gong shi ting? – If that's the case, how am I going to answer to the board of directors?

In British English, "also" is used before the predicate, while "too" is used after the predicative at the end of the sentence. In Singlish (also in American and Australian English), "also" (pronounced oso, see phonology section above) can be used in either position.

• I oso like dis one. (I also like this one.)
• I like dis one also. (I like this one too.)

"Also" is also used as a conjunction. In this case, "A also B" corresponds to "B although A". This stems from Chinese, where the words 也 (yě), 还 (hái) or 都 (dōu) (meaning also, though usage depends on dialect or context) would be used to express these sentences.

• I try so hard oso cannot do. (I tried so hard, and still I can't do it. OR I can't do it even though I tried so hard.)

The order of the verb and the subject in an indirect question is the same as a direct question.

• "Eh, you know where is he or not?" "Excuse me, do you know where he is?"

"Ownself" is often used in place of "yourself", or more accurately, "yourself" being an individual, in a state of being alone.

• "Har? He ownself go party yesterday for what?" "Why did he go to the party alone yesterday?"

Not all expressions with the -self pronouns should be taken literally, but as the omission of "by":

• Wah, hungry liao! You eat yourself, we eat ourself, can? (Hey, I/you should be hungry by this time! Let's split up and eat. (Then meet up again)

Some people have begun to add extra "ed"s to the past tense of words or to pronounce "ed" separately, sometimes in a form of exaggeration of the past tense. Most of the time, the user uses it intentionally to mock proper English.

• "Just now go and play game, character dieded siah!" "When I played a game just now, my character died!"

Vocabulary[edit]

Singlish formally takes after British English (in terms of spelling and abbreviations), although naming conventions are in a mix of American and British ones (with American ones on the rise). For instance, local media have "sports pages" (sport in British English) and "soccer coverage" (the use of the word "soccer" is not common in British media), though the word "football" is also taken to be synonymous with "soccer" in Singapore.

Singlish also uses many words borrowed from Hokkien, and from Malay. The most well-known instance of a borrowing from Hokkien is 'kiasu', which means "frightened of losing out^[98]", and is used to indicate behaviour such as queueing overnight to obtain something; and the most common borrowing from Malay is 'makan', meaning "to eat".^[99]

In many cases, English words take on the meaning of their Chinese counterparts, resulting in a shift in meaning. This is most obvious in such cases as "borrow"/"lend", which are functionally equivalent in Singlish and mapped to the same Hokkien word, "借" (chio), which can mean to lend or to borrow. ("Oi (also used as oy, although Singaporeans spell it as oi), can borrow me your calculator?"); and 'send' can be used to mean "accompany someone", as in "Let me send you to the airport", possibly under the influence of the Hokkien word "送" (sang).^[100] However, the Malay '(meng)hantar' can also be used to mean both "send a letter" and "take children to school",^[101] so perhaps both Malay and Chinese have combined to influence the usage of 'send' in Singapore.

See also[edit]

• Singlish vocabulary
• List of Singapore abbreviations
• Singapore English
• Standard Singapore English
• IPA chart for English dialects
• Mandarin Chinese
• Papia Kristang
• Peranakans
• Singaporean Mandarin
• Singdarin
• Singaporean Hokkien
• Speak Good English Movement
• Tamil Language
• Indian languages in Singapore
• Manglish

Notes and references[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Brown, Adam (1999). Singapore English in a Nutshell: An Alphabetical Description of its Features. Singapore: Federal Publications. ISBN 981-01-2435-X.
• Crewe, William (ed. 1977) The English Language in Singapore. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press.
• Deterding, David (2007). Singapore English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-2545-1.
• Deterding, David, Brown, Adam and Low Ee Ling (eds. 2005) English in Singapore: Phonetic Research on a Corpus. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Education (Asia). ISBN 0-07-124727-0.
• Deterding, David, Low Ee Ling and Brown, Adam (eds. 2003) English in Singapore: Research on Grammar. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Education (Asia). ISBN 0-07-123103-X.
• Deterding, David and Hvitfeldt, Robert (1994) 'The Features of Singapore English Pronunciation: Implications for Teachers', Teaching and Learning, 15 (1), 98-107. (on-line version)
• Deterding, David and Poedjosoedarmo, Gloria (2001) The Grammar of English: Morphology and Syntax for English Teachers in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Prentice Hall. (Chapter 19: Singapore English). ISBN 0-13-093009-1.
• Foley, Joseph (ed. 1988) New Englishes: the Case of Singapore, Singapore: Singapore University Press.
• Foley, J. A., T. Kandiah, Bao Zhiming, A.F. Gupta, L. Alsagoff, Ho Chee Lick, L. Wee, I. S. Talib and W. Bokhorst-Heng (eds. 1998) English in New Cultural Contexts: Reflections from Singapore. Singapore: Singapore Institute of Management/Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-588415-9.
• Gopinathan, S., Pakir, Anne, Ho Wah Kam and Saravanan, Vanithamani (eds. 1998) Language, Society and Education in Singapore (2nd edition), Singapore: Times Academic Press.
• Gupta, Anthea Fraser (1992) 'Contact features of Singapore Colloquial English'. In Kingsley Bolton and Helen Kwok (eds.) Sociolinguistics Today: International Perspectives, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 323–45.
• Gupta, Anthea Fraser (1994). The Step-Tongue: Children’s English in Singapore. Clevedon, UK: Multimedia Matters. ISBN 1-85359-229-3.
• Ho, Mian Lian and Platt, John Talbot (1993). Dynamics of a contact continuum: Singapore English. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-824828-8.
• Lim, Lisa (ed. 2004). Singapore English: a grammatical description. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins. ISBN 1-58811-576-3.
• Low, Ee Ling and Brown, Adam (2005) English in Singapore: An Introduction. Singapore: McGraw-Hill.
• Melcher, A. (2003). Unlearning Singlish: 400 Singlish-isms to avoid. Singapore: Andrew Melcher Pte. Ltd. ISBN 981-04-8952-8
• Newbrook, Mark (1987). Aspects of the syntax of educated Singaporean English: attitudes, beliefs, and usage. Frankfurt am Main; New York: P. Lang. ISBN 3-8204-9886-9.
• Ooi, Vincent B. Y. (ed. 2001) Evolving Identities: the English Language in Singapore and Malaysia. Singapore: Times Academic. ISBN 981-210-156-X.
• Pakir, Anne (1991) ‘The range and depth of English-knowing bilinguals in Singapore’, World Englishes, 10(2), 167–79.
• Platt, John Talbot and Weber, Heidi (1980). English in Singapore and Malaysia: status, features, functions. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-580438-4.
• Shelley, R., Beng, K.-S., & Takut bin Salah. (2000). Sounds and sins of Singlish, and other nonsense. Kuala Lumpur: Times Books International. ISBN 981-204-392-6
• Tongue, R. K. (1979) The English of Singapore and Malaysia (2nd edition). Singapore: Eastern Universities Press.
• VJ Times Editorial Team. (2000). Singlish to English: basic grammar guide. Singapore: VJ Times. ISBN 981-221-161-6
• Wee, Lionel (2004) 'Singapore English: Phonology'. In Edgar W. Schneider, Kate Burridge, Bernd Kortmann, Rajend Mesthrie and Clive Upton (eds.) A Handbook of Varieties of English. Volume 1: Phonology, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 1017–33.
• Wee, Lionel (2004) 'Singapore English: morphology and syntax'. In Bernd Kortmann, Kate Burridge, Rajend Mesthrie, Edgar W. Schneider and Clive Upton (eds.) A Handbook of Varieties of English. Volume 2: Morphology and Syntax, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 1058–72.
• Wong, J. O. (2001). The natural semantic metalanguage approach to the universal syntax of the Singlish existential primitive. CAS research paper series, no. 30. Singapore: Centre for Advanced Studies, National University of Singapore. ISBN 981-04-3817-6

External links[edit]

Library resources about Singlish

Resources in your library Resources in other libraries

• The Coxford Singlish Dictionary @ Talkingcock.com
• A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English
• Singlish Books to Get Intimate with Locals
• 'Hover & Hear' pronunciations in a Standard Singapore English accent, and compare side by side with other English accents from around the World.
• An Annotated Bibliography of Works on Singapore English
• The NIE Corpus of Spoken Singapore English
• The Lim Siew Lwee Corpus of Informal Singapore Speech