SE4218 Research Proposal

Introduction
Thesis
This paper will examine the politics of Singlish within Singapore society1 through the study
of the interactions of various actors at various scales. It seeks, in the process, to draw out
multilayered understandings of majority-minority dynamics.
General Background
Singlish is generally recognized as a pidginized form of English, drawing upon the different
dialects2 and languages3 present within the population. It is usually utilized in everyday, lowlevel speech and exchanges. Its popularity has been typically frowned upon by the ruling
elite, as reflected in official speeches, public documents, multiple areas of legislation in
broadcasting and education and the initiation of a currently on-going campaign named the
Speak Good English Movement (SGEM). The essential modus operandi of these actions and
campaigns has been the promotion of Standard English, with the tandem discouragement and
in some cases, prohibition of the use of Singlish. This is based on the ruling elites' belief that
Singlish is unbeneficial in multiple ways for the development of the national interest, as
defined by the ruling elites themselves. Singlish is thus officially judged as something to be
eradicated. This has naturally drawn the chagrin of supporters of Singlish, whose essential
argument is that Singlish is an essential element of the cultural integrity of Singapore. Such
unhappiness has manifested variously, most notably with a counter-campaign, the Speak
Good Singlish Movement (SGSM). The study of Singlish as a site of conflict thus draws out
several important concerns, regarding the political instabilities of presumed entities and
power relations, and of questions of sociolinguistic justice.
Of Rationales and Trends
Personal interests underlying this research hinge on the author's own identity as a
Singaporean, where the need has been felt to adopt a critical lens, away from the blindness,
inculcated by familiarity, towards the seemingly apolitical mundanities of everyday-life.
Several concurrent trends also warrant a concentrated academic interest towards the study of
Singlish in Singaporean society.
On a theoretical basis, understandings of the innocuous nature of language still tend to
persist, wherein there is assumed to be a certain standard body of a particular language, in
this case English, aside from language as is practised4. Such presumptions of the ideological
cleanness of language are what have prompted warnings from sociolinguistic scholars,
1 Singlish being a pidginized form of English, as located predominantly within
Singapore.
2 these include chinese dialects, like cantonese and Hokkien
3 these include malay and occasionally, tamil

regarding how little is actually examined about the power relations underlying language
itself, be it in terms of the authority behind set standards or of policies enacted5. What further
entrenches this lack of critical attention is the nature of pidginized Englishes, where it is seen
merely as a poorer derivative of the Standard English. This means that it does not receive the
status of language, hence relegating it to be of inconsequential significance, where more
attention is paid instead to "worthier" linguistic causes, like the fighting for the rights of
languages tied to particular ethnicities.
It is however precisely such a neglect, both politically and ideologically, which has obscured
the very real effects of impositions on and manipulations of pidgin Englishes on the
communities involved, especially when one considers how pidgin English tends to be the
only or primary linguistic possession of groups relatively socioeconomically disadvantaged
on a national scale.
On a temporal basis, Singapore has also undergone multiple major social, political, economic
and demographic shifts, within the relatively short space of time from its independence in
1965 to the present period. These changes include the vast imports of migrants from both the
upper and lower socioeconomic classes, more extensive and intensive global engagements,
far greater quantitative and qualitative access to media and communications- essentially, of
all processes related to globalisation. Globalisation has brought with it too associated fears,
both 'centripetal and centrifugal'6, stemming concurrently from both the ruling elites and the
masses. These fears and needs manifest in politico-linguistic tensions, between the need to
preserve semblances of local culture through local linguistic expressions and of remaining
economically relevant in a neoliberal global space, by adhering to the standards of the global
lingua franca . Local changes also include the general rise in income and standards and
quality of living, of increased bureaucratization and institutionalisation of multiple political,
social and economic functions, and specifically in very recent years- of increased political
participation of the masses, as observed in both the virtual and the physical spheres. These
changes have had significant bearings on the blurring of certain theoretical binaries and
concepts within the Singaporean context, like that of majority/minority, standard/vernacular
and prestige, "gradually turning them into a complex and multi-layered continuum7". The
unsettling of these concepts have revealed the exercising of a degree of agency by the
supposed minorities through engagements with various actors from a local to a global scale,
in the process proving the value of Singlish, thus severely threatening the arguments asserted
by the state in their bid to extinguish Singlish. This however does not abrogate the very real
asymmetries which persist, both materially and symbolically, in relation to the associated
language markers.

4 introduction of bourdieu
5 english with an accent
6 global south
7 societal multilingualism pdf

Research Methodology and Literature Review

In light of the theoretical and contextual demands of this essay, researched literatures have
been divided into four main groups:
1. Theoretical and technical underpinnings and paradigms
The main works chosen for this section will establish a framework by which to analyse both
actors, events and implications related to the politics of Singlish. Bourdieu's Language and
Symbolic Power will provide a foundation for the understanding of language as a
fundamentally charged entity, conditioned by a 'complex set of social, historical and political
conditions'8. Concepts of habitus, fields, performative utterances, market and capital,
censorship, and of symbolic violence will be appropriated with a Bourdieusian understanding
in Singapore society.
Bhabha's Of Mimicry and Man will be perused specifically for its concepts of colonial
mimicry and hybridity, elements particularly pertinent in post-colonial Singapore. Wodak and
Corson's Encyclopaedia of Language and Education, Wee's Intra-Language Disicrimination
and Linguistic Human Rights: The Case of Singlish and Lippi-Green's English with an
Accent will be largely incorporated for the human rights framework they apply to
understandings of politics in sociolinguistics. This is especially congruous in a context where
Singapore's aspirations of being a recognized global citizen pressures it increasingly to
adhere to the global shift towards human rights priorities. Cameron's Verbal Hygiene and
Johnson's From Linguistic Molehills to Social Mountains?Introducing Moral Panics about
Language will be incorporated to present a paradigm by which to understand the actions
undertaken by the Singapore government and the zeitgeist of the situation. Finally, Matras's
Language Contact and Grenoble and Whaley's Saving Languages- An Introduction to
Language Revitalization will provide the necessary linguistic scaffolding required to more
clearly comprehend the technicalities involved in the Singlish debate.
2. General studies about Singapore and Singlish
The literature covered under this subheading will encompass issues and questions of the
conflicting arguments from opposing sides of the debate, the stakes involved, the perceptions
and functions of both English and Singlish, of concurrent contributive trends in multiple
spheres and of socioeconomic stratification. Main works would include works by Wee, Chew
P.G, Chew F.P, Chua, Brown and Teo and Hoon.
3. Data-related studies of Singlish
Main areas covered would include perceptions of Singlish and English from the figures of
consumers, educators, politicians, students, foreigners and locals in general. The data
obtained from these sources, both primary and secondary, will shed further light on the
arguments asserted by both sides of the Singlish debate.
4. Comparative Studies
This section of literature will be appropriated to analyse the Singlish case in relation to
similar case studies, both in Southeast Asia and beyond. Britain will be of particular
relevance, as demonstrated in Johnson's From Linguistic Molehills to Social Mountains?
Introducing Moral Panics about Language, where hype about linguistic purity reached a
8 bordieu

height in the approximate period Singapore did, in the late twentieth century. Britain's status
as previous colonial master of Singapore further raises the possibility of seeing connected
strands in the linguistic purity debate, to shed further light on the dynamics of the Singlish
debate.

Conclusions
The proposed essay thus seeks to incorporate and synthesize diverse strands of thought,
encompassing Bourdieusian postulations of language and social capital, modern concepts of
moral panics, biopolitics and post-colonialism, and contemporary understandings of human
rights, incorporating contextual data and factors, to paint a picture of the Singlish debate
informed by continuities, both between the past and the present, as well as between
geographical scales. In the process, it thus endeavours to provide a clearer interdisciplinary
and inter-contextual understanding of majority-minority dynamics.