Studies Of The Multilingual Phenomenon And Language Contact In The Singapore Chinese Community

Singapore is a multiracial and multilingual country. Due to its unique historical background and other social factors, the use of Mandarin by the local Chinese population has evolved to become complex and multifaceted. The Chinese community in the early years of Singapore communicated mainly through the use of various Chinese dialects and the Malay language. After Singapore gained independence in 1965, the government placed a strong emphasis on the bilingual policy, resulting in the higher proficiency of both the English and Chinese languages amongst the majority of the younger Chinese population. As a result of contact with multiple languages and dialects, the English language and Mandarin in Singapore has varied linguistically, to become a native variant of the original languages which incorporates multiple local languages and dialect.The aim of this thesis is to analyse the language use of Singapore Chinese population from historical and synchronic perspectives, so as to unravel issues pertaining to language contact phenomena, and understand the evolution of multilingualism in Singapore society. We hope the findings will provide useful references in the field of language planning and learning at the national level.This thesis delves into the issues of language contact and multilingual phenomena of Singapore Chinese community based on fundamentals from modern sciolinguistic theory. There is a strong relationship between language use of Singapore Chinese and the social context. We adopt a pragmatic and scientific approach by conducting a sociolinguistic survey of the Chinese community in Singapore, which brings to light many interesting aspects of the language use and attitudes of Singapore Chinese based on quantitative analyses of survey data.The synopses of the 7 chapters in this thesis are as follows:Chapter 1 gives an outline of the thesis and introduces definitions and concepts of specific key words, including bilingualism, multilingualism, diglossia, polyglossia, Huayu and mother tongue.Chapter 2 traces the formation and development of the multilingual phenomenon in Singapore. Colonial Singapore attracted a huge influx of Chinese immigrants from Southern China in the early 19th century, which set the stage for the multilingual setting of Chinese community. The Chinese immigrants who settled down in Singapore formed clans based on dialect groups, common geographical areas or similar surnames. Linguistically, the early Chinese population was fragmented into various dialect groups. Apart from this group of Chinese immigrants, there were the Straits Chinese who came from Malacca and spoke Baba Malay, which is a form of patois Malay interspersed with Hokkien. Next, the thesis focuses on the determinants of language use in Singapore Chinese community after independence in 1965, which includes bilingual policy, Speak Mandarin campaign and foreign talent policy.Chapter 3 applies the theory of modern linguistics in the comparison of the phonology, vocabulary and grammar of Singlish and Singapore Mandarin. This analysis enables a better understanding of how the multilingual background and language contact led to variation and special characteristics of Singlish and Singapore Mandarin. Compared to Singapore Mandarin, Singlish exhibits a greater extent of language variation, and hence is typecast as a form of "mixed language".Chapter 4 provides significant findings of the survey on language use and attitudes of Singapore Chinese community. The results from statistical analyses of the survey data are also compared with an earlier survey conducted in 1996. This latest survey reveals that the majority of Singapore Chinese are competent in both basic English and Mandarin, which they use frequently in daily comunication. The usage of Chinese dialects has continued to decline, and is mainly confined to family domain. It is also evident that a new diglossic pattern is emerging in the Singapore Chinese community, as English is used in formal and official domains, while Mandarin and mixed languages are used in informal domains. There are discernible differences among different age groups in their language attitudes. The younger Chinese generation displays similar attitude towards both English and Mandarin, which is a stark contrast to the older generation with immense emotional attachment to Mandarin and dialects. The Singapore Chinese community has gradually come into acceptance of mixed language usage and views it as a trait of local identity. On the other hand, responses to the need of learning a third language in Singapore are mixed.Chapter 5 explores the usage of a mixture of languages in both verbal and written contexts of the Singapore Chinese community. We conducted two case studies involving recording of conversations; the first one was conducted among 4 young Chinese Singaporeans at a social gathering, and the second one was during a three-generation family gathering at home. These case studies show that code switching and code mixing are common phenomena in daily communication among the Chinese community. Analyses based on this study are congruent with the findings of the survey.Chapter 6 analyses the language characteristics of a free Chinese newspaper by using the three elements, namely field, tenor and mode from Halliday's Register Theory. The study indicates that the evolvement of new media language has been spearheaded by the linguistic context of situation in Singapore. The unique language usage of could serve as a precedent of the gradual evolution of language usage in Chinese media into a new era by adopting a bilingual approach.Chapter 7 examines the impact of inculcating Chinese culture from modern China in reshaping the landscape of language use in Singapore's Chinese community. This observation is attributed to the steady increase in number of new Chinese immigrants in Singapore and the growing global influence of China arising from its economic success. The assimilation of the distinctive China culture has led to formation of two different speech communities within the Singapore Chinese.Last but not least, the final chapter recapitulate the key observations and findings. We appraise the key drivers of language setting in the Singapore Chinese community and cite the main challenges that lies ahead. This thesis then concludes by providing a positive outlook of a stable bilingual language setting in the Chinese community.