On Language Variation In Bilingualism From The Perspective Of Language Ideology

Singapore is a small country that is located in the South of Asia. The language condition of Singapore is well known by linguists and language learners. However, the current language policy and development of language usage in Singapore still need to be researched, in order to figure out the teaching method of a language for other countries. As we know, English and Chinese are both spoken in Singapore, and these two languages are quite different from English in England and Chinese in China. Those differences are mostly caused by factors, such as culture, history and geographic position. Besides these two languages, there are other two languages using in Singapore and these four are the official languages of Singapore which is supported by the government. Singaporean English and Singaporean Chinese are the two language varieties that are very different from other standard language versions, like American English and British English, in pronunciation, structure and usage. With the concern about these features, the author is wondering about the cause of language formation in Singapore. Those features got the attention of the author. Therefore, the author will discuss Singapore’s language condition from linguistic perspective in this paper.In linguistics, bilingualism is a concept to analyze the lingual phenomenon that is also seen in Singapore. Take this lingual phenomenon in Singapore as an example, the author tends to figure out how does a bilingual person speak and learn different languages. The theory of language ideology has chosen to be the main researching perspective in this paper to study bilingualism and language varieties. It is a link between social structures and forms of talk; meanwhile, it is also an important concept in linguistics and sociolinguistics. Language varieties of English and Chinese in Singapore are examined by the consideration of the important reflection of language ideology. An important policy in Singapore called Bilingual Educational Policy also shows the importance of language ideology. As for the current language condition of Singapore, the author will explain how the bilingual educational policy affects bilingual person. Therefore, in this paper, there are many examples about bilingualism that are taken to explain language varieties, like Singaporean English and Singaporean Chinese.Chapter one is the literature review. As an internal relation between linguistic and sociolinguistic, language ideology is investigated by different researchers in the past years. At the beginning of this chapter, the definition of language ideology will list with different understanding of linguists. In addition, the description of language ideology with its features and research scope are included. The author believes that a language variety is caused by language ideology in certain sense, as language ideology is closely related with consciousness and society. Therefore, the author will give the brief introduction about language varieties and language ideology. With the competence of speaking different language varieties, language speakers have the possibility to become a bilingual person and gain the chance to use different languages for working and daily usage in Singapore. This fact is proved by the formation of bilingualism and the language condition of Singapore. All of these efforts will provide a foundation for the latter study.Chapter two is an analysis of Singaporean English. In the previous chapter, the description of language varieties explained its importance in the formation of bilingualism. As a variety of English, Singaporean English is so different from Standard English in native countries. Moreover, the existences of two English versions in Singapore are affected by the specific features of language condition. They are Singaporean English (Singlish) and Singapore Colloquial English (SCE). In this chapter, the author will examine one of these two versions---SCE with examples. In addition, those examples indicate that several features of SCE are distinct with regional characteristics and grammatical features. The study of SCE could supply the evidence for the further research of Chinese English variety by other researchers. Chapter three is an analysis of Singaporean Chinese. Singaporean Chinese is a version of Standard Chinese, it is one of the official languages in Singapore and spoken by a large population of bilingual people. To examine its features and causing factors will also support the theory and definition of language ideology in language varieties’study. As we know, Standard Chinese in China and Chinese versions in other countries are quite different. In this chapter, Singaporean Chinese named Mandarin with examples and explanation used to figure out the affect of language ideology in Singapore. Mandarin is one of the bilingual languages in bilingualism, in other words, English and Mandarin can both well master by a language learner. This fact is meaningful for the English teachers and students in China.Based on the study in the above chapters, the author hopes that the study of language ideology and bilingualism about SCE and Mandarin will help the English’s develop research in China.