‘You can’t tell people to not speak it,’ says NUS don. But where does Singlish stand now?
August 12, 2022
In ‘“You can’t tell people to not speak it,” says NUS don. But where does Singlish stand now?’ (Channel News Asia, 10 August 2022), Assistant Professor Cynthia Siew (NUS Psychology) was featured for her studies about how Singlish has helped Singaporeans understand the world.
Although Singlish has become a part of the Singaporean identity nowadays, the government had launched a series of campaigns to encourage people to speak proper English in the late 20th century. However, studies from NUS show that it is possible for one to speak both standard English and Singlish. Dr Siew found that when Singaporeans communicate with each other, many concepts that immediately jump to their minds are expressed in Singlish, thus making it extremely hard to stop people from speaking the language.
Instead of preventing Singaporeans from speaking Singlish, Dr Siew posits that there should be an appreciation for how Singlish has shaped one’s way of interpreting and understanding the world. It is also interesting to see how the Singlish vocabulary evolved over each generation.
Read the article in Channel News Asia here: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/singlish-threat-society-research-singapore-identity-code-switch-2866596