Abstract
Singapore is no doubt a sociolinguist’s paradise due to its great ethnolinguistic diversity rarely seen in the rest of Asia. Partly due to its strategic geographical location and partly due to its colonial history, Singapore has established itself as an international financial centre and a multicultural global city in Southeast Asia. For any outsider used to monolingualism, a short ride on Singapore's MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) alone would make an unforgettable novel experience. The ‘choreographed’ (Lee, 2022) symphony of multilingual announcements in West Germanic (English), Sinitic (Mandarin Chinese), Austronesian (Malay), and Dravidian (Tamil) languages serves as a constant reminder of the city’s colonial past and also a warm welcome and vivid introduction to the city state’s unparalleled linguistic diversity. No doubt, Singapore is a perfect exemplar of how people hailing from different ethnic, religious, and linguistic backgrounds can live in harmony in a multicultural society.
While the linguistic aspect of Singapore has received its fair share of scholarly attention over the years (cf. Ahmad, 1994; Gupta, 1994; Kuo, 1980; Lee, 2022; Liang, 2010; Ng, 2017; Silver & Bockhorst-Heng, 2016; Zahid & Selamat, 2022), attention so far has mostly focused on the four official languages (English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay, and Tamil) from a (socio)linguistic, educational, and communication perspective. However, other linguistic varieties (such as different Chinese dialects and various South Asian languages such as Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi) have remained more or less under the radar and largely escaped the attention of scholars. This is despite their relatively frequent use and the vital part they play in contributing to the rich linguistic tapestry of the city state. As such, to bridge this gap, this interdisciplinary volume edited by Ritu Jain aims to provide a comprehensive and updated sociolinguistic account of Singapore’s multilingual landscape as a whole, focusing both on the 4 official languages and also on those relatively under-investigated minority languages and varieties. As the editor sets out in the introduction, drawing on a combination of descriptive, empirical, and theoretical approaches, ‘this volume attempts to illuminate the rich linguistic legacy of Singapore and offer snapshots of various policy measures, community responses, and resulting outcomes over time’ (p. 1).
While the linguistic aspect of Singapore has received its fair share of scholarly attention over the years (cf. Ahmad, 1994; Gupta, 1994; Kuo, 1980; Lee, 2022; Liang, 2010; Ng, 2017; Silver & Bockhorst-Heng, 2016; Zahid & Selamat, 2022), attention so far has mostly focused on the four official languages (English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay, and Tamil) from a (socio)linguistic, educational, and communication perspective. However, other linguistic varieties (such as different Chinese dialects and various South Asian languages such as Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi) have remained more or less under the radar and largely escaped the attention of scholars. This is despite their relatively frequent use and the vital part they play in contributing to the rich linguistic tapestry of the city state. As such, to bridge this gap, this interdisciplinary volume edited by Ritu Jain aims to provide a comprehensive and updated sociolinguistic account of Singapore’s multilingual landscape as a whole, focusing both on the 4 official languages and also on those relatively under-investigated minority languages and varieties. As the editor sets out in the introduction, drawing on a combination of descriptive, empirical, and theoretical approaches, ‘this volume attempts to illuminate the rich linguistic legacy of Singapore and offer snapshots of various policy measures, community responses, and resulting outcomes over time’ (p. 1).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | International Journal of Multilingualism |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 25 Oct 2022 |