Singaporean Mandarin () is a variety of Mandarin Chinese spoken natively in Singapore. Mandarin is one of the four official languages of Singapore alongside English, Malay and Tamil.
Singaporean Mandarin can be divided into two distinct forms: Standard Singaporean Mandarin and Colloquial Singaporean Mandarin (Singdarin). These forms are easily distinguishable to speakers proficient in Mandarin. The standard form is used in formal contexts, including television and radio broadcasts, and is the variant taught in government and international schools. The colloquial form is used informally among Singaporeans. Singaporean Mandarin contains many unique loanwords from other Chinese languages, such as Hokkien, as well as Singapore's other official languages.
The widespread adoption of Singaporean Mandarin by the Chinese community in Singapore followed the government's Speak Mandarin Campaign launched in 1979. Today, it is the second most commonly spoken language in Singapore after English and has largely replaced Singaporean Hokkien as the lingua franca among Singaporean Chinese. The rise of China in the 21st century has increased the prominence of Mandarin proficiency in Singapore. By 2010, more Singaporeans were multilingual, with a growing number speaking two or more languages.
Since the early 21st century, the influx of mainland Chinese immigrants from mainland China has influenced Singaporean Mandarin to align more closely with Standard Chinese, although distinctive features have been retained. The language continues to evolve, influenced by Mainland Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese Mandarin and English. Since the 2010s, the proportion of Singaporean Chinese speaking Mandarin at home has begun to decline, with Singapore English increasingly used and now surpassing Mandarin as the primary language spoken at home.
Overview Standard Singaporean Mandarin The official standard of Mandarin in Singapore, locally known as (), is based on the phonology of the Beijing dialect and the grammar of Vernacular Chinese. It is largely identical to the standard Mandarin used in the People's Republic of China (known there as ) and in Republic of China (Taiwan) (known there as and more recently also as ). Standard Singaporean Mandarin, typically heard in television and radio news broadcasts, is generally closer to Guoyu in terms of phonology, vocabulary and grammar than to Putonghua. Differences are minor and mainly appear in the lexicon.
Colloquial Singaporean Mandarin Also commonly known as Singdarin () or Singnese (), the colloquial variety is a Mandarin dialect native and unique to Singapore similar to its English-based counterpart Singlish. It is based on Mandarin but has a large amount of English and Malay in its vocabulary. There are also words from other Chinese languages such as Cantonese, Hokkien and Teochew as well as Tamil. While Singdarin grammar is largely identical to Standard Mandarin, there are significant divergences and differences especially in its pronunciation and vocabulary.
In terms of colloquial spoken Mandarin, Singaporean Mandarin is subjected to influence from the local historical, cultural and social influences of Singapore. As such, there are remarkable differences between colloquial Singaporean Mandarin and Standard Chinese, and a non-Singaporean Chinese speaking individual may find it difficult to understand.
Features of Singaporean Mandarin
Singaporean Mandarin has preserved the vocabulary and certain other features from Classical Chinese and early Vernacular Chinese (), dating back from the early 20th century. Since Singapore's Chinese medium schools adopted Chinese teaching materials from Republic of China in the early 20th century, Singapore's early Mandarin pronunciations was based on the Zhuyin in the Dictionary of National Pronunciation () and Vocabulary of National Pronunciation for Everyday Use (). As such, it had preserved many older forms of pronunciations. In addition, during its initial development, Singaporean Mandarin was also influenced by the other Chinese varieties of Singapore such as Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese etc.
From 1949 to 1979, due to lack of contact between Singapore and People's Republic of China, Putonghua did not exert any form of influence on Singaporean Mandarin. On the contrary, the majority of Mandarin Chinese entertainment media, Chinese literature, books and reading materials in Singapore came mainly from Taiwan. As a result, Singaporean Mandarin has been influenced by Taiwanese Mandarin to a certain degree. After the 1980s, along with China's Open Door Policy, there was increasing contact between Singapore and mainland China, thus increasing Putonghua's gradual influence on Singaporean Mandarin. These influences included the adoption of pinyin and the shift from usage of Traditional Chinese characters to Simplified Chinese characters. Much of the lexicon from Putonghua had also found its way into Singaporean Mandarin although not to a huge extent.
History Background Historical sources indicate that before 1819, when Stamford Raffles arrived in Singapore, there were already a few Chinese settlers on the island. After Raffles established Singapore as a trading post in 1819, many Peranakan from Malaya and European merchants began arriving. To meet the growing demand for labour, large numbers of coolies were brought from China.
The influx of Chinese labourers increased after the Opium War. Those who migrated from China to Singapore during the 19th and early 20th centuries were known as "sinkeh" (). Many were contract labourers, including dockworkers. Most came to escape poverty and seek better opportunities, while others fled the wars and unrest in China during the first half of the 20th century. The majority originated from the southern provinces of Fujian, Guangdong and Hainan.
These sinkeh included large numbers of Hoklo (Hokkien), Teochew, Cantonese and Hainanese. They brought with them a variety of Chinese languages, including Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka and Hainanese. As these languages were mutually unintelligible, clan associations were formed along lines of dialect and ancestral origin to provide social support for members of the same linguistic group. The use of Mandarin to serve as a lingua franca amongst the Chinese only began with the founding of Republic of China, which established Mandarin as the official tongue.
Development of Mandarin in Singapore Before the 20th century, old-style private Chinese schools in Singapore, known as sīshú (), generally used Chinese varieties such as Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese as the medium of instruction for teaching the Chinese classics and Classical Chinese. Singapore's first Mandarin-medium classes appeared around 1898, but schools using other Chinese varieties remained in operation until 1909. Following the May Fourth Movement in 1919 and the influence of the New Culture Movement in China, these schools gradually replaced non-Mandarin instruction with Mandarin Chinese, or Guóyǔ (). The Kuomintang (KMT)–led government of China supported this shift by sending teachers and textbooks, and by the 1920s all Chinese schools in Singapore had adopted Mandarin despite British discouragement.
In the early years of Mandarin education in Singapore, there was no fully standardised colloquial form to serve as a learning model. Most teachers were from southern China and spoke with strong regional accents, which influenced Singaporean Mandarin by eliminating features such as erhua () and the light tone (). The publication of the Dictionary of National Pronunciation in 1919 introduced a hybrid system combining northern sounds with southern rhymes, including the checked tone (), but it was only in 1932 with the Vocabulary of National Pronunciation for Everyday Use, based entirely on the Beijing dialect, that a consistent standard emerged. This standard was adopted in Singapore’s Chinese schools. During the 1930s and 1940s, new immigrants from China, known as xīn kè (), helped establish more Chinese schools, further expanding Mandarin's use. Over time, the term for Mandarin in Singapore shifted from Guóyǔ (National Language) to Huáyǔ (Chinese Language).
From the 1950s to the 1970s, Singaporean Mandarin was heavily influenced by Taiwanese Mandarin, as most Chinese publications came from Taiwan or Hong Kong. In the 1980s, following mainland China's reform and opening up, Singapore adopted Hanyu Pinyin and switched from Traditional Chinese characters to Simplified Chinese characters. The Speak Mandarin Campaign launched in 1979 spurred further standardisation, with the Promote Mandarin Council conducting research based on linguistic models from mainland China and Taiwan. Since the 1990s, greater interaction with mainland China and a large influx of Chinese migrants have brought more Putonghua vocabulary into Singaporean Mandarin.
Differences from other varieties of Mandarin Vocabulary Major differences between Singaporean Mandarin Huayu (华语) and Putonghua lie in the vocabulary used. A lack of contact between Singapore and China from 1949 to 1979 meant that Singaporean Mandarin had to invent new words to fit the local context, as well as borrow words from Taiwanese Mandarin or other Chinese varieties that were spoken in Singapore. As a result, new Mandarin words proprietary to Singapore were invented.
The Dictionary of Contemporary Singaporean Mandarin Vocabulary (时代新加坡特有词语词典) edited by Wang Huidi () listed 1,560 uniquely local Singaporean Mandarin words, which are not used in mainland China or Taiwan.
Unique Singaporean Mandarin words There are many new terms that are specific to living in Singapore. These words were either translated from Malay and non-Mandarin Chinese varieties (or invented) as there were no equivalent words in Putonghua. Some of the words are taken from the Hokkien translation of Malay words. Words translated from Malay into Hokkien include kampung (甘榜, English 'village'), pasar (, English 'market'). This explains the uniquely Singapore Mandarin words. Traditional ChineseSimplified ChinesePinyinDefinitionrambutan (a type of Southeast Asian fruit)kelong (a place for fishing)kampung (village)Satay (a type of Singaporean Malay food)囉㘃/Rojak (a type of Singaporean Malay food) clear soup or brothcoupon. Also used for car parkingflat built by Housing Development Boardcar ownership-licensemedisave (medical saving)Weekend Car (a classification of car ownership in Singapore)"Giro" (a system of payment through direct bank account deduction in Singapore)"bazaar" or market or pasar (Malay) / /community centrelaksa (a type of curry noodle)"litter-bug"; someone who violated the law for litteringterrace housejiàn guó yí dàiPioneer generation; to describe the early builders of Singaporelì guó yí dàiMerdeka generation; to describe people born close to Singapore's independence
Same meaning, different words There are some words used in Singaporean Mandarin that have the same meaning with other words used in Putonghua or Taiwanese Mandarin: