In Singapore, language planning is associated with government planning. In this top-down approach, the government influences the acquisition of languages and their respective functions within the speech community through the education system.Kaplan B., Robert, and Richard B. Baldauf Jr. Language Planning from Practice to Theory. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters ltd., 1997 Language planning aims to facilitate effective communication within the speech community, which can result in a language shift or language assimilation.Cobarrubias, Juan. "Ethical Issues in Status Planning." Progress in Language Planning: International Perspectives. Eds. Juan Cobarrubias and Joshua Fishman. New York: Mouton Publishers, 1983 The goals of language planning are very much dependent on the political and social forces present in Singapore during two distinct periods: colonisation by the British and the period following the nation's independence from Malaysia in 1965.Spolsky, B. (2004). Language policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Background Singapore is a linguistically and ethnically diverse country with a population of about 5.7 million.
Officially, its ethnic composition is approximately 76.8% Chinese, 13.9% Malay, 7.9% Indian, while the remaining 1.4% are mainly Others, a miscellaneous category.
Given this diversity, the language policy in Singapore aims at cultivating amongst its citizens a bilingual proficiency in the English language and a mother tongue that is officially assigned to the specific ethnic communities.
Although the English language is excluded from the list of official mother tongues (Mandarin, Bahasa Melayu, Tamil), it is still recognised as an official language for practical reasons such as ensuring socio-economic mobility. This is because the ethnically neutral status of English helps to ensure that the distribution of economic advantages is not seen as unduly privileging or benefiting a specific ethnic group, which would otherwise raise the danger of inter-ethnic tension. Additionally, the English language represents the idea of 'modernity' and its association with progress, science, technology and capitalism.Pakir, A. (1997), 'Education and Invisible Language Planning: The Case of the English Language in Singapore', in Tan, Gopinathan and Ho, pp. 57–74
Motivations of Language Policies After political independence in 1959, the Singapore Government officially accepted Malay as the national Language of Singapore. However, its importance gradually declined as a result of the social, political and economic developments that had taken place. When vernacular schools were closed in 1987, the Ministry of Education implemented the National System of Education.Mohamed, S. (2005) Planning for Malay Language in Education. Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice. Nanyang Institute of Education, Singapore.
The Bilingual Policy encourages Singaporeans to be proficient in both the English language, and in their respective ethnic mother tongues, which include Chinese Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. Bilingual education is provided by the Ministry of Education in Singapore.
The Bilingual Policy also aims to promote better understanding amongst the three ethnic groups in line with the effort of nation building. Additionally, there was also the growing concern that Singapore was facing increasing Western influences, effecting a potential threat of the de-Asianisation or de-culturalisation of the people. Due to the increasing importance of English as an international language, many Singaporeans have started to pay more attention to the learning of the English language and focus less on the learning of their own mother tongue. The Bilingual Policy was then enacted to safeguard Asian identities and values. Alongside English, the Singapore Government aims to promote Mandarin Chinese, Malay and Tamil so as to prevent the erosion of culture and heritage of the three ethnic groups
Racial harmony is a stated policy of the Singaporean government, and a racial harmony day is even celebrated. Usage of four official languages is an element of policy designed to promote racial harmony, as is bilingualism in accordance with the belief that the ethnic language is the "carrier of culture" while English is the "language of commerce", a choice motivated by the fact that English had historically been the language of the colonial administration, while being the native language of few Singaporeans at the time of the policy's implementation. With English as the lingua franca, no one ethnicity is favored, but the cultures are preserved. The idea behind this policy is that treating all languages as standard and thus equally prestigious will result in the speakers of each language being treated equally.
While the Singaporean government promotes Standard Singapore English as a lingua franca, it heavily discourages the usage of Singlish, a Chinese- and Malay-influenced contact language, widely spoken by Singaporeans, but virtually unintelligible to foreign speakers of English. Governments including those of Lee Hsien Loong, Lee Kuan Yew, and Goh Chok Tong have campaigned against the usage of Singlish,Deterding, David (2007) Singapore English, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 90-91. declaring it an obstacle to communication with the rest of the English-speaking world, and a substandard, "broken English", that ought not be part of Singapore's identity. A Speak Good English campaign aims "to encourage Singaporeans to speak grammatically correct English that is universally understood",Speak Good English Movement – What We Do Retrieved 18 November 2010 while urging citizens to purge Singlish from their speech. In line with government policy, schools emphasize standard English, and try to minimise the usage of Singlish in the classroom, holding that Singlish hinders the learning of "proper" English.Foley, Joseph (2001) "Is English a first or second language in Singapore?", in Vincent B. Y. Ooi (ed.), Evolving Identities: The English Language in Singapore and Malaysia, Singapore: Times Academic Press, pp. 12-32.Deterding, David (1998) 'Approaches to Diglossia in the Classroom: The Middle Way. REACT, 2, 18-23.' (on-line version) The Media Development Authority, a statutory board of the government, urges Singaporean mass media to use as little Singlish as possible, declaring it appropriate only for "interviews, where the interviewee speaks only Singlish". Despite these policies, however, the usage of Singlish outside formal, institutional contexts remains widespread.
The Singaporean government also promotes a single, standardised form of Chinese, discouraging the usage of other Chinese varieties. While the Chinese community of Singapore historically spoke several varieties of Chinese, most of them mutually unintelligible,'A Critical Evaluation of Singapore's Language Policy and its Implications for English Teaching by Manfred Wu Man-Fat, Hong Kong.' Retrieved on 4 November 2010Bokhorst-Heng, W.D. (1998). Unpacking the Nation. In Allison D. et al (Ed.), Text in Education and Society (pp. 202–204). Singapore: Singapore University Press. such as Cantonese, Teochew, and Hokkien, the government has promoted Standard Mandarin, both as a means of unifying Chinese Singaporeans under a common language, and to facilitate communication with Chinese people from outside Singapore. Since 1979, the Speak Mandarin Campaign has promoted use of Mandarin.
Language Ideology There were two prominent language ideologies that the Singapore government adopted:
Internationalisation It entails the adoption of a non-indigenous language as an official language. The Singapore government adopted a non-indigenous language, English, to exist alongside the indigenous languages of Singapore. Linguistic Pluralism It entails a recognition and support of the co-existence of multiple languages within society. Some believe it to be in contrast with the language ideology of linguistic assimilation, where every member of the speech community, regardless of his first language, must learn the dominant language of the society where he lives in.
English Language, Mandarin Chinese, Malay Language and Tamil Language acquired official status in Singapore with the foundation of Singapore Legislative Assembly in 1955, and these four languages were declared official languages of the Republic of Singapore with the 1965 Singapore Independence Act.
The Singapore government attempts to shun away from linguistic assimilation, as it believes it must acknowledge the need to embrace the co-existence of the four official languages in the context of a multi-racial Singapore.
Status Planning Status Planning suggests that a particular language or variety may be chosen for specific purposes and given official status. This may result in a language policy which is a product of language planning, and can be comprehended within the discourse of language politics and society, or the more informal but powerful political and social aspects of language planning. In this view, one can argue that language status planning issues are related to political issues as status planning focuses on legislative decisions that affect the reallocation of language functions. Language status can also mean the position or standing of a language vis-à-vis other languages.Edwards, John. "Language, Prestige, and Stigma." Contact Linguistics. Ed. Hans Goebel. New York: de Gruyter, 1996.
The Singapore Government recognises the importance of the English language for a multi-racial society and therefore it has been attributed the status of an official language and a de facto national language. The government has been active in promoting status planning in Singapore. One of the most distinct changes in the linguistic landscape of Singapore after independence was promoting the status of the English language. This is done by allocating resources to develop English in various functional domains such as the government, law, business, administration, and in particular, the medium of instruction in schools—even though time is allocated for the learning of Mother tongue languages.
English is the international lingua franca, it was no longer viewed as a colonial language but rather an international language permitting universal communication. The economic rewards of being proficient in English was emphasised upon perpetuating the mindset that English is the superior language in Singapore.Yip, J. S. K., Eng, S. P. and Yap, J. Y. C. (1997), '25 Years of Education Reform', in Tan, Gopinathan and Ho, pp. 3–32 Besides government administrative domains where English is widely practised, English has gradually been inculcated into social, family and individual habitats as well. Despite the government's attempt to maintain symbolic and cultural capital in the Mother tongues, English has been deeply integrated into the local linguistic landscape of Singapore.Silver, R. E. (2005). The discourse of linguistic capital: Language and economic policy planning in Singapore. Language Policy, 4(1), 47–66
It is evident that English has acquired a significant role in the linguistic landscape of Singapore, as Singapore is the only (non-native speaker) country which has adopted English as a working language, short of Singapore, no other country has channelled its language policies into churning out a population that is bi-literate in English and another official language.
Speak Good English Movement (SGEM)
The Speak Good English Movement is a government-initiated campaign Speak Good English Movement website