Multilingual Singapore

This volume brings together researchers whose analysis and insights provide a comprehensive and up-to-date account of Singapore's rich linguistic diversity. Applying a combination of descriptive, empirical, and theoretical approaches, the authors investigate not only official languages such as English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil, but also minority languages such as the Chinese vernaculars and South Asian and Austronesian languages. The chapters in this volume trace the historical development, contemporary status, and functions of these languages, as well as potential scenarios for the future. Exploring the tension between language policies and linguistic realities in Singapore, the contributions in this volume capture the shifting educational, political, and societal priorities of the community through its past and contemporary present.

Ritu Jain is Lecturer at the Language and Communication Centre at Nanyang Technological University. Her research interests lie in the areas of language policy and planning, and language and identity. In her work, she has examined the role of language education policy in the maintenance and promotion of minority and heritage languages, and the implications this has for language maintenance and shift. She is currently exploring the interplay of language and identity among the Indian language communities of Singapore.

1. Multilingual Singapore: Language policies, challenges, and responses (Ritu Jain) 2. The fetishization of official languages (Lionel Wee) 3. Singapore English, language mixing, and vernacular speech (Kingsley Bolton and Werner Botha) 4. Spoken Tamil in Singapore (Helen Dominic and Lavanya Balachandran) 5. The other mother tongues of Singaporean Indians (Ritu Jain) 6. The changing status of Malayalam in Singapore (Anitha Devi Pillai and Rani Rubdy) 7. Singapore's other Austronesian languages (Geoffrey Benjamin) 8. Baba Malay (Anne Pakir) 9. Pronouncing the Malay identity: Sebutan Johor-Riau and Sebutan Baku (Mukhlis Abu Bakar and Lionel Wee) 10. The curious case of Mandarin Chinese in Singapore (Ng Bee Chin and Francesco Cavallaro) 11. Chinese dialects in Singapore: Context and situation (Goh Hock Huan and Lim Tai Wei) 12. Unpacking 'multilingualism': Filipinos in Singapore (Ruanni Tupas) 13. Towards a liquid-multilingual Singapore? An outsider's view (Li Wei)