Coming of age, coming full circle: The (re)positioning of (Singapore) English and multilingualism in Singapore at 50

Siblings' play and language shift to English in a Malay‐English bilingual family in Singapore

“…While the city‐state's English medium plus one mother tongue language policy has been praised for Singapore's successful racial harmonization, economic development and achieving a competitive edge in international markets (Bolton & Ng, ), the state's language management has been critiqued for the increasing use of English in the private spheres, such as within the family, and the concomitant language shift across all ethnic groups (Bokhorst‐Heng & Silver, ; Cavallaro & Ng, ; Low & Pakir, ; Tan, ). Today, English is reported to be the dominant home language for 36 per cent of Singapore's 5.8 million population, a dramatic increase from 1.8 per cent in 1957 (Department of Statistics, , ; Lim, ). This language preference has increasingly resulted in a decrease in the desire to learn the mother tongue languages (Chua, ).…”

Colloquial Singapore English in advertisements

“…In recent research, scholars have noted CSE's ability to evoke its speakers’ emotional or identity‐building attitudes (Alsagoff, ; Leimgruber, ; Wee, ). CSE also seems to hold a special place in the hearts of younger generation Singaporeans, and it is used by them as a casual classroom language or a code spoken among their peers (Lim, , p. 264). Likewise, CSE's in‐group values have been observed among online communities (Cheng et al., , pp.…”

“…Another noticeable phenomenon is that not only local businesses but also international chains are actively promoting homegrown elements like satay , salted egg yolk, gula melaka , and rose‐flavored milk, in their products. Regional flavors along with CSE have also been commodified in other kinds of products, such as art and design goods including stationery 꼀, T‐shirts, bags, and so on, sold in malls, online stores, and even in government‐affiliated museums and parks (Lim, , p. 266; Quek, , p. 11). The fact that CSE products have become merchandise in state‐managed facilities is telling of a change in political attitudes towards CSE.…”

“…The commentator also described CSE as ‘truly Singaporean’ and part of a ‘unique identity [that] ties us together’ (Media A, ). A week later, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (Lee Kuan Yew's son) posted a photo of the SG50 CSE floats on his Facebook page, with the comment, ‘I'm glad that at 50, we are less “blur like sotong”, and more confident and comfortable with everything that makes us Singaporean’ (Lim, , p. 276). In fact, following this, SGEM also revised its negative stance against CSE and now states the following:

It is important to understand the differences in Standard English, broken English and Singlish.

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“…Going back to our discussion on CSE advertisements, as mentioned above, the state and affiliated organizations have begun publishing public announcements that employ CSE. One of the earliest major examples was discussed by Lim (, p. 266); the images are shown in Figure . These announcements on Twitter are about the state's mandatory retirement savings plan, the Central Provident Fund (CPF), and the special benefit package for qualifying senior citizens.…”