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Modelling Variation in Singapore English

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Modelling Variation in Singapore English Modelling Variation in Singapore English Jakob R. E. Leimgruber Pembroke College University of Oxford A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Trinity 2009 Abstract Jakob R. E. Leimgruber D.Phil English Language Pembroke College Trinity 2009 his thesis seeks to shed light on the issue of sociolinguistic variation within T the English spoken in Singapore. The variable usage of the co-existing Standard English and the localised vernacular, often called ‘Singlish’, has been explained in two major ways. The continuum hypothesis first formulated by Platt (1975) describes it as a seamless succession of sociolects, ranging from the standard to the basilect, Singlish. Speakers have at their disposal a given span of this continuum, depending on their position on a scale of educational attainment. In contrast to this approach, Gupta (1989, 1994, 2006b) views the situation as one of classic diglossia, where Standard English is H and Singlish is L. Alternative models have been proposed, usually based on either of these two approaches. The empirical part of this thesis aims to provide quantitative data with which to select the model most appropriate for the Singaporean case. Thirty- six informants (average age 17.5 years) were drawn from three post-secondary schools stratified by academic requirements, and came in equal numbers from the country’s three majority ethnic groups (Chinese, Malays, Indians). They were interviewed in four settings designed to trigger decreasing levels of formal- ity: an individual interview, a dialogue recording, a task-based group recording, and an unmonitored radio-microphone recording. The variables investigated are Singlish’s ubiquitous discourse particles, substrate-influenced aspect mark- ers, existential constructions with got, and properties of the verb (inflexions, modals, and the copula). Findings from the quantitative analysis show the need for a more qualitative- based approach, which in turn suggests that the traditional frameworks within which Singapore English was analysed, typically as consisting of two (or more) individual codes between which speakers alternate, need refinement. A model based on indexicality (Silverstein 2003, Eckert 2008) is shown as providing a better way of explaining the high levels of variation observed. Rather than alternating between homogeneous codes, speakers are seen as selecting fea- tures associated with a code ‘Standard’ and ‘Singlish’ in order to index social meanings. This approach, novel in the Singaporean context, provides a new and unparalleled explanatory power for variation in Singapore English. For Marie ! " # $ Acknowledgements his thesis would have been impossible without the help of many people, T to whom I would like to express my heartfelt thanks. My gratitude goes first and foremost to my parents, who made my time at Oxford possible, and to Marie, my wife, who patiently supported me during often trying times. Her family also deserves mention here, not least for their wonderful hospitality in the course of my numerous trips to Singapore. My thanks also go to my supervisor Prof. Suzanne Romaine (Merton Col- lege) for her guidance, as well as to Prof. Deborah Cameron (Worcester Col- lege), under whose supervision I started an exciting three years in Oxford. The comments on my transfer of status chapter by my college advisor Prof. Lynda Mugglestone (Pembroke College) and Prof. John Coleman (Phonetics Lab- oratory) were influential in the way the thesis evolved. In the course of my research I have benefited from stimulating discussions with Prof. Ben Rampton (KCL) and Dr Elinor Keane (Phonetics Laboratory) on fieldwork design, with Dr Greg Kochanski (Phonetics Laboratory) and Dr Francis Marriott (Statis- tics Department) on statistical methods, with Dr Bao Zhiming (NUS) on the aspectual system of SgE, with Dr Peter Tan (NUS) on the use of corpora in the analysis of SgE, with Dr Norhaida Aman (NIE) on fieldwork in Singapore schools, and with Dr Lubna Alsagoff (NIE) on the suitability of the models discussed herein. I am also indebted to and would like to thank my examiners, Dr Anthea Fraser Gupta (Leeds) and Dr David Cram (Jesus College), who suggested very useful corrections and amendments to an earlier version of this thesis. Dr Pamela Macdonald (Bangor), Prof. Eddie Williams (Bangor), and my father, Prof. Walter Leimgruber, proofread the final chapters and provided helpful feedback. Finally, Prof. Robert Rehder and his wife Mrs Caroline Re- hder were of invaluable help painstakingly proofreading the complete thesis. My condolences go to Caroline for the loss of her husband in April 2009. The fieldwork in Singapore was made possible thanks to the Singapore Ministry of Education, which granted me access to their Junior Colleges. In addition, I benefited from the help of several people in each of the participating schools: I would here like to reiterate my gratitude to Mr Samuel Wee and Ms Emily J. L. Low, to Mr Eden Liew and Ms Connie Lim, and to Mrs Virginia Cheng, Mr Mark Lo, Mdm Chua Mui Ling Dorothy, Ms Meena M. Kaur, and Ms Wan Wai Sum for their invaluable cooperation in allowing their institutions to take part in the fieldwork, recruiting my informants, organising the interview venues, and providing an exciting insight into the Singapore education system. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv I extend my thanks to the thirty-six informants who took part in this study, and who willingly sacrificed their time for my benefit. Without them, nothing of substance would have transpired from this thesis. A word of thanks also goes to my fellow postgraduate students in the Oxford linguistics department: the stimulating discussions in the course of my studies here have contributed significantly to the thesis as it is now. Dr Kristina Hult- gren (St. Anne’s College) deserves extra thanks for lending me her recording equipment for the duration of my fieldwork. Further help came from Sandra Kotzor (Kellog) and Dr Daniel K¨olligan (Wolfson) for German grammaticality judgements, Nick Zair (Merton) for those in English, Lindsay Weichel (Ex- eter) for the Poqomch´ıexamples, Dr Suriel Mofu (St. Cross) for help with Malay, and Dr Simon Dobnik (Queen’s) for the Slovenian data and help with statistical testing. Simon, together with Miltiadis Kokkonidis (Linacre) and Dr Rachele De Felice (St. Catherine’s), also patiently helped me with some of the intricacies of LATEX2ε. Thank you also to Chandraselven Bavani for help with Tamil transcriptions. Financial support was given throughout my studies by the Pembroke Dean of Graduates Fund, which covered significant proportions of travel expenses. The first half of the fieldwork in 2006 was made possible by the Maxwell & Meyerstein Special Research Committee Grant, awarded by the English Faculty. In my third year I benefited from the Pembroke College Browning Senior Scholarship, and an AHRC bursary enabled a presentation of initial findings of my research at the LangUE postgraduate conference in July 2007. My gratitude goes to all these awarding bodies. Contents Abstract .................................. i Acknowledgements ............................ iii Table of contents ............................. v List of figures ............................... ix List of tables ............................... xi List of abbreviations ...........................xiii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 A historical overview ........................ 2 1.1.1 Early and colonial history ................. 2 1.1.2 Self-government and independence ............ 7 1.2 Linguistic ecology .......................... 8 1.2.1 The place of English .................... 11 1.3 Singapore English .......................... 15 1.3.1 Genesis ........................... 15 1.3.2 Features: Phonology .................... 17 1.3.3 Features: Lexicon ...................... 18 1.3.4 Features: Grammar ..................... 20 1.4 Variation and typological issues .................. 28 1.4.1 Platt’s creoloid hypothesis ................. 29 1.4.2 Diglossia ........................... 31 1.4.3 Alternative models ..................... 32 1.5 Conclusion .............................. 33 v CONTENTS vi 2 Methodology 35 2.1 Methodology ............................ 36 2.1.1 Evolution of the methodological framework ........ 36 2.1.2 Informants .......................... 39 2.1.3 Selection of institutions ................... 41 2.1.4 Materials used ........................ 43 2.1.5 Interview structure ..................... 44 2.2 Variables ............................... 48 2.2.1 Aspect markers ....................... 49 2.2.2 Discourse particles ..................... 53 2.2.3 Existential constructions .................. 58 2.3 Data collection ........................... 60 2.3.1 Contacting and cooperating with schools ......... 60 2.3.2 Reactions from informants ................. 61 2.4 Conclusion .............................. 64 3 Theory 66 3.1 Aspect ................................ 66 3.1.1 Aspect in English ...................... 67 3.1.2 Aspect in Chinese ...................... 68 3.1.3 System Transfer ....................... 73 3.2 Discourse particles ......................... 76 3.2.1 Terminology and definition ................. 77 3.2.2 Discourse particles in Singapore English ......... 81 3.3 Existential constructions ...................... 94 3.3.1 Yˇou-constructions in Chinese ............... 98 3.3.2 Got-constructions in Singapore English ..........100 4 Sociolinguistic typology 114 4.1 Platt: ‘creoloid’ and continuum ..................119 4.1.1 The Jamaican continuum ..................119 4.1.2
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