Singlish
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definitions
noun
- a creole language spoken in Singapore by at least 2.5 million native speakers. Its lexifier is English, but it incorporates vocabulary from the native languages of early Singaporean immigrants, including Hokkien, Malay, Cantonese, Teochew, Tamil, Mandarin, and others. Its grammar and syntax are based on those of southern Chinese languages. It is used in Singapore on a continuum with the acrolectal register of Singaporean English, across which the majority of speakers are able to code-switch.[1]
Due to its lack of recognition on a national level, there is not much official government census data on the use of the language. However, reported use of Singlish is positively correlated with higher class and education level.[1]
Singlish is valid because we speak it, us Singaporeans, as a real language. You can save the world in Singlish. You can fall in love in Singlish, have sex in Singlish, break hearts in Singlish. We cannot let the lack of mainstream representation tell us otherwise. Singlish can express concepts, ideas and feelings that English cannot. Some things are not pretty; they can only be chio. Some things are not delicious—they are just shiok. There are so many things that mean so much more in Singlish: they become richer, more complex, and closer to the truth. My voice is one of those things. I do not have my mother’s Cantonese nor my father’s Hokkien, but my first language is, and always will be, Singlish. I am sure of that now. I can speak for myself.
— 2017 July 7, Ng Yonghe. Vulture Magazine, "Red-Red Shy-Shy: Singlish, America, and Embarrassment". https://vulture-magazine.com/articles/red-red-shy-shy