Singapore English

Singapore English
English
Native toSingapore
RegionSoutheast Asia
Native speakers
Approx. 3.9 to 4 million[citation needed] (2018)
Early forms
Latin (English alphabet)
Unified English Braille
Official status
Official language in
Singapore
Language codes
ISO 639-3
GlottologNone
IETFen-SG
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Singapore English (SgE, SE, en-SG) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Singapore and Malaysia. In Singapore, English is spoken in two main forms: Singaporean Standard English (indistinguishable grammatically from Standard British English) and Singapore Colloquial English (better known as Singlish).[1][2]

Singapore is a cosmopolitan city, with 37% of its population born outside the country.[3] Singaporeans, even those of the same ethnic group, have many different first languages and cultures. For example, in 2005, among Chinese Singaporeans, over a third spoke English as their main language at home while almost half spoke Mandarin, and the rest spoke various mutually unintelligible varieties of Chinese.[4] In the Indian community, most Singaporeans of Indian descent speak either English or a South Asian language. The English language is now the most popular medium of communication among students from primary school to university. Many families use two or three languages on a regular basis, and English is often one of them. The level of fluency in English among residents in Singapore also varies greatly from person to person, depending on their educational background.

  1. ^ Harada, Shinichi (2009). "The Roles of Singapore Standard English and Singlish" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  2. ^ Leith, Dick (1997). Social History of English. p. 209. In writing, the spellings color, program and check (cheque), the form gotten and vocabulary such as garbage and faucet (tap) ... the notion of a native Singaporean English has been separated from that of a Singaporean 'standard' of English.
  3. ^ "United Nations Population Division | Department of Economic and Social Affairs". Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  4. ^ "Chapter 3 Literacy and Home Language" (PDF). Statistics Singapore – General Household Survey 2015. Department of Statistics, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Republic of Singapore. 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2020.

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