In recent years the study of English and its global varieties has grown rapidly as a field of study. The English language in Singapore, famous for its vernacular known as 'Singlish', is of particular interest to linguists because it takes accent, dialect and lexical features from a wide range of languages including Malay, Mandarin, Hokkien and Tamil, as well as being influenced by the Englishes of Britain, Australia and America. This book gives a comprehensive overview of English in Singapore by setting it within a historical context and drawing on recent developments in the field of indexicality, world Englishes and corpus research. Through application of the indexicality framework Jakob Leimgruber offers readers a new way of thinking about and analysing the unique syntactic, semantic and phonological structure of Singapore English. This book is ideal for researchers and advanced students interested in Singapore and its languages.
• Gives a comprehensive overview of the structure of Singapore English, as well as of the sociolinguistic profile of the country • This book situates Singapore English within regional and global Englishes • By applying the indexicality framework, this book offers a new way of analysing language variation in Singapore
Contents
1. Introduction: Singapore and its Englishes; 2. Variation in Singapore English: old and new models; 3. Description: phonology and lexicon; 4. Description: grammar; 5. Indexicality: a model for Singapore?; 6. Conclusion: the variety as a structural unit.
Review
Advance praise: 'The first comprehensive account of the structure and variation of English in Singapore, Singapore English is essential reading for linguists and sociolinguists interested in theoretical issues in the treatment of 'Singaporean English', as well as postgraduate and undergraduate students seeking a better understanding of the language situation in Singapore.' K. K. Luke, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
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