Singaporean Mandarin

Singaporean Mandarin
新加坡華語 新加坡华语 Xīnjiāpō Huáyǔ
Native to	Singapore
Region	Singapore
Native speakers	2.0 million (2016 census)[1] L2 speakers: 880,000 (no date)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Mandarin Beijing Mandarin Beijingese Standard Mandarin Singaporean Mandarin
Writing system	Simplified Chinese characters (de jure) Traditional Chinese characters
Official status
Official language in	Singapore
Regulated by	Promote Mandarin Council Singapore Centre for Chinese Language
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
ISO 639-6	huyu (Huayu)
Glottolog	None
Linguasphere	79-AAA-bbb(=standard) or 79-AAA-bbd-(part)(=colloquial)
IETF	cmn-SG

Singaporean Mandarin (simplified Chinese: 新加坡华语; traditional Chinese: 新加坡華語; pinyin: Xīnjiāpō Huáyǔ) is a variety of Mandarin Chinese spoken natively in Singapore. It is one of the four official languages of Singapore along with English, Malay and Tamil.

Singaporean Mandarin can be classified into two distinct Mandarin dialects: Standard Singaporean Mandarin and Colloquial Singaporean Mandarin (Singdarin). These two dialects are easily distinguishable to a person proficient in Mandarin. The standard is the register of Mandarin used in more formal occasions in Singapore and can be heard on television and radio. It is also the form taught in all Singapore government schools, while the colloquial is the form used by the general populace in informal situations. Singaporean Mandarin has many unique loanwords from other Chinese dialects (such as Hokkien) as well as Singapore's other official languages of English, Malay and Tamil.

Singaporean Mandarin became widely spoken by the Chinese community in Singapore after the Speak Mandarin Campaign by the government in 1979. It is today considered to be the second most commonly spoken language in Singapore, after English. Due to its widespread usage, Singaporean Mandarin has replaced Singaporean Hokkien as the lingua franca of the Chinese community today.^[2] Following the economic rise of China in the 21st century, Mandarin proficiency has been viewed with greater importance and has risen in terms of prominence in Singapore.^[3] In 2010, there was an increase in the number of Singaporean population who know two or more languages.^[4]

With increasing influx of mainland Chinese from mainland China to Singapore since the beginning of the 21st century,^[5] Singaporean Mandarin has gradually inclined itself towards Standard Chinese, although there are unique differences that have been retained.^[6] Currently, Singaporean Mandarin continues to develop, with major influences coming from Standard Chinese, Taiwanese Mandarin and English. Since the 2010s, the percentage of Singaporean Chinese speaking Mandarin at home has begun to decrease, in favour of Singaporean English.