Languages of Singapore

Languages of Singapore
A construction danger sign in Singapore's four official languages: English, Chinese (Mandarin), Malay and Tamil
Official	English, Chinese, Malay, Tamil
National	Malay
Main	English (de facto) Malay (de jure)
Vernacular	Singapore English (formal), Singlish (informal)
Minority	Cantonese, Hokkien, Hainanese, Hakka, Teochew, Indonesian, Javanese, Japanese, Korean, Punjabi, Malayalam
Immigrant	Arabic, Farsi, Armenian, Bengali, Hebrew, Hindi, Telugu, Thai, Vietnamese, Yiddish
Foreign	Dutch, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Filipino
Signed	Singapore Sign Language
Keyboard layout	QWERTY

The languages of Singapore are English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil, with the lingua franca between Singaporeans of different races being English, the de facto main language. Singaporeans often speak Singlish among themselves, an English creole arising from centuries of contact between Singapore's internationalized society and its legacy of being a British colony. Linguists formally define it as Singapore Colloquial English.^[1] A multitude of other languages are also used in Singapore. They consist of several varieties of languages under the families of the Austronesian, Dravidian, Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan languages. The Constitution of Singapore states that the national language of Singapore is Malay. This plays a symbolic role, as Malays are constitutionally recognised as the indigenous peoples of Singapore, and it is the government's duty to protect their language and heritage.^[a]

The three languages other than English were chosen to correspond with the major ethnic groups present in Singapore at the time: Mandarin had gained status since the introduction of Chinese-medium schools; Malay was deemed the "most obvious choice" for the Malay community; and Tamil for the largest Indian ethnic group in Singapore, in addition to being "the language with the longest history of education in Malaysia and Singapore".^[2] In 2009, more than 20 languages were identified as being spoken in Singapore, reflecting a rich linguistic diversity in the city.^[3][4] Singapore's historical roots as a trading settlement gave rise to an influx of foreign traders,^[5] and their languages were slowly embedded in Singapore's modern day linguistic repertoire.

In the early years, the lingua franca of the island was Bazaar Malay (Melayu Pasar), a creole of Malay and Chinese, the language of trade in the Malay Archipelago.^[6] While it continues to be used among many on the island, especially Singaporean Malays, Malay has now been displaced by English. English became the lingua franca due to British rule of Singapore,^[5] and was made the main language upon Singaporean independence. Thus, English is the medium of instruction in schools, and is also the main language used in formal settings such as in government departments and the courts. According to Singaporean President Halimah Yacob during her 2018 speech, "Through the education system, we adopted a common working language in English."^[7]

Hokkien (Min Nan) briefly emerged as a lingua franca among the Chinese,^[5] but by the late 20th century it had been eclipsed by Mandarin. The Government promotes Mandarin among Singaporean Chinese people, since it views the language as a bridge between Singapore's diverse non-Mandarin speaking groups, and as a tool for forging a common Chinese cultural identity.^[8] China's economic rise in the 21st century has also encouraged a greater use of Mandarin. Other Chinese varieties such as Hokkien, Teochew, Hakka, Hainanese and Cantonese have been classified by the Government as "dialects", and language policies and language attitudes based on this classification and discouragement of usage in Non-Mandarin Chinese or "Chinese dialects" in official settings and television media have led to a decrease in the number of speakers of these varieties.^[9] In particular, Singapore has its own lect of Mandarin; Singaporean Mandarin, itself with two varieties, Standard and Colloquial or spoken. While Tamil is one of Singapore's official and the most spoken Indian language, other Indian languages are also frequently used by minorities.^[10]

Almost all Singaporeans are bilingual since Singapore's bilingual language education policy promotes a dual-language learning system. Learning a second language has been compulsory in primary schools since 1960 and secondary schools since 1966.^[11] English is used as the main medium of instruction. On top of this, most children learn one of the three official languages (or, occasionally, another approved language) as a second language, according to their official registered ethnic group. Since 1 January 2011, if a person is of more than one ethnicity and their race is registered in the hyphenated format, the race chosen will be the one that precedes the hyphen in their registered race.^[12]

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