EL1101E/ GEK1011 The Nature of - PowerPoint Presentation

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EL1101E/GEK1011The Nature of LanguageWeek 11, Tutorial 9

Colloquial

Singapore English

and

Contact

Linguistics

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Contact Linguistics and Singapore English Question 1

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A

pidgin

is a simplified form of speech which arises to fulfil certain restricted communication needs among people who have no common language.

Example: Chinese Pidgin English

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English: Can you do it?

Mandarin:

可以不可以

?

CPE: Can do, no can do?

Example: Chinese Pidgin English (CPE)

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A

creole

arises when a pidgin becomes the mother tongue of a speech community, the next generation grow up speaking this language as their first language.

Example: Jamaican Creole aka Patois

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Singapore English is a ‘creoloid’ because1. It has similar structural variables to post-creoles based on the same ‘

standard

’

language.

2. Did not develop from a pidgin but by some other process.

3. It developed from the transference of features into the

‘

standard

’

language from the languages of several (sometimes unrelated) ethnic groups.

4. The superordinate language is usually only one of the official languages.

5. It is usually also used as lingua franca in inter-ethnic group communication within the speech community where it is one of the sub-varieties.

(Platt, 1975)

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Part 2B)

African Pidgin/

Carribean

Creole

Singapore English

Slave History (different languages)

Colonial ruling meets multilingual people

Need for common language among workers and between slave-masters

English-medium Straits Settlement schools

Sole means of expression

Separate Mother Tongue still spoken

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NP Ellipsis and Substratist Explanation Question 2

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What is noun phrase ellipsis? It refers to subject, object and possessor omission in Colloquial Singapore English.

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Subject OmissionStandard English:After one gets sick, one cannot help it.Colloquial Singapore English:

After

Ø

get some sickness,

Ø

can’t help it.

The

subject “one”

is

ommited

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Object OmissionStandard English:‘I have never tried it before.’ Colloquial Singapore English:I

never try

Ø

before

lah

.

The

object ‘it’

is

ommited

.

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Possessor omissionStandard English:‘My head is painful.’Colloquial Singapore English:Ø

Head very pain.

The

possessor ‘my’

is

ommited

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So where did noun phrase ellipsis in Colloquial Singapore English originate from?

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Subject OmissionStandard English:How do I get to Malacca Train Station?Hokkien:

Ba la

ka

cia

tau

bhe

an

zua

ki

Malacca station will how go

The

subject ‘I’

is

ommited

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Subject OmissionStandard English:I remember, when I was still small, I often went fishing.Malay:

Ingat-ingat

,

waktu

masih

kecil

,

sering

pergi

memancing

remember

when still small often go fishing

 

The

subject ‘I’

is omitted

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Object OmissionStandard English:I have never tried it beforeChinese:Wo

mei

shi

guo

I never try before

The

object ‘it’

is omitted

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Object OmissionStandard English:I have never tried it beforeMalay:tidak

pernah

cuba

sebelum

ini

Never tried before

The

object ‘i

t’

is omitted

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Possessor OmissionStandard English:My head is painfulMandarin:tou

hen

tong

Head very painful

The

possessor ‘my’

is omitted

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Possessor OmissionStandard English:My head is painfulCantonese:Tao ho tong

wor

Head very pain

The

possessor “my”

is omitted

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In our examples, we see that noun phrase ellipsis can be found in MalayMandarin

Hokkien

Cantonese

Noun phrase ellipsis in CSE does come from

both

M

alay and varieties of Chinese such as Mandarin,

Hokkien

and Cantonese.

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Pragmatics of Sentence-Final Particles Question 3

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Example 1 - LAH

Do you love me?

Yes, I love you!

Do you REALLY love me?

I REALLY love you

LAH!

Function:

Aggressive statement of emotion

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Example 1 - LEH

Do you love me?

Yes, I love you!

Do you REALLY love me?

I REALLY love you

LEH!

Function:

Makes the sentence sounds softer than the previous

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Example 1 - LOR

Do you love me?

Yes, I love you!

Do you REALLY love me?

I tell you how many times already! I REALLY love you

LOR!

Function:

Resigned expression of a feuding spouse which has no choice

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Can help me do this survey

? You’ll stand to win attractive prizes!

Huh? Are you sure can win?

Really! There’s something here for everyone

LAH.

Example 2(a) - LAH

Function:

Appeal

for

accommodation.

P

ersuade

you to help to do the

survey.

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What LAH!Example 2(a) - LAH

Function:

Mood marker (annoyance)

The

mood or

attitude

being conveyed will depend on specific contextual

factors.

OI! Can help me with this question?

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We’re going to catch a movie. Do you want to join us?

Example 2(a) - LAH

Maybe not, I have a lot of assignments due this week.

Just come with us

LAH!

Function:

S

often

the force of an

utterance

“Come with us”

 A request

“Come with us LAH”  makes it more polite

and persuasive

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Example 2(b) - WHATFunction:Indicate obviousness that the person asking the question did not think twice about it.

Marks contradiction - A thinks that B can park here but B replies that he can’t cause there are no other cars around.

No car parks here,

WHAT.

You stupid ah?

Why you don’t just park here?

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Example 2(b) - WHATFunction: Marks

contradiction –

Edelia

and Gabrielle has different thoughts about the standard of Mabel’s cooking.

Mabel’s cooking very lousy

leh

!

But she can cook

WHAT

. Her fried rice very tasty!

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Example 2(c) - HOR

Function:

A

ttempt

to garner support for a proposition

Yeah, super big and a lot of shops! I like it too!

This

shopping centre very nice

HOR.

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Example 2(c) - HOR

Function:

A

ttempt

to garner support for a proposition

(no response)

That guy is always trying to take advantage of others. Never do his part for the group project.

HOR?

Yeah

lor

!!

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Example 2(c) - HOR

T

he

use of

HOR

requires that the speaker assert a

proposition. Hence,

HOR

is only found with questions which have a declarative form.

You very rich

hor

?

I bought a

prada

wallet yesterday at the shopping centre!

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Example 2(d) - MEH

Function:

I

ndicate

skepticism/

surprise

Mabel

thought that

Gabrielle

will choose book A instead of book B.

 

Confirm? You don’t like that one (book A)

MEH

?

Which book should I buy? A or B ah? I think I’m going to get book B.

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Example 2(d) - MEHFunction:Indicates surprise 

Yeah! You didn’t know

MEH

?

Mabel! You can bake ah! Why you never tell me!

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Ownself in CSE = 自己’ziji’ in Chinese? Question 4

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SINGLISHChinese dialectsVernacular Malay

自己 (ZIJI)

OWNSELF

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Ownself is likely to have derived from ziji

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Both exclude involvement of othersSemantically, ziji can express a

contrast

between the ‘

self

’ in question

and

others

who could be

involved

Zhe

shi

wo

ziji

zuo

de!

This is I

ownself

do one!

{as opposed to having other people involved}

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In imperatives, both do not require the subject (NP) to precede it Example 1(You) Ownself

open the

door

lah

!

Example 2

(

Ni

)

ziji

chi

fan!

 

(

You) eat rice by

yourself!

Take note

You can’t do this in English!

You yourself open the door!

*Yourself open the door!

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Ownself is may not have derived from ziji

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Ziji—regular reflexiveZiji can function like a regular reflexive

(Used to refer back to the subject/object of the sentence)

BUT

ownself

cannot function as a regular reflexive

Example

4

Lisi

is blaming

himself

.

Lisi

zai

zebei

(ta)

ziji

Example 3

He cut

himself

.

*He

cut

ownself

.

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OverallSeems like they can replace each otherEven though ziji

is in fact a Chinese expression

Based on example 1

Why

you keep asking me!

You

ziji

go

open door

lah

!

Why you keep asking me!

You

ownself

go open door

lah

!

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Conclusion Ownself is likely to have developed on the basis of the form and functions of the Chinese expression 自己 ‘

self

’

Although the

functions

of

ziji

seems to be wider

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THANK YOU! 

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ReferencesDeterding, D. (2007). Dialects of english: Singapore english Edinburgh University Press.Sato, Y., & Kim, C. (2012). Radical pro drop and the role of syntactic agreement in colloquial

singapore

english

.

Lingua, 122

(8), 858

.

Lim, L. (2004).

Singapore English : A Grammatical Description

. Amsterdam: John

Benjamins

Pub. Co.)

Nordquist

, R. [Web log message]. Retrieved from

http://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/West-African-Pidgin-English-Wape.htm

Last accessed 1 April 2014.

The British Library Board. [Web log message]. Retrieved from

http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/case-studies/minority-ethnic/caribbean/

Last accessed 1 April 2014

.

Wee, L. (2007). Singapore English X-self and

ownself

.

World

Englishes

, 26

, 360-372.

Slide47

Platt, John T. 1975. The Singapore English speech continuum and its basilect

‘

Singlish

’

as a

‘

creoloid

’

. Anthropological Linguistics 17:363–374

.

BBC News. (1999, Aug 30). Singapore declares war on

singlish

.

BBC News World: Asia-Pacific

. Retrieved from

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/433745.stm

Last accessed 1 April 2014.

The University of the West Indies. (

n.d.

).

Creole languages of the

caribbean

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http://www.mona.uwi.edu/dllp/linguistics/creole.htm

Last accessed 1 April 2014.

Carons

, T. A. &

Onyioha

, A. M. (

n.d.

). The origin of the pidgin.

AfroStyle

Magazine

, Retrieved from

http://www.afrostylemag.com/pidgin.html

Last accessed 1 April 2014.

Richards, N. (2010, May 17). [Web log message]. Retrieved from

http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2010/05/pidgin-english/

Last accessed 1 April 2014.

Versteegh

, K. (2008). Non-

indo-european

pidgins and creoles. In S.

Kouwenberg

& V.

Singler

(Eds.),

The handbook of pidgin and creole studies

Retrieved from

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/store/10.1002/9781444305982.ch7/asset/ch7.pdf?v=1&t=hth5a2yf&s=8a9769c7c837c4c07f5b0bc1d66e74ace7488cb5

Last accessed 1 April 2014.