Teaching and Learning Guide for

This guide accompanies the following article : Jakob R. E. Leimgruber, ‘Singapore English’, Language and Linguistics Compass 5/1 (2011): 47–62. DOI: 10.1111/j.1749‐818x.2010.00262.x Author’s Introduction This article describes the English(es) spoken in Singapore in four major parts. The first three (Phonology, Grammar, Vocabulary) are a linguistic description, based on previous literature on the topic and on recent findings. While by necessity selective, they contain the main features usually thought to be typical of Singapore English. The fourth part, Variation, is concerned with the various forms that English can take in the country: Singlish, Standard English, colloquial, formal, etc. The interaction between these forms, and the ways this interaction has been described, are investigated in this section. It concludes with a look at the indexicality model, which recasts variation as a speaker‐centric process that enables users to select features of Singlish or of Standard English in order to index particular social meanings. This Teaching and Learning Guide aims to increase the article’s value as an educational resource, by showing how it can be used in a classroom context. The Author Recommends Ho, Mian‐Lian, and John T. Platt. 1993. Dynamics of a contact continuum: Singaporean English . Oxford: OUP. A good place to start for an overview of early studies of Singapore English. The book is based on extensive fieldwork research by Platt and his associates. A major theme throughout the book is the continuum hypothesis, which forms the theoretical framework against which the data is analysed. The description and analysis is solely grammatical (with only little phonology), but all the more detailed. Gupta, Anthea Fraser. 1994. The step‐tongue: children’s English in Singapore . Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Another basic book for those interested in Singapore English. The author recorded the ‘children’ the title refers to, and reports their acquisition of various features of the variety. The early chapters comprise a thoroughly researched history of the island‐state and the languages used therein. The book was instrumental in championing the diglossia model for Singapore. Low, Ee Ling, and Adam Brown. 2005. English in Singapore: an introduction . Singapore: McGraw‐Hill Education. An excellent overview of the variety, both linguistically and in terms of the variationist models proposed for it. The book is organised as a textbook, with chapter summaries, suggested readings and exercises in each chapter (and answer keys at the end of the book). In addition to a thorough linguistic description, it also features definitions and discussions of bilingualism, language attitudes, language and literature and language policy. Deterding, David. 2007. Singapore English . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Another more recent book, of manageable size (92 pages of text), mostly concerned with the linguistic description of Singapore English. Phonetics and phonology, being the author’s speciality, is the largest chapter, with in‐depth analyses on various processes from segmental phonology to rhythm, stress and intonation. Two chapters on grammar follow, covering tenses, modals, discourse particles and borrowing, among many others. Another chapter is dedicated to variation and change, and a final one to an annotated bibliography. A transcript of the interview data used is given in the appendix. Alsagoff, Lubna. 2010. English in Singapore: culture, capital and identity in linguistic variation . World Englishes 29(3). 336–48. A critical review of previous models of variation for Singapore English, with a proposal for a new, culture‐based model. This article and its list of references is a valuable source of information on the themes of variation, attitudes, and policy with regards to English in Singapore. The cultural orientation model is described, as is its grounding in previous approaches. The central role of speaker agency in this model makes this article an important contribution to the field. Eckert, Penelope. 2008. Variation and the indexical field. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12(4). 453–76. Eckert explains in this article the workings of indexicality, and gives it a further tool, the indexical field: a range of social meanings indexed by a particular linguistic variable. Together with the other studies referenced, her analyses are enlightening, and may hold key answers for variation in Singapore English, although this is not explicitly present in the article. Online Materials http://www.singlishdictionary.com This site is the personal project of Jack Tsen‐Ta Lee, and aims ‘to record actual usage in published material’. Its format is based on the Oxford English Dictionary, and the entries, etymologies, definitions, etc., are of a very high standard. Each entry has quotations from printed sources. Highly recommended for those obscure Singlish words. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/english/staff/afg/singeb2.html Anthea Fraser Gupta’s ‘Important Readings’ on Singapore English. Includes links to other websites and a bibliography. http://videoweb.nie.edu.sg/phonetic/books/singapore‐english‐bibliography.htm David Deterding’s vast annotated bibliography. Listed by topics (phonetics, grammar, diglossia, speech therapy, etc.) and divided into books, overviews and articles. http://www.goodenglish.org.sg/ The website of the Singapore government’s Speak Good English Movement. Information about the campaign, English quizzes, examples of ‘commonly mispronounced words’, Singlish–English sentence pairs. Sample Syllabus What follows is a suggestion of two weeks’ tea

Linguistics · Mathematics education · Computer Science · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy · Psychology