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The languages of Singapore are English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil, with the lingua franca between Singaporeans being English, the de facto main language. Among themselves, Singaporeans often speak Singlish, an English creole arising from centuries of contact between Singapore's internationalised society and its legacy of being a British colony.
Singapore's indigenous culture originates primarily from the Austronesian people that arrived from the island of Taiwan, settling between 1500 and 1000 BCE.It was then influenced during the Middle Ages primarily by multiple Chinese dynasties such as the Ming and Qing, as well as by other Asian countries such as the Majapahit Empire, Tokugawa shogunate, and the Ryukyu Kingdom.
Tamil is the most spoken Indian language in Singapore and the only Indian language among Singapore's four official languages, alongside Mandarin, Malay and English, [3] and 3.1% of Singapore residents speak Tamil at home. [4] Singapore is one of the three countries in the world to make Tamil an official language, the others being India and Sri ...
Singapore's language planning is known as exogenous planning, whereby a foreign language takes on the role as the main language of communication against the indigenous languages in the country. The education system aims to create a workforce that is bi-literate in English and Chinese/Malay/Tamil.
Although these works may be considered as literature works to their specific languages, they are also viewed as a distinct body of literature portraying various aspects of Singapore society and forms a significant part of the culture of Singapore. Singaporean literature in English was first started by the Peranakan community in colonial ...
Singlish (a portmanteau of Singapore and English), formally known as Colloquial Singaporean English, is an English-based creole language originating in Singapore. [1] [2] [3] Singlish arose out of a situation of prolonged language contact between speakers of many different Asian languages in Singapore, such as Malay, Cantonese, Hokkien, Mandarin, Teochew, and Tamil. [4]
In Singapore, English is a "working language" that serves the economy and development and is associated with the broader global community. Meanwhile, the rest are "mother tongues" that are associated with the country's culture. Speaking Standard English also helps Singaporeans communicate and express themselves in their everyday life. [21]
Singapore embraces an English-based bilingual education system. Students are taught subject-matter curriculum with English as the medium of instruction, while the official mother tongue of each student - Mandarin Chinese for Chinese, Malay for Malays and Tamil for South Indians – is taught as a second language. [1]