The videos shown above depict English as it is used in different social settings. In the first video, Gurmit Singh portrays himself as Phua Chu Kang in the popular series of ‘PCK Pte Ltd’. In this setting, he speaks a form of English that is commonly used in Singapore and widely known as Singlish. The second video depicts a roadshow event based on the reality TV game show, ‘Don’t forget the Lyrics’. In this vide Gurmit Singh takes on the role f a host. His usage of English language in this case very much defers from the first video. Let’s now look at the differences and evaluations of the videos.
Evaluation of video 1
English was first introduced in Singapore during the British colonial rule. Singlish then came about due to the different interpretations of the English language by the locals. Singlish is an English-based creole which is only unique to Singaporeans. The Chinese ethnicity forms the majority in Singapore today. In the past, 75% of the Chinese population in Singapore spoke the dialect Hokkien. Even though Singapore’s lingua franca is English, Malay is our national language even till today. Singlish originated from the influence of Hokkien and Malay. In our multicultural society, each race within their individual groups speak different dialects. For Indians, we have various dialects such as Tamil, Hindi and Punjabi. The Chinese have even more dialect groups such as Cantonese and Hakka. These racial groups with their different dialects brought further variations to Singlish.
From the video it is important to note that his main purpose is to entertain his audience. Here, his audience is our local Singaporeans. His jokes, the lingo and accent that he uses can only be appreciated by Singaporeans. A non-Singaporean may find it hard to appreciate and fully comprehend what he is saying as it comprises mainly Singlish. This is yet another feature of being uniquely Singapore and has proven to be a great success as many Singaporeans began to embrace Singlish even more as a part of our daily spoken language. This humourous TV series has created an impact nationwide regardless of race and language. As Phua Chu Kang often repeats, “best in Singapore, JB and some say Batam”.
Words such as “lah” “leh” “lor” which he used are also commonly used in other modes of communication such as short messaging services (SMS), blogs, emails and chatrooms. Bad pronounciation is also depicted in the video such as ‘mer-see-les’ for ‘Mercedes’ and ‘neh-mine’ for ‘nevermind’. Bad pronounciation came about when people spoke in Hokkien-accented English that was mixed with a sprinkling of Mandarin & Hokkien. As such, at least 80% of their conversation was conducted in sub-standard English. This was most common in the 1970s and 1980s. But, this issue of using sub-standard English resurfaced again after the featuring of ‘PCK Pte Ltd’ in the late 1990s which was infested with Singlish(straits times,2009).
Evaluation of video 2
In the second video, Gurmit Singh is a host and is therefore required to use Standard English. This time, his role and audience are different. In this setting, he is promoting a show “Don’t forget the Lyrics”, not only to local Singaporeans but to the general public. At formal events such as this, and sometimes in the presence of distinguished personalities, the use of Standard English is pivotal to foster greater understanding. Being a host as opposed to being an actor in a local drama series contributes to the difference in language used.
As educators, we have to ensure that our students understand the difference between Standard English and the other variations of English in Singapore. With many students speaking Singlish at home, there is little emphasis on the use of Standard English. The strong influence of media has had a great impact on the way students speak English. When students embark on their journey of formal education, our main role as teachers is to make sure that we cultivate habits of Standard English use rather than succumbing to the informal environments where Singlish is prevalent.
References
Eagle2004. (2009). Getting youth all a-Twitter over speaking good English. Singapore: The Straits Times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1amdFRKoa0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULTAo-YOeDY&feature=related
Lovingly done by: Aparnaa, Charlotte, Pauline and Revathi :) :)
(of NIE TG03, AAE101 Introduction to the Study of Language)
