The Importance Of Colonialism And English Language In Singapore

The English language began its climb to world dominance with the rise of the British Empire in the 16th century. During this time English began to spread as the worlds lingua franca for business and trade. With the support of the United States, which at the time was one of the most successful nations in history, english was able to overthrow all previous lingua francas. However, english should not be considered as the “gateway to the world”. Although the english language is widely- spoken around the world, making english language the official language of the world will lead to diminishing cultural diversity.

It is important to make a distinction between a ‘national language’ and an ‘official language’ before discussing any further. National language is “a language associated with a particular country where it is recognised as a symbol of national identity” (Joan Swann, 2004) whereas an official language can be defined as “a language which is used for political, legal and administrative communications within a given political territory.” (Joan Swann, 2004) This essay will focus on national languages and their importance across the globe from small communities to national level without overruling the importance of having official language(s) helping to run governments.

Colonialism brings drastic changes in the Political, Economical and Social conditions of the colonized countries. It also sows the seed of English education among the colonies which attempts to transform the indigenous people into ‘human’. The emergence of English language education and colonial rule dominates the native tongue in various spheres and in due course surpasses it. Initially, the purpose of English education is to assimilate indigenous people into the dominant mainstream English speaking society and its culture. Indirectly, the aim is to lose their Native culture and language. Besides, those attempts, later in the twentieth century English language revitalizes the strength of Native people to voice out their experiences, to register their oral tradition, folklore and history which are accessible globally now. Moreover new strategies have been evolved to improve the foreign tongue (English) as a second language like TPR-S. Such techniques not only help them to master over the language English and

As I have already mentioned, Singapore has four official languages: English, Tamil, Mandarin and Malay. It was so historically formed that the official language of Singapore is Malay and the national anthem is also written in Malay language. English is the administration language of Singapore and it is mainly British English, but also contain some American English influences. English remains the first language medium in schools and colleges of the country, and is also the most widespread language in the literature. All signs and official publications are written in English, but there are also versions translated into other official languages. But the population doesn’t speak English, but so-called Singlish with Creole characteristics, Chinese dialects, and Indian and Malay languages.

In more modern times the interaction of English speakers with other languages, through first colonialism, and later the emergence of English as a global language has enriched the vocabulary (‘pyjama’) and led to the evolution of different versions of English around the world, for example the hybrid ‘Singlish’ that has emerged in Singapore.

The way in which our world functions today is a result of colonialization. Language death and linguistic endangerment is woven with colonialization and the history of oppression toward indigenous communities. We cannot speak of language death without first acknowledging the speakers and the systematic oppression that indigenous communities continue struggling to resist. In present time language shifts due to economic incentive of hegemony and the mediating role of language ideologies are two of the most important causes of language death. Language shift and language ideologies that ultimately cause language death are current consequences of colonialization. The death of a language has both of linguistic and cultural consequences to the particular community affected and to the world’s diversity as a whole. Languages serve as carries of cultural knowledge, as identity and verbal art, hence when a language is lost cultural resources, identity and verbal art are lost.

Before we begin, it is very important to understand the difference between an official language and a standard language. An official languages is one that is adopted by the government for document and business purposes, this would be most native people’s second language; one that the government sees as advantageous and necessary. Most of the time a standard language could also be referred to as the native language; a common language that the high majority of citizens use to converse outside of the government. Currently there is a major push to be bilingual, to the point where countries are adding or changing the official language(s). Countries that were presented and are using English because of government ordained laws are Kenya, Zambia, The Bahamas, Jamaica, New Zealand, Ireland; an extremely minimalistic representation the total amount of countries with English as an official language. Almost every other country, especially China and India, have their students studying English. It is advantageous for further education, business, and

According to Mark Williams, The debate over English-only policies are divisive in our society, “The instrumental consequences of state and local ‘official English’ legislation are virtually nil, and in the absence of a genuine threat to the status of English, the formal subordination of other languages is mainly divisive.”

Singapore and Malaysia were both similarly colonized by the British. However, their development after independence differed in many ways. In this paper, I will examine, with help from resources provided in the course and minimal research, how their colonial experiences affected their political and social development after independence. After which, investigating the depth of influence their colonizers had, and why, differing racial ideologies had the greatest impact on their development.

English, which is spoken by 1.9 billon of the world’s population as their first language (Redman, 2004), has been spreading rapidly in the world since the British Industrial Revolution and colonialism in many continents such as Asia, Africa and North America during the 18th century (Lavot, 2000). As the influence of English is increasing, some linguists think that it is a natural process of successful international communication. However, many other languages are also dying out at an accelerating rate because of the expansion of the English language. In discussing the issue of the growing influence of English; arguments, both for and against, should be considered, particularly, in the economic, the information exchange, the linguistic

Language is oftentimes perceived as intrinsic to human nature which while true to an extent, ignores the way human behaviour today has affected our communication with one another. Since the end of the twentieth century, globalization changed the way people in the globalized countries are understood through language in ways that have both strengths and weaknesses. Languages have switched from being simply indicators of cultural background to being a commodity in the economic sphere. This reworking of the purpose of language has affected the growth of English worldwide and given it new ways to develop. Unfortunately, Standard English has largely become the focus of the international world at a cost for many people not born in English-speaking countries. Despite its shortcomings, globalization has provided different languages, and minority dialects, meaningful spaces in which they can develop their own worth. There are still important studies to be done into the effect of globalization on multilingualism and I propose doing multiple case studies to compare the progression of language in countries around the world. To start, it is important to looked at how that progression changed to begin with.

Most people who think of English will agree that it is one of the most diverse forms of communication. A hybrid made of various words and phrases from other cultures, it is commonly considered a lingua franca and is used to bring those various cultures together. But in some ~ cases, English is not being used to bring the people together, but rather deliberately split them apart. Such a case has been occurring in Kenya, where the usage of English has become an underhanded tool to partition the power between the elites and the commoners.

However, the development of Singapore’s society cannot be predicated on pure economics alone. Even though globalization has enabled Singapore to fare well in economic development, however, termed the perils of success, globalization has brought about undesirable

Common national language has consistently been a fundamental driving force to uphold national bonding all over the globe. This can be recognized by historical examples ranging from those found in Western countries to Asian countries, such as how French was adopted as a means to reunify France as a whole country after the French Revolution and how Korea has made use of a common Korean language to unite the Three Kingdoms and to secure statehood. In this context, ‘common national language’ refers to a language, both written and spoken that has connections, de facto or de jure with users and the territory they occupy and exists originally but is then forged to be the first language to shape a politically desired national identity. To strengthen the national solidarity, it has sometimes been proposed that a typical national language is indispensable for accelerating the formation of an appropriate national identity. This essay will argue that common national language is the key to sustain nationhood because users can gain a greater sense of belongings and togetherness towards the nation. This will be asserted by demonstrating how a particular concept can be stressed with a language while speaking and by showing how a common national language could reduce the communication gap between nationals with different mother tongues.

Hong Kong is a city located on the southern coast of China with more than 90% of its population being ethnic Chinese. Cantonese, English and Mandarin are three commonly used languages in Hong Kong. With the return of sovereignty from Britain to China, Hong Kong shifts from a British colony into a special administrative region of China. Due to this historical background, Hong Kong has experienced significant changes in social, political and economic aspects over the past few decades. The use of languages in Hong Kong is no exception. These three languages play different roles and serve different functions over time. This paper is designed to give a broad overview on the language used in Hong Kong. It begins with a brief introduction of Hong Kong’s social, economic and political background, then goes on to investigate the changing status and roles of three languages in the government, business and mass media sector and discuss people’s attitudes towards the languages over time. The paper concludes with a summary of the change of language.