Singapore English (SgE, SE, en-SG) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Singapore. In Singapore, English is spoken in two main forms: Singaporean Standard English, which is indistinguishable grammatically from British English, and Singaporean Colloquial English, which is better known as Singlish.[2][3]
English is the medium of communication among students from preschool to university in Singapore. Many families use two or three languages on a regular basis, and English is often one of them. The level of fluency in English among residents in Singapore also varies greatly from person to person, depending on their educational background, but English in general is nevertheless understood, spoken and written as the main language throughout the country.
Classification of Singapore English
Singapore English can be classified into Singapore Standard English (SSE) and Singapore Colloquial English (Singlish).[6] The language consists of three sociolects: Acrolect, Mesolect, and Basilect.[7] Both Acrolect and Mesolect are regarded as Standard Singapore English, while Basilect is considered as Singlish.[8]
Acrolect; there is no substantial difference from Standard British English (SBE), though there may be some features of pronunciation that indicate the speaker is Singaporean, such as use of a full vowel in unstressed syllables and a relatively monophthongal realisation of the FACE vowel.[8]
Mesolect; it has some features distinct from SBE[8]
Question tenses in an indirect form; e.g. "May I ask where is the toilet?"
Indefinite article deletion (copula absence); e.g. "May I apply for car licence?" (Instead of saying "a" car licence)
Lack of marking in verb forms (Regularisation); e.g. "He always go to the shopping centre."
Generalised "is it" question tag; e.g. "You coming today, Is it?"
Consistent copula deletion; e.g. "My handwriting no good, lah."
Use of particles like ah; lah, e.g. "Wait ah; Hurry lah, I need to go now!"
Singaporeans vary their language according to social situations (Pakir 1991) and attitudes that they want to convey (Poedjosoedarmo 1993).[9] Better educated Singaporeans with a "higher" standard of English tend to speak "Standard" Singapore English (the acrolect), whereas those who are less-educated or whose first language is not English tend to speak Singlish (the basilect).[9] Gupta (1994) said that most Singaporean speakers systematically alternate between colloquial and formal language depending on the formality of the situation.[9]
Standard Singapore English
Standard Singapore English is the standard form of English used in Singapore. It generally resembles British English and is often used in more formal settings such as the workplace or when communicating with people of higher authority such as teachers, bosses and government officials.[10] Singapore English acts as the "bridge" among different ethnic groups in Singapore.[11] Standard Singapore English retains British spelling and grammar.[12]
History
The British established a trading post on the island of Singapore in 1819, and the population grew rapidly thereafter, attracting many immigrants from Chinese provinces and from India.[13] The roots of Standard Singapore English derive from nearly a century and a half of British control. Its local character seems to have developed early in the English-medium schools of the 19th and early-20th centuries, where the teachers often came from India and Ceylon, as well as from various parts of Europe and from the United States of America. By 1900 Eurasians and other locals were employed as teachers.[14] Apart from a period of Japanese occupation (1942–1945), Singapore remained a British colony until 1963, when it joined the Malaysian federation, but this proved a short-lived alliance, largely due to ethnic rivalries. Since its expulsion from the Federation in 1965, Singapore has operated as an independent city-state. English served as the administrative language of the British colonial government, and when Singapore gained self-government in 1959 and independence in 1965, the Singaporean government decided to keep English as the main language to maximise economic prosperity. The use of English as the nation's first language serves to bridge the gap between the diverse ethnic groups in Singapore; English operates as the lingua franca of the nation. The use of English as a global language for commerce, technology and science has also helped to expedite Singapore's development and integration into the global economy.[15] Public schools use English as the main language of instruction, although students are also required to receive part of their instruction in their mother tongue; placement in such courses is based on ethnicity and not without controversy.[16] The standard Singaporean accent used to be officially RP. However, in recent decades,[when?] a standard Singaporean accent, quite independent of any external standard, including RP, started to emerge. A 2003 study by the National Institute of Education in Singapore suggests that a standard Singaporean pronunciation is emerging and is on the cusp of being standardised.[17] Singaporean accents can be said to be largely non-rhotic.[18]
In 2023, opposition leader Pritam Singh advocated for English proficiency testing for immigrants seeking Singaporean citizenship.[19] Polling data of native-born Singaporeans show broad support for the proposal.[20]
Singapore's Speak Good English Movement
The wide use of Singlish led the government to launch the Speak Good English Movement in Singapore in 2000 in an attempt to replace Singlish with Standard English. This movement was made to show the need for Singaporeans to speak Standard English. Nowadays, all children in schools are being taught Standard English with one of the other official languages (Chinese, Malay, Tamil) being taught as a second language. 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] In 2014, the Singaporean government made an announcement entitled "Speak Good English Movement brings fun back to Grammar and good English", where the strategies that would be used to promote their program in the following years were explained. Specifically, the government would release a series of videos demystifying the difficulty and dullness of the grammatical rules of the English language. These videos provide a more humorous approach to learning basic grammar rules. Singaporeans will now be able to practise the grammatical rules in both written and spoken English thanks to a more interactive approach.[22][needs update]
Malay, Indian, and Chinese influences
Although Standard Singapore English (SSE) is mainly influenced by British English and, recently, American English, there are other languages that also contribute to its use on a regular basis. The majority of Singaporeans speak more than one language, with many speaking three to four.[23] Most Singaporean children are brought up bilingual. They are introduced to Malay, Chinese, Tamil, or Singapore Colloquial English (Singlish) as their native languages, depending on their families' ethnic backgrounds and/or socioeconomic status. They also acquire those languages from interacting with friends in school and other places. Naturally, the presence of other languages in Singapore has influenced Singapore English, something particularly apparent in Singlish.[23]
Both Singapore English and Singapore colloquial English are used with multiple accents. Because Singaporeans speak different ethnic mother tongues, they exhibit ethnic-specific features in their speech such that their ethnicity can be readily identified from their speech alone.[24] The strength of one's ethnic mother tongue-accented English accent depends on factors like formality[25] and their language dominance.[26] Words from Malay, Chinese, and Tamil are also borrowed, if not code-switched, into Singapore English. For example, the Malay words "makan" (to eat), "habis" (finished), and the Hokkien word "kiasu" (simplified Chinese:惊输; traditional Chinese:驚輸; Pe̍h-ōe-jī:kiaⁿ-su) are constantly used, having been adopted into the lexicon, to the point that Singaporeans are not necessarily aware of which language those words are from. The nativisation process has progressed so far that the word "kiasu" has been used in the Singapore press since 2000 without being italicised,[23] and went onto claim international recognition, being admitted to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2007.[11][27][28]
Broadly speaking, Singaporean English accents are based on the sound systems of standard non-rhoticSouthern British English accents, as is often the case with dialects of English spoken in Commonwealth nations aside from Canada.[29] Like many Southern British English dialects, the vowels in LOT[ɒ] and PALM[ä] are distinct in Singapore English, and almost all speakers use the PALM vowel [ä] in the word plant, rather than the TRAP vowel[ɛ].[30][31]
As English becomes more often used as a day-to-day language in Singapore, mass adoption of local norms have led to the formation of a standard, endonormative Singaporean accent with characteristics primarily driven by conventions and language change within the country—local words and accents are now considered to be part and parcel of standard Singapore English.[17][32] Historically speaking, Received Pronunciation served as the model for acrolectal or "standard" Singapore English accents that were, for a time, mainstream in local media, but this has since given way to a new, nativised standard, cultivated from the colloquial form of English in Singapore.[30]
Nowadays, the accents of many Singaporeans reflect a compromise between local characteristics and prescriptive standards given that English has been institutionalised in the country for decades, even becoming the most commonly spoken language at home according to a 2020 census.[33][34] Accents still vary, depending on age, upbringing and the race or heritage language of the speaker.[35][36]
Lawrence Wong speaking on The Daily Ketchup Podcast, recorded c.January 2025. Wong's accent is non-rhotic, which is characteristic of Singapore English.
Singapore English is predominantly non-rhotic, like Australian and Nigerian accents, so most speakers will leave out the r sound in words like far.[18] Semi-rhotic accents are, however, quite commonly heard on radio, where some presenters have adopted more North American-like accents.[37] Studies suggest that final r sounds are more likely to be realised by younger speakers and women among Chinese and Indian Singaporeans, and that this tendency is more common in content words than in function words, and in reading than in conversation.[38][39] Rhoticity is nevertheless generally uncommon and seldom consistent,[40][41] even in environments where a linking r could occur, e.g., my brother is and my sister is.[40][42] In a 2018 study examining the speech of 104 Singapore English speakers, r sounds were dropped at the end of syllables more than 90% of the time in conversational speech, while linking r was used less than 20% of the time. Cases of intrusive r (e.g., pronouncing drawing as draw-ring) were negligible.[38]
High vowels
Monophthongs of Singapore English on a normalised formant chart, from Deterding (2007a:19). Here, /ɛ̝/ represents the NEXT vowel, and [ɔː] and [uː], in red, are allophones of /ɔː/ and /uː/ in open syllables. The vowels in FACE and GOAT are not included in this plot.
The KIT vowel is closer to the vowel in FLEECE than in most other dialects, and at its most extreme, it can be as high and front as the latter vowel, making sit and seat potential homophones.[43] Several studies confirm significant overlap between these two vowels,[44][45][46] however Deterding (2010:203–206) and Low (2025) demonstrate that a distinction is still actively maintained by most people. Speakers may also rely on vowel length to distinguish words like rid[ɹɪd] and read[ɹiˑd]; in this case the KIT vowel is markedly shorter.[46][47][48]
The FOOT vowel is relatively high and back in vowel space.[43] Like KIT and FLEECE, formant plots show significant overlap between the FOOT and GOOSE vowels, raising the possibility of a FOOT–GOOSE merger.[45][49][50] Other studies report a robust distinction in vowel quality and duration.[46][48] While previous studies have categorised /uː/ as a back vowel [u], more recent ones suggest that GOOSE-fronting is now prevalent among younger speakers, and that it is more accurate to classify this variant of /uː/ as a near-back [u̟] or centralised [ü] vowel.[45][46][49]
The FACE vowel /eɪ/ is a short [e] or long monophthong[eː], if not a diphthong with minimal change in quality.[51] Measurements indicate that in general, this vowel tends to be more diphthongal for Chinese Singaporeans than for Malays.[52] Likewise, the vowel in GOAT has limited change in quality over time, coming close to [o] or [oː] for many speakers.[43][52] Findings from Deterding (1996) lend weight to the proposition that FACE and GOAT are somewhat diphthongal and not entirely monophthongs.[53]
Low vowels
DRESS–TRAP merger
The vowels in met/ɛ/ and mat/æ/ are seldom distinguished [ɛ] in conversational speech, meaning kettle and cattle, better and batter, and wreck and rack have identical pronunciations.[44][54][55] Any distinction is less likely between words ending in stop consonants, like met and mat, though bed[e] and bad[ɛ] are kept distinct (see §Next–text split).[43] Some studies report that /æ/ tends to be less centralised in vowel space, and that Malays are more likely than Indian and Chinese speakers to merge DRESS and TRAP in everyday speech.[46][49][54]Low (2025) reports a vowel shift suggesting that the DRESS–TRAP merger is more apparent among the younger generation.
Next–text split
Frequency of NEXT-raising within the DRESS lexical set; out of all the words analysed, leg is most likely to be realised with the raised [e] vowel. For some of these words, like edge, raising is less consistent, and varies from speaker to speaker.
For nearly all speakers, next and text do not rhyme, owing to a vowel split affecting the DRESSlexical set. The word next is realised with the raised vowel[e], which is distinguished from the low-mid vowel[ɛ] in text.[49] The raised vowel[e] occurs unsystematically in a small number of words including leg, dead and head (and their derivatives). Other words like fed and neck do not have this vowel. For many speakers, it is equivalent to the vowel in FACE, in which case dead rhymes with made, but not with fed. Taking this into account, speakers with the complete DRESS–TRAP merger will distinguish lag[ɛ] from leg[e], but not the words lad[ɛ] and led[ɛ]. The raised vowel can also occur in red, making red[e] and read[ɛ] (as in I've read the book) non-homophones. The raised vowel is also used in egg and bed.[17][51][56]
The next–text split appears to be motivated by the DRESS–TRAP merger in the speech of younger Singaporeans,[44][56] who are more likely than older speakers to raise the vowel in next, though younger speakers raise it to a lower height on average.[56] While words with the raised vowel tend to end in voiced stop consonants like /d/ and /ɡ/, this split is not phonologically conditioned, unlike /ɛɡ/raising in Pacific Northwest English — given that leg/leɡ/ and beg/bɛɡ/ do not rhyme.[44]
Low back vowels
Representation of vowel shift in Singapore English, highlighting the differences between older (grey) and younger speakers (black), from Low (2025). This study provides evidence that certain sound changes are becoming more common, like GOOSE-fronting, the merging of DRESS and TRAP into a single vowel, and the lowering of the low back vowels /ɒ,ɔ/.
The LOT vowel is a rounded, lowback vowel[ɒ̝˖]. The vowel in THOUGHT/COURT may be longer and closer to cardinal[ɔː] and this tendency is stronger before voiced consonants and in open syllables. Investigations by Deterding (2007a:14–17) show that speakers produce an allophone of the THOUGHT vowel that is higher and further back[ɔː] in words not closed by final consonants, like more and saw. The THOUGHT vowel is otherwise the same as LOT for many speakers, resulting in identical pronunciations for cot and caught[ɒ̝˖],[46][49] though newer studies seem to indicate that there are older speakers who still maintain this distinction.[57]
For the vast majority of speakers, STRUT and PALM have identical or near-identical vowel qualities, in the vicinity of open central[ä]. Sometimes a length distinction is maintained, with PALM having a longer vowel duration,[43][48] however this seldom holds true in morphemes where the vowel stands in a closed syllable—minimal pairs like cut and cart, sum and psalm may have similar or even identical pronunciations. Like all free vowels, the PALM or START vowel is generally longer in open syllables, e.g. ramen[ˈɹäːmɛn] or marker[ˈmäːkə], than in short ones, e.g. tart[tʰät̚]. The STRUT vowel, on the other hand, is always short.[43][46]Low (2025) regards STRUT and PALM as distinct vowels with contrasting vowel lengths.
Generally speaking, words from the BATHlexical set, like ask, last and half, are realised with the PALM vowel[ä]—the a in father—like most dialects from the south of England.[31][49] Unlike some varieties of North American English, aunt ("ahnt") and ant do not sound the same. Unlike Southern English dialects, usage of the PALM vowel may even extend to plastic and elastic. The TRAP vowel, on the other hand, has been reported to occur quite commonly in gasp, and rarely, in dance and can’t.[39] In sample, command and demand, whether the PALM or TRAP vowel is used depends on the speaker.[31]
Diphthongs
Assuming that FACE, GOAT and SQUARE are analysed as monophthongs, there are five remaining distinct diphthongs—namely, the closing diphthongs [aɪaʊɔɪ] and the centering diphthongs [ɪəʊə].[58]Deterding (2007b:26) notes that, while words like POOR, tour and sure are always pronounced with the diphthong [-ʊə] or [-wəː], many speakers will use the [ɔː] vowel after the /j/ sound, like in CURE, endure and security[-jɔː], though [-juə] and [-jəː] are also commonly observed.[17][59]
Words like fire[ˈfaɪ.ə] are normally broken down into two syllables.[43][60][61]
Vowel length
Like in most varieties of English, free vowels are shorter when there is a following final consonant (i.e., in closed syllables), so bee[iː] has a long vowel while beat[i] has a relatively shorter one.[62] The length of a vowel is determined by its environmental context, coda voiceless stop consonants are consistently associated with reduced vowel lengths.[48]
SQUARE–DRESSminimal pairs may also contrast durationally, with SQUARE being a longer open-mid vowel[ɛː] in most contexts.[58][62] Many studies have classified the SQUARE vowel as a monophthong, in the neighbourhood of DRESS and TRAP.[48][63]
Consonants
Pronunciation of ⟨th⟩
Th-stopping is common at the start of syllables, making tree and three homophones. This is generally more common in informal settings.[64] Dental fricatives may undergo th-fronting at the end of words, so teeth sounds like teef,[51][61] though most will use a [t] sound in the word maths[mɛts].[51] For some Tamil bilinguals, word-final th sounds are alternatively realised as stops.[65]
Stop consonants
Stop consonants in Singapore English are usually not released at the end of words[p̚t̚k̚], and voiceless stops can be aspirated or unaspirated in initial positions—how strongly a stop is aspirated can be determined by its place of articulation, the heritage or home language of the speaker and the level of formality of the conversation. In general, speakers with strong Malay or Tamil accents are less likely to aspirate initial stops, while Chinese Singaporeans are more predisposed to using aspiration.[43][62] Measurements of voice onset time indicate that, in initial positions, /k/ is more likely to be aspirated, or exhibit stronger aspiration[kʰ] across all major Singaporean racial groups, whereas /t,p/ are characterised by weaker and even weaker aspiration respectively.[66] Out of all the language groups surveyed in the study, Tamil speakers of Singapore English have the lowest average voice onset time measurements for the word-initial lenis stops[bdɡ].[66]
Initial, unaspirated[p˭t˭t͡s˭t͡ʃ˭k˭] are found in loanwords from Hokkien and Malay, e.g. kopitiam[ˈk˭o.p˭i.t˭jäm]. Additionally, aspirated [pʰtʰt͡sʰkʰ] also appear in Hokkien loanwords, alongside voiced stops.[66]
Final /p,t,k/ may show some degree of glottal reinforcement[ʔk̚], final t and k are also prone to being completely replaced by a glottal stop[ʔ] in fast speech. The use of glottalization is more common in Malay-accented English.[67]
Speakers with more sociolinguistically prestigious accents may realise intervocalic t and d (e.g., in little and ladder) as alveolar taps or flaps,[30][39] though this is generally uncommon. For the vast majority of speakers in Singapore, t and d are realised as [t] and [d] in these environments.[39]
Pronunciation of final "l"
There are three variants of final "l" in widespread use in Singapore English: dark "l"s, clear "l"s and vocalised "l"s.[68] For speakers who vocalise their "l"s, the "l" sound can be dropped entirely after back vowels, diphthongs with back vowels, and sometimes mid central vowels, so that mole sounds like mow[moː], and small like smaw[smɔː]. The PRICE diphthong /aɪ/ is also monophthongised into the PALM vowel before a vocalised "l", so Nile and now are similar-sounding.[30][69][70][71] Vocalised "l"s are realised as high back vowels [ö] with varying degrees of lip rounding.[30] Chinese Singaporeans, especially older speakers, are more likely to vocalise final "l"s. In contrast, the use of clear "l"s [l] at the end of words is associated with more pronounced Malay accents.[68]
Pronunciation of "r"
The most common and predominant realisation of the r sound in Singapore English is the postalveolar approximant[ɹ̠], roughly the same sound found in most native varieties of English worldwide. The alveolar tap[ɾ] or trill[r] is an alternative realisation of r among Malay and Indian Singaporeans and older speakers in general.[38] Among Tamil Singaporeans, the trilled variant appears to be extremely rare in comparison to the approximant and tapped r.[72] A rare and emergent variant of r, indicative of R-labialisation and described as a labiodental approximant[ʋ], has also been reported.[38][73]
Alternation
Several studies have reported some degree of final-obstruent devoicing in Singapore English—meaning that the word raise for example, loses its voicing[s] at the end of the word, and as a result of that, sounds more like race. This process is less likely between vowels, so is it?[ɪzɪt] maintains the[z].[67][74] Newer studies dispute the idea that devoicing leads to ambiguity, and argue that underlying voicing is still recoverable from factors like the length of the consonant involved and the duration of the preceding vowel.[17][75]
Conversely, there is an opposite tendency to voice alveolar fricatives between vowels in some words like December → De[z]ember/dɪˈzɛmbə/ and pressure → pre[zh]ure/ˈpɹɛʒə/, and even across word boundaries, so this is becomes thi[z]is. This tendency is somewhat sporadic, affecting only a few, fixed words like the ones mentioned.[67][76]
Final consonant cluster reduction
Some final consonant clusters tend to be simplified in conversational Singapore English—for example, list[lɪs] drops its final t and flask[fläs] its k, though speakers are seldom consistent in doing so. The sequence /-ld/, as in gold, is also commonly reduced to /-l/, and since those who vocalise their "l"s tend to drop them completely after mid central and back vowels, gold may be rendered as "go", with both the l and d dropped (see §Pronunciation of final "l"). This does not apply to the past tense ending -ed.[51][77]
Consonant clusters subject to reduction in Singapore English
Original consonant cluster
Reduced consonant cluster
Examples
/-nt,-nd/
/-n/
environment, end
/-mp/
/-m/
jump
/-st,-sk/
/-s/
gist, task
/-pt/
/-p/
opt
/-kt/
/-k/ → [-ʔ]
act
/-kts,-kst/
/-ks/ → [-ʔs]
acts, next
/-ft,-fθ/
/-f/
lift, fifth
/-ld/
/-l/ → [-ɫ], [-l], [-ö] or (after mid central and back vowels) [-Ø]
world, hold
Lexical incidence
While words generally follow the lexical incidence patterns of Southern British English accents, so new for example, is pronounced nyoo, never noolike in some North American dialects, there are several exceptions.[51][71]
The words want and what are pronounced with the open central STRUT vowel instead of the rounded LOT vowel, like most varieties of North American English. In the English spoken in Southern England and Australia, these words are usually pronounced with the LOT vowel.[17]
Many speakers use the LOT vowel for won (win in the past tense), so that it rhymes with con and no longer sounds like one.[17]
Their is pronounced /djɑː/ in informal or conversational speech, making it distinct from there/dɛː/, which rhymes with mare.
Flour is pronounced FLAR, and is clearly distinct from flower.[60]
Seems and seen are sometimes realised with the lax i vowel found in words like KIT.[51]
Many speakers will use a mid central vowel [ə] for love, above and glove rather than the open STRUT vowel.[51]
Twelve is sometimes realised with an initial ch/tʃ/ sound.[78]
Stress and intonation
Stress-tone relationship in SgE according to Ng (2011)[79]
Pitch contour of a declarative sentence in Singapore English, from Chong (2012). Here, aL and Ha mark the left and right edges of an accentual phrase, and L* is a pitch accent falling on stressed syllables. The gradual downwards movement of pitch towards the end of the sentence is represented by the boundary tone L%.
Singapore English is characterised by a unique intonational system where pitch tends to be slightly raised at the end of a word with lexical stress. According to one analysis, the rightmost syllable of a stressed word or phonological word is marked with higher pitch, while words with no stress (e.g. my house) and unstressed initial syllables (e.g. again) carry relatively lower pitch. Meanwhile, all other non-final stressed syllables (e.g. writer) coincide with a mid level tone, or a similar pitch contour between low and high levels. There is also a tendency for pitch contours to be accentuated near the start of a sentence and diminished towards the end, and for pitch to drop or level out at the end of declarative sentences. For example, in the phrase I don't remember[aɪ˨ˈdon˦ɹɪ˨ˈmɛm˧.bə˦], pitch starts off low in I, then rises to a higher level in don't. The word remember is then realised with a less accentuated low–mid–high pitch contour.[79][80]
Tone assignment only takes place within the scope of the phonological word. Cranberry takes on a high–mid–high pitch contour [ˈkɹɛn˦ˌbɛ˧.ɹi˦], since cran and berry are analysed as separate words. Similarly, in brainstorm[ˈbɹeɪn˦ˌstɔːm˦], brain and storm are both assigned high pitch.[70][81] Prefixes with stress constitute their own phonological words, so the re in reenact[ˈɹi˦.ɛn˨ˌɛkt˦] is high-pitched. In words where the prefix is unstressed or less salient, like unfortunate[an˨ˈfɔ˧.tʃə˧.nət˦] and nonsense[ˈnɔn˧.səns˦], the prefix is not treated as a separate unit with stress and is therefore not assigned high pitch.[80]
Words are not restricted to discrete level tones. One alternative analysis posits that high pitch is associated with the right edge of an accentual phrase, and low pitch with the left edge; an accentual phrase may consist of a content word with zero or any number of preceding unstressed function words. For instance, in a sentence like I joined the call, in which I joined is analysed as a single accentual phrase, joined can be realised with rising pitch starting from the low pitch in I, in lieu of consistently high pitch.[80][82] In this model, phonological words (e.g. cran and berry in cranberry) and prefixes with stress are analysed as belonging to separate accentual phrases.[80] Other intonational variants have also been noted. For instance, flat pitch contours can sometimes span the entire length of words and accentual phrases where rising contours would normally be expected.[82][83]
Wider pitch range is associated with the introduction of a topic near the start of a sentence.[84] Elsewhere in the sentence, differences in pitch are less prominent, so low, mid and high tones may collapse into roughly the same pitch level. Moreover, at the end of declarative sentences and open-ended questions, "high-pitched" syllables are weaker and often replaced with a drop or leveling out in pitch.[80][84] For example, in the sentence I left all my things on the table, pitch is much higher on left than it is on the second syllable of table, which has underlying high pitch but tends to be realised instead with a fall or leveling out in pitch. Yes-no questions are accompanied with rising pitch, as is the case in many other dialects of English.[80] Rising pitch is also commonly used when there is non-final information at the end of an utterance, sometimes to indicate a non-final item in a list.[51]
Timing
Unstressed initial syllables are often realised with shorter duration and lower intensity.[82] There is also a tendency for the last syllable in an utterance to be lengthened or dragged out.[51]
Singapore English tends towards syllable timing, unlike British English, which is considered stress-timed.[85]
A wide range of foreign English dialects can be heard in Singapore. American and British accents are often heard on local television and radio due to the frequent airing of foreign television programmes.[86]
Unlike Singapore Standard English, Singlish includes many discourse particles and loan words from Malay, Mandarin and Hokkien. Many of such loan words include swear words, particularly Hokkien profanities such as "kanina" and "chee bai".[87] Hence, it is commonly regarded with low prestige in the country and not used in formal communication.[2][88]
The proliferation of Singlish has been controversial and the use of Singlish is not endorsed by the government. Singapore's first two prime ministers, Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong, have publicly declared[93] that Singlish is a substandard variety that handicaps Singaporeans, presents an obstacle to learning standard English, and renders the speaker incomprehensible to everyone except another Singlish speaker. The country's third, Lee Hsien Loong, has also said that Singlish should not be part of Singapore's identity.[94] In addition, the government launched the Speak Good English Movement in 2000 to encourage Singaporeans to speak proper English.[95]
Despite strong criticisms of Singlish, linguist David Yoong has put forward the argument that "Singaporeans who subscribe to Singlish and have a positive attitude towards the code see Singlish as a language that transcends social barriers" and that the language can be used to "forge rapport and, perhaps more importantly, the Singaporean identity".[96] Sociolinguist Anthea Fraser Gupta also argues that Singlish and standard English can and do co-exist, saying that "there is no evidence that the presence of Singlish causes damage to standard English". This was followed by organisers of the Speak Good English Movement clarifying that they are "not anti-Singlish", with their primary intention instead to ensure that Singaporeans are able to speak standard English first. A spokesperson was quoted as saying: "The presence of Singlish causes damage to standard English only when people do not have a good grounding in standard English".[97][98]
English language trends in Singapore
In 2010, speakers of English in Singapore were classified into five different groups:
Those who have no knowledge of English (extremely few people, most of whom were born before the 1940s);
Those who regard English as a foreign language, have limited command of, and seldom speak the language (mostly the older age groups);
Those who learnt English at school and can use it but have a dominant other language (many people, of all ages);
Those who learnt English at school and use it as their dominant language (many people, of all ages);
Those who learnt English as a native language (sometimes as a sole native language, but usually alongside other languages) and use it as their dominant language (many people, mostly children born after 1965 to highly educated parents).[99]
As of 2015[update], English is the most commonly spoken language in Singaporean homes. One effect of mass immigration into Singapore since 2000, especially from China, has been an increase in the proportion of the population to whom English is a foreign language. The most recent trend in Singapore favours an increasing use of English as well as stability in the use of Mandarin at the expense of other varieties of Chinese (apparently as the Chinese population switches first to Mandarin, then to English) while the use of Malay slowly erodes.
In 2010, 52% of Chinese children and 26% of Malay children aged between 5 and 14 speak English at home, as compared to 36% and 9.4% respectively in 2000.[102]
Other official languages in Singapore
English is Singapore's main and one of the four official languages, along with Malay, Chinese and Tamil.[103] The symbolic national language is Malay for historical reasons.[103] All official signs, legislation and documents are required to be in English, although translations in the other official languages are sometimes included, though it is not necessary. Under the education system, English is the language of instruction for all subjects except the official Mother Tongue languages (the other three official languages) and the literatures of those languages.
↑ L and H stand for lower and higher pitch respectively. M corresponds to mid level pitch, or a similar contour between low and high levels. Bolded letters correspond to where lexical stress falls in each word. Usually, words take on these pitch contours near or at the start of sentences and utterances. Elsewhere, pitch contours are flattened out.
References
1 2 "Census 2020"(PDF). Singapore Department of Statistics. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
↑ Leith, Dick (1997). Social History of English. p.209. In writing, the spellings color, program and check (cheque), the form gotten and vocabulary such as garbage and faucet (tap) ... the notion of a native Singaporean English has been separated from that of a Singaporean 'standard' of English.
↑ Leimgruber, Jakob R. E. (January 2011). "Singapore English"(PDF). Language and Linguistics Compass. 5 (1): 47–62. doi:10.1111/j.1749-818x.2010.00262.x. ISSN1749-818X. Archived from the original(PDF) on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2016. English [...] is also the only medium of instruction in schools [... e]xcept in the elite Special Assistance Plan Schools, where some subjects are taught in the mother tongue. They currently only exist for Mandarin.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Deterding, David (2005). "Emergent patterns in the vowels of Singapore English". English World-Wide. 26 (2): 179–97. doi:10.1075/eww.26.2.04det.
1 2 Deterding, David (2007). English in Southeast Asia: Varieties, literacies and literatures. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p.11.
↑ Lim, Lisa (1996). "Prosodic patterns characterising Chinese, Indian, and Malay Singapore English". Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Reading.
↑ Deterding, D. & Poedjosoedarmo, G. (2000). To what extent can the ethnic group of young Singaporeans be identified from their speech? In A. Brown, D. Deterding, & E. L. Low (Eds.). The English Language in Singapore: Research on Pronunciation, (pp. 1–9). Singapore: SAAL.
1 2 3 4 5 Lim, Lisa (2004). "Sounding Singaporean". In Lisa Lim (ed.). Singapore English: A grammatical description. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN9789027248930.
1 2 3 Starr, Rebecca Lurie (2019). "Cross-dialectal Awareness and Use of the Bath-Trap Distinction in Singapore: Investigating the Effects of Overseas Travel and Media Consumption". Journal of English Linguistics. 47 (1): 55–88. doi:10.1177/0075424218819740.
↑ Caroline Wiltshire (2014). "New Englishes and the emergence of the unmarked". In Charles F. Meyer; Eugene Green (eds.). The Variability of Current World Englishes. De Gruyter. ISBN9783110394917.
↑ Pakir, A.; Wee, L.; Lim, L., eds. (2010). English in Singapore: Modernity and Management. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN9789888028429.
↑ Kobayashi, Peter Iori (2020). "American English Phonological Features on Singapore Radio". NUIS Journal of International Studies. 5: 15–26.
1 2 3 4 Kwek, G. S. C. (2018). An analysis of /r/ variation in Singapore English (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. doi:10.17863/CAM.27060.
1 2 3 4 Tan, Y.-Y. (2016). "The Americanization of the phonology of Asian Englishes: evidence from Singapore". In Gerhard Leitner; Azirah Hashim; Hang-Georg Wolf (eds.). Communicating with Asia: The future of English as a global language. Cambridge University Press. pp.120–134. ISBN9781107477186.
1 2 Tan, Y.-Y. (December 2012). "To r or not to r: Social correlates of /ɹ/ in Singapore English". International Journal of the Sociology of Language (218): 1–24. doi:10.1515/ijsl-2012-0057.
↑ Hofbauer, Alexandra (2018). ""How many c(R)s do you have?" A look into postvoincalic /r/ in Singapore English". Lifespans and Styles. 4 (1): 2–16. doi:10.2218/ls.v4i1.2018.2608. ISSN2057-1720.
↑ Tan, Chor Hiang; Gupta, Anthea Fraser (1992). "Post-vocalic /r/ in Singapore English". York Papers in Linguistics. 16: 139–152.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Tan, R. S. K.; Low, E.-L. (2010). "How different are the monophthongs of Malay speakers of Malaysian and Singapore English?". English World-Wide. 31 (2): 162–189. doi:10.1075/eww.31.2.03tan.
↑ Canaan Zengyu Lan; Olga Maxwell; Chloé Diskin-Holdaway (2022). An Exploratory Investigation of the /e/–/æ/ and /iː/–/ɪ/ Mergers and Durational Contrasts in Singapore English. Proceedings of the Eighteenth Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology (SST2022). pp.191–195.
1 2 3 4 5 Low, C. H. L. (2025). "Investigating inherent spectral change and duration of Singapore English vowels: An update on its vowel system". Journal of the International Phonetic Association: 1–23. doi:10.1017/S0025100325100674.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Deterding, David (2007a). "The Vowels of the Different Ethnic Groups in Singapore". In Prescott, David; Kirkpatrick, Andy; Martin, Isabel; Hashim, Azirah (eds.). English in Southeast Asia: Literacies, Literatures and Varieties. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press. pp.2–29. ISBN978-1847182241.
↑ Lan, Canaan Zengyu; Maxwell, Olga; Diskin-Holdaway, Chloé (2024). Olga Maxwell; Rikke Bundgaard-Nielsen (eds.). Static and Dynamic Analyses of the Back Vowels /uː/ and /ʊ/ in Singapore English. Proceedings of the Nineteenth Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology (SST2024). pp.57–61.
1 2 Deterding, David (2000). "Measurements of the /eɪ/ and /əʊ/ vowels of young English speakers in Singapore". In Brown, Adam; Deterding, David; Low, Ee Ling (eds.). The English language in Singapore: Research on pronunciation. Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics. pp.93–99. ISBN981-04-2598-8.
↑ Deterding, David (1996). "Diphthong Measurements in Singapore English". Proceedings of the Sixth Australian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology. Adelaide: 61–66.
1 2 Suzanna Bte Hashim; Adam Brown (2000). "The [e] and [æ] vowels in Singapore English". In Brown, Adam; Deterding, David; Low, Ee Ling (eds.). The English language in Singapore: Research on pronunciation. Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics. pp.84–92. ISBN981-04-2598-8.
↑ Deterding, David (2010). "Norms for pronunciation of English in Singapore". In Madalena Cruz-Ferreira (ed.). Multilingual Norms. Peter Lang. pp.203–206. ISBN9783631596371.
1 2 3 4 Starr, R. L.; Choo, A. (October 2019). The NEXT-TEXT split in Singapore English: Comparing self-report and speech production. NWAV 48.
1 2 Low, E.-L. (2014). Pronunciation for English as an International Language: From Research to Practice. Routledge. p.55. ISBN9780415725125.
↑ Edwards, Jette G. Hansen (2023). The Sounds of English Around the World: An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge University Press. p.88. ISBN9781108841665.
1 2 Lim, Siew Siew; Low, Ee Ling (2005). "Triphthongs in Singapore English". In David Deterding; Adam Brown; Low Ee Ling (eds.). English in Singapore: Phonetic Research on a Corpus. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Education (Asia). pp.64–73. ISBN007-124727-0.
1 2 Low, Ee-Ling (2012). "Singapore English". In Low, Ee-Ling; Hashim, Azirah (eds.). English in Southeast Asia: Features, Policy and Language in Use. John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp.35–54. ISBN9789027249029.
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↑ Low, E. L.; Brown, A. (2005). English in Singapore: An introduction. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN9780071239752.
↑ Moorthy, S.; Deterding, D. (2000). "Three or tree? Dental fricatives in the speech of educated Singaporeans". In Brown, A.; Deterding, D.; Low, E.-L. (eds.). The English language in Singapore: Research on pronunciation. Singapore: Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics. pp.76–83.
↑ Kalaivanan, K.; Sumartono, F.; Tan, Y.-Y. (2020). "The Homogenization of Ethnic Differences in Singapore English? A Consonantal Production Study". Language and Speech. 64 (1): 1–18. doi:10.1177/0023830920925510. PMID32484011.
1 2 3 Hung, T. T. N. (1996). "Towards a phonology of Singapore English". Pan-Asiatic Linguistics: Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Languages and Linguistics: 1429–1440.
↑ Tan, Kah Keong (2005). "Vocalisation of /l/ in Singapore English". In David Deterding; Adam Brown; Low Ee Ling (eds.). English in Singapore: Phonetic Research on a Corpus. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Education (Asia). pp.43–53.
1 2 Wee, Lian-Hee (2008). "Phonological patterns in the Englishes of Singapore and Hong Kong". World Englishes. 27 (3–4): 480–501. doi:10.1111/j.1467-971X.2008.00580.x.
↑ Starr, Rebecca Lurie; Balasubramaniam, Brinda (2019). "Variation and change in English /r/ among Tamil Indian Singaporeans". World Englishes. 38 (4): 630–643. doi:10.1111/weng.12357.
↑ Kwek, G. S. C.; Low, E.-L. (2020). "Emergent features of young Singaporean speech: an investigatory study of the labiodental /r/ in Singapore English". Asian Englishes. 23 (2): 116–136. doi:10.1080/13488678.2020.1759249.
↑ Tay, M. (1982). "The uses, users and features of English in Singapore". In John B. Pride (ed.). New Englishes. Rowley, MA: Newbury House. pp.51–70.
↑ Chow, Daryl; Kharlamov, Viktor (2018). "Final devoicing in Singapore English". J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 144 (3_Supplement). doi:10.1121/1.5068331.
↑ Wells, J. C. (1982). Accents of English: Beyond the British Isles. Vol.3. Cambridge University Press. p.646. ISBN0-521-28541-0.
↑ Anttila, Arto; Fong, Vivienne; Beňuš, Štefan; Nycz, Jennifer (2008). "Variation and Opacity in Singapore English Consonant Clusters". Phonology. 25 (2): 181–216. doi:10.1017/S0952675708001462.
↑ Chia Boh Peng; Adam Brown (2002). "Singaporeans' reactions to Estuary English". English Today. 18 (2): 33–38. doi:10.1017/S0266078402002055.
1 2 Ng, E-Ching (2011). "Reconciling stress and tone in Singapore English". In Lawrence J. Zhang; Rani Rubdy; Lubna Alsagoff (eds.). Asian Englishes: Changing Perspectives in a Globalised World. Singapore: Pearson Longman. pp.48–59.
↑ Ng, E-Ching (1 March 2012). "Chinese meets Malay meets English: origins of Singaporean English word-final high tone". International Journal of Bilingualism. 16 (1): 83–100. doi:10.1177/1367006911403216. S2CID144346839.
↑ Chong, Adam J.; German, James Sneed (August 2019). Variability in tonal realisation in Singapore English intonation. International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Melbourne, Australia.
1 2 Deterding, David (December 1994). "The intonation of Singapore English". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 24 (2): 61–72. doi:10.1017/S0025100300005077.
↑ Low Ee Ling; Esther Grabe; Francis Nolan (2000). "Quantitative Characterizations of Speech Rhythm: Syllable-Timing in Singapore English". Language and Speech. 43 (4): 377–401. doi:10.1177/0023830900043004030 (inactive 1 July 2025).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
↑ Mercer, Neil; Maybin, Janet (1996). Using English: From Conversation to Canon. United Kingdom: Routledge. p.229. ISBN0-415-13120-0. Another interesting feature of Lee's songs is the (nonstandard) pronunciation of Singapore English speakers in [...] playful use of features of Singaporean English that have strong cultural connotations, Dick Lee is successfully able to [...]
↑ Foley, Joseph (1998). "4". English in new cultural contexts: reflections from Singapore. Singapore: Singapore Institute of Management. ISBN978-0195884159. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
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![Monophthongs of Singapore English on a normalised formant chart, from Deterding (2007a:19). Here, /e/
represents the
NEXT vowel, and [o:]
and [u:]
, in red, are allophones of /o:/ and /u:/ in open syllables. The vowels in
FACE and
GOAT are not included in this plot. Formant plot for monophthongs in Singapore English.svg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/Formant_plot_for_monophthongs_in_Singapore_English.svg/330px-Formant_plot_for_monophthongs_in_Singapore_English.svg.png)
![Frequency of
NEXT-raising within the
DRESS lexical set; out of all the words analysed, leg is most likely to be realised with the raised [e] vowel. For some of these words, like edge, raising is less consistent, and varies from speaker to speaker. Next-raising in Singapore English.svg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Next-raising_in_Singapore_English.svg/330px-Next-raising_in_Singapore_English.svg.png)
