query: what language is spoken in singapore?

title: Language education in Singapore

text: children ceased to register for Malay-medium education. This was unlike the Chinese-medium schools, which were removed by the government. Currently, the status and development of the Malay language in Singapore is overseen by the Malay Language Council of Singapore (Majlis Bahasa Melayu Singapura), which was first established in April 1981. In addition to standardising Malay spelling in Singapore, the council also promotes the usage of the Malay language through the Malay Language Month (Bulan Bahasa Melayu Singapura), first introduced in 1962. The Malay Language Month aims to ensure the continuity of the language as a strong part of the Malay

title: Language education in Singapore

text: sparked concerns about declining English standards, leading to a renewed focus on "systematic and explicit instruction of grammar" in subsequent syllabus reviews. In 2010, the Ministry of Education engaged language facilitators to conduct enrichment lessons (such as storytelling and drama) in primary schools and announced plans to set up an English Language Institute of Singapore (ELIS) to provide training for English teachers. Although English is the language of instruction in Singapore schools, Mother Tongue is a compulsory subject at the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level ('O' Level) and Singapore-Cambridge GCE Advanced Level ('A' Level). Students with

title: Language Spoken at Home

text: Voting Rights Act and to allocate funds for to schools for programs for English Language Learners. Federal and local governments, as well as non-governmental and private interests also use these statistics. Language Spoken at Home Language Spoken at Home is a data set published by the United States Census Bureau on languages in the United States. It is based on a three-part language question asked about all household members who are five years old or older. The first part asks if the person speaks a language other than English at home. If the answer is 'yes,' the respondent is asked

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: variety or style of language that arises from contact between natural sign language (in this case being SgSL) and the surrounding spoken language, or between different sign languages. It involves the use of SgSL following the spoken English Language word order with simplified or reduced grammar. The use of PSE also occurs when there is contact between two sign languages. In this instance, foreign signs borrowing, code switching, fingerspelling, mouthing, and mixed systems are used. SEE-II is a Manually Coded English system. It is a sign system that English Language visual through the hands. It was developed in 1969 in

title: Language education in Singapore

text: now, the education board is looking into making language learning more interesting and IT-based. For example, language learning through the use of smart phones and online computer games. The following table summarises the changes made with regard to the expanding the education of teaching the Chinese language. Unlike the table above, it focuses on how the Chinese language can be greater appreciated through a more holistic teaching of mother tongue languages. As Malays are the indigenous people of Singapore, the Malay language, specifically in Rumi (Roman script) rather than Jawi script, is ceremonially recognised as the national language of Singapore.

title: Language planning and policy in Singapore

text: to political issues as status planning focuses on legislative decisions that affect the reallocation of language functions. Language status can also mean the position or standing of a language vis-à-vis other languages. The Singapore Government recognises the importance of the English language for a multi-racial society and therefore it has been attributed the status of an official language and a de facto national language. The government has been active in promoting status planning in Singapore. One of the most distinct changes in the linguistic landscape of Singapore after independence was promoting the status of the English language. This is done

text: the usage of dialects. While the Chinese community of Singapore historically spoke several varieties of Chinese, most of them mutually unintelligible, such as Cantonese, Teochew, and Hokkien, the government has promoted Standard Mandarin, both as a means of unifying Chinese Singaporeans under a common language, and to facilitate communication with Chinese people from outside Singapore. Since 1979, the Speak Mandarin Campaign has promoted use of Mandarin. There were two prominent language ideologies that the Singapore government adopted: After independence, the Singapore government gave English Language, Mandarin Chinese, Malay Language and Tamil Language shared official status. The Singapore government attempts to

title: Singapore English

text: Singapore English Singapore English is the English language spoken in Singapore, of which there are two main forms, Standard Singapore English and Singapore Colloquial English (better known as Singlish). Singapore is a cosmopolitan city with 42% of its population born outside the country. Singaporeans, even those of the same ethnic group, have many different first languages and cultures. For example, in 2005, among Chinese Singaporeans, nearly a third spoke English as their main language at home while almost half spoke Mandarin, and the rest spoke various mutually unintelligible varieties of Chinese. In the Indian community, most Singaporeans of Indian descent

title: Language education in Singapore

text: focus on speaking and listening of the Tamil language. In Secondary school, the objective is to ensure that Tamil is a living language among Singaporean Tamil students. Students are taught to understand instructions, stories and debates about the Tamil Language, and are also educated about Tamil customs. Students are also expected to speak with correct intonation and pronunciation, and achieve fluency in reading and writing the language. Students are also taught to listen and read paragraphs appropriate for their age. They will also be expected to converse fluently in spoken and written Tamil. In addition, students will read poems, simple

title: Languages of Singapore

text: limited and lower standards of local mother education system over the years in Singapore. Standard Mandarin is generally spoken as the "lingua franca" among the Chinese community in Singapore. Simply known as Chinese, it is the designated mother tongue or 'ethnic language' of Chinese Singaporeans, at the expense of the other Chinese varieties. In 1979, the government heavily promoted Mandarin through its ""Speak Mandarin"" campaign. The Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew stated that Mandarin was chosen to unify the Chinese community with a single language. With the rising prominence of Mandarin in Singapore at that time, politicians such as Lee

text: neutral status of English helps to ensure that the distribution of economic advantages is not seen as unduly privileging or benefiting a specific ethnic group, which would otherwise raise the danger of inter-ethnic tension. Additionally, the English language represents the idea of 'modernity' and its association with progress, science, technology and capitalism. After political independence in 1959, the Singapore Government officially accepted Malay as the national Language of Singapore. However, its importance gradually declined as a result of the social, political and economic developments that had taken place. When vernacular schools were closed in 1987, the Ministry of Education implemented

title: Malay language

text: Malay language Malay (; ) is a major language of the Austronesian family spoken in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. A language of the Malays, it is spoken by 290 million people across the Strait of Malacca, including the coasts of the Malay Peninsula of Malaysia and the eastern coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, and has been established as a native language of part of western coastal Sarawak and West Kalimantan in Borneo. It is also used as a trading language in the southern Philippines, including the southern parts of the Zamboanga Peninsula, the Sulu Archipelago, and the southern predominantly

title: Languages of Singapore

text: interested in learning Kristang. In this way, it hopes to preserve what it perceives to be a unique part of the Eurasian heritage in Singapore. Languages of Singapore According to the Constitution of Singapore, the single national language of Singapore is Malay, which plays a symbolic role, as Malays are constitutionally recognized as the indigenous peoples of Singapore, and it is the government's duty to protect their language and heritage. “The national language shall be the Malay language and shall be in the Roman script […]” (Constitution of the Republic of Singapore, PART XIII) Also according to the constitution, the

text: a population of about 5 million. Officially, its ethnic composition is approximately 76.8% Chinese, 13.9% Malay, 7.9% Indian, while the remaining 1.4% are mainly Others, a miscellaneous category. Given this diversity, the language policy in Singapore aims at cultivating amongst its citizens a bilingual proficiency in the English language and a mother tongue that is officially assigned to the specific ethnic communities. Although the English language is excluded from the list of official mother tongues (Mandarin, Bahasa Melayu, Tamil), it is still recognised as an official language for practical reasons such as ensuring socio-economic mobility. This is because the ethnically

title: Tamil language

text: Tamil language Tamil (; "" , ) is a Dravidian language predominantly spoken by the Tamil people of India and Sri Lanka, and by the Tamil diaspora, Sri Lankan Moors, Douglas, and Chindians. Tamil is an official language of three countries: India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry. It is used as one of the languages of education in Malaysia, along with English, Malay and Mandarin. Tamil is spoken by significant minorities in the four other South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh

title: Malay language

text: the translations below, which differ mostly in their choice of wording. The words for 'article', "pasal" and "perkara", and for 'declaration', "pernyataan" and "perisytiharan", are specific to the Indonesian and Malaysian standards, respectively, but otherwise all the words are found in both (and even those words may be found with slightly different meanings). Malay language Malay (; ) is a major language of the Austronesian family spoken in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. A language of the Malays, it is spoken by 290 million people across the Strait of Malacca, including the coasts of the Malay Peninsula of Malaysia and

text: the National System of Education. The Bilingual Policy encourages Singaporeans to be proficient in both the English language, and in their respective ethnic mother tongues, which include Chinese Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. Bilingual education is provided by the Ministry of Education in Singapore. The Bilingual Policy also aims to promote better understanding amongst the three ethnic groups in line with the effort of nation building. Additionally, there was also the growing concern that Singapore was facing increasing Western influences, effecting a potential threat of the de-Asianisation or de-culturalisation of the people. Due to the increasing importance of English as an

text: native tongue). Some critics include that the Mandarin education system's goal of promoting cultural identity has left many younger generations of Mandarin speakers unable to communicate with their non-Mandarin Chinese language-speaking grandparents. Singapore's Bilingual Policy has been commended on contributing to the country's economic success. The social and political stability that Singapore has enjoyed all these years has also been attributed to the Bilingual policy. There are however, a lot existing issues and potential problems underlying the bilingual policy, while the English language was useful in attaining national cohesion within the Multi-racial Country, Mandarin Chinese, Malay Language, Tamil Language have

text: international language, many Singaporeans have started to pay more attention to the learning of the English language and focus less on the learning of their own mother tongue. The Bilingual Policy was then enacted to safeguard Asian identities and values. Alongside English, the Singapore Government aims to promote Mandarin Chinese, Malay and Tamil so as to prevent the erosion of culture and heritage of the three ethnic groups Racial harmony is a stated policy of the Singaporean government, and a racial harmony day is even celebrated. Usage of four official languages is an element of policy designed to promote racial

title: Spoken language

text: Spoken language A spoken language is a language produced by articulate sounds, as opposed to a written language. Many languages have no written form and so are only spoken. An oral language or vocal language is a language produced with the vocal tract, as opposed to a sign language, which is produced with the hands and face. The term "spoken language" is sometimes used to mean only vocal languages, especially by linguists, making all three terms synonyms by excluding sign languages. Others refer to sign language as "spoken", especially in contrast to written transcriptions of signs. In spoken language, much

title: In What Language?

text: is being able to watch TV and play video games at the same time, so be it. We can only hope it inspires real discourse and real thought." Lyn Horton of All About Jazz noted "A concrete lesson seems to emanate from "In What Language?" and it is this: that no matter what language distinguishes the nature of the present global geo-political culture, the language spoken has a clear and consistent meaning borne in its content. The language transcends any dialect. And if we are determined enough, within our commonly shared humanity, we can speak the same language. In our

title: Language Spoken at Home

text: Language Spoken at Home Language Spoken at Home is a data set published by the United States Census Bureau on languages in the United States. It is based on a three-part language question asked about all household members who are five years old or older. The first part asks if the person speaks a language other than English at home. If the answer is 'yes,' the respondent is asked what that language is. The third part of the question asks how well the person speaks English ("Very well,' "Well," "not well," "Not at all"). The three-part question was first asked

title: Spoken language

text: of the meaning is determined by the context. That contrasts with written language in which more of the meaning is provided directly by the text. In spoken language, the truth of a proposition is determined by common-sense reference to experience, but in written language, a greater emphasis is placed on logical and coherent argument. Similarly, spoken language tends to convey subjective information, including the relationship between the speaker and the audience, whereas written language tends to convey objective information. The relationship between spoken language and written language is complex. Within the field of linguistics the current consensus is that speech

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: system. English was promoted as the language of instruction in Singaporean schools, and therefore ASL served as a medium of instruction. ASL is still used in Singapore today. Signing Exact English (SEE-II) is not a language itself but a sign coded version of English, meaning it utilises the vocabulary of ASL with the English grammar. Sign language is often viewed as subordinate to spoken language. For both adults and children within the deaf community, this perception, to some extent, leads to them becoming unable to learn sign language, which negatively impacts them socially. The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Federation

title: Spoken language

text: blocks are called phonemes. In both vocal and sign languages, words are grammatically and prosodically linked into phrases, clauses, and larger units of discourse. Hearing children acquire as their first language the language that is used around them, whether vocal, cued (if they are sighted) signed. Deaf children can do the same with Cued Speech or sign language if either visual communication system is used around them. Vocal language are traditionally taught to them in the same way that written language must be taught to hearing children. (See oralism.) Spoken language A spoken language is a language produced by articulate

title: Spoken language

text: is an innate human capability, and written language is a cultural invention. However some linguists, such as those of the Prague school, argue that written and spoken language possess distinct qualities which would argue against written language being dependent on spoken language for its existence. Both vocal and sign languages are composed of words. In vocal languages, words are made up from a limited set of vowels and consonants, and often tone. In sign languages, words are made up from a limited set of shapes, orientations, locations movements of the hands, and often facial expressions; in both cases, the building

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: International Week for the Deaf is “Strengthening Human Diversity”. The SgSL Week is a platform for the local deaf community to stand proud as Deaf, and to promote the awareness of SgSL and Deaf culture. Based on the situation in Singapore, there are further recommendations that may be made in order for Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) to progress further, and establish itself in a more prominent sense. More hearing people in Singapore will need to be educated in SgSL, learn it and the manual alphabet to provide more communication and social interaction between deaf and the hearing populations alike. What

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: as recognize their deaf identity. Today, sign language used in Singapore is a continually developing blend of Shanghainese, American and locally generated signs. It comprises different types of systems, including SEE-II, Pidgin Signed English (PSE) and gestures. SgSL is socially recognised and accepted by the deaf community in Singapore, and is a reflection of Singapore's diverse linguistic culture. While Singapore does not have a national sign language, the local deaf community recognizes Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) as Singapore’s native sign language. This is because sign language in Singapore has developed over the last 6 decades since the setting up of

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: Sign language in Singapore There is no officially recognized national sign language in Singapore. Since Singapore's independence in 1965, the Singapore deaf community has had to adapt to many linguistic changes. Today, the local deaf community recognizes Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) as a reflection of Singapore's diverse linguistic culture. SgSL is influenced by Shanghainese Sign Language (SSL), American Sign Language (ASL), Signing Exact English (SEE-II) and locally developed signs. The total number of deaf clients registered with The Singapore Association For The Deaf (SADeaf), an organisation that advocates equal opportunity for the deaf, is 5756, as of 2014. The history

title: Japanese: The Spoken Language

text: Japanese: The Spoken Language Japanese: The Spoken Language (JSL) is an introductory textbook series for learning Japanese. JSL was written by Eleanor Harz Jorden in collaboration with Mari Noda. "Part 1" was published in 1987 by Yale Language Press, "Part 2" in 1988, and "Part 3" in 1990. The series differs from most Japanese language textbooks in many ways, most basically in that it focuses exclusively on the spoken language and leaves discussion of any aspect of the written language to other textbooks, such as the parallel series "" (JWL). The textbook is controversial both among students of the language

title: Japanese: The Spoken Language

text: in instruction. Japanese: The Spoken Language Japanese: The Spoken Language (JSL) is an introductory textbook series for learning Japanese. JSL was written by Eleanor Harz Jorden in collaboration with Mari Noda. "Part 1" was published in 1987 by Yale Language Press, "Part 2" in 1988, and "Part 3" in 1990. The series differs from most Japanese language textbooks in many ways, most basically in that it focuses exclusively on the spoken language and leaves discussion of any aspect of the written language to other textbooks, such as the parallel series "" (JWL). The textbook is controversial both among students of

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: has been recognized is the need to give every deaf child as early as possible in his/her life as much language education as possible through whatever correct communication input; sign language education to meet their needs; need not there to be method(s) of communication to the exclusion of others. Sign language in Singapore There is no officially recognized national sign language in Singapore. Since Singapore's independence in 1965, the Singapore deaf community has had to adapt to many linguistic changes. Today, the local deaf community recognizes Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) as a reflection of Singapore's diverse linguistic culture. SgSL is

title: Indian languages in Singapore

text: racially mixed. Tamil is the most spoken Indian language in Singapore and the only Indian language among Singapore's four official languages, alongside Mandarin, (the language of trade) Malay (the national language) and English (the language of administration), and 3.1% of Singapore residents speak Tamil at home. Singapore is one of the three countries in the world to make Tamil an official language, the others being India and Sri Lanka. As part of Singapore's bilingual education policy, Tamil is offered as a second language option in most public schools. As part of a policy to subsidise minority-language television programming, the government

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: of Singapore acknowledges that sign language is not the popular choice to educate the deaf population, but it is of good benefit for parents to expose their deaf children to both sign and oral language. It is difficult to determine if a bilingual (native sign language and English) education program for the deaf in Singapore would be beneficial, since little is known about their language. There is a lack of government documentation that recognizes a native sign language in Singapore, thus there is also not much regulation in place to monitor how useful sign language is for Singaporeans and its

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: deaf children in Singapore since 1977, and its use as a system of communication in the Deaf community in Singapore, it is of utmost importance to preserve and maintain local signs invented by the Deaf community in Singapore since the early 1950s. With Singapore Sign Language (SgSL), depending on the background of the Deaf, local signs of SgSL often are invented and used by them, and they are not necessarily formally and officially indexed. This is a concern such that essentially, the SgSL language lends itself to many ambiguities when it comes to its expression. Additionally, Singapore Sign Language (SgSL)

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: deaf population; it is a continuing process in improving its application. In Singapore, no one has been able to identify a language that is native of the deaf population, although the public would say that the deaf use "sign language" to communicate. This "sign language", Signing Exact English (SEE-II), is not a sign language, but a Manually Coded English sign system. While the SEE-II system is continually being used to help deaf people improve their grasp of English, Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) is evolving as another method for them to communicate. And both of these systems pose challenges to establishing

title: Language education in Singapore

text: and use of mother tongue languages in Singapore. The language education in Singapore has been a controversial topic in Singapore - although Singaporeans are becoming increasingly English-dominant speakers, many have not achieved a good grasp of their mother tongue. This results in a separate controversy regarding the assigned weightage of mother tongue in major examinations such as the PSLE and GCE Ordinary Level as parents worry that children who are taught English as a first language and whom are brought up in English-speaking families are at a disadvantage for not knowing their mother tongue well. Singapore is a racially and

title: Singapore

text: The official languages amongst Singaporeans are English (80% literacy), Mandarin (65% literacy), Malay (17% literacy), and Tamil (4% literacy). Singapore English is based on British English, and forms of English spoken in Singapore range from Standard Singapore English to a colloquial form known as "Singlish". Singlish is discouraged by the government. English is the language spoken by most Singaporeans at home, 36.9% of the population, just ahead of Mandarin. Nearly half a million speak other varieties of Chinese, mainly Hokkien, Teochew, and Cantonese, as their home language, although the use of these is declining in favour of Mandarin and English.

text: Language planning and policy in Singapore In Singapore, language planning is associated with government planning. In this top-down approach, the government influences the acquisition of languages and their respective functions within the speech community through the education system. Language planning aims to facilitate effective communication within the speech community, which can result in a language shift or language assimilation. The goals of language planning are very much dependent on the political and social forces present in Singapore during two distinct periods: Colonisation by the British and the Post-Independence period after 1965. Singapore is a linguistically and ethnically diverse country with

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: diverse varieties were spoken. Peng and his wife, also deaf, used SSL in the sign school to teach children to read in Chinese and other subjects at the primary level. During the same period in the early 1950s, the Singapore Red Cross began conducting oral classes for deaf children and provided counselling services for parents of deaf children. As the demand for classes increased, the Singapore Red Cross Society and officials of the Social Welfare Department founded The Singapore Association For The Deaf (SADeaf) (then known as Singapore Deaf and Dumb Association) in 1955. It was in 1963 when the

title: Indian languages in Singapore

text: in Singapore use mainly their ancestral language in the home. About half of Indians in Singapore predominantly use a non-Indian language in the home. 39% spoke mainly English, in contrast to 28.1% nationally. This made English the most spoken language in Indian homes, by a small margin. A further 10.6% of Indians reported speaking mainly Malay in their homes. It is likely that most are Indian Muslims married to ethnic Malays. Although they are counted as Indian in official statistics, a substantial number of these people consider themselves to be ethnically and culturally Malay, and many of them may be

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: of sign language in Singapore can be traced back to 1951 when Peng Tsu Ying left China for Singapore to teach deaf children in their homes. Born in Shanghai, Peng became deaf at the age of 6, and was educated in Hong Kong School for the Deaf (now known as Chun Tok School) and Shanghai Chung Wah School for the Deaf. With Peng’s education background in Shanghainese Sign Language (SSL) and together with a group of Chinese merchants, in March 1954, the Singapore Chinese Sign School for the deaf was opened. At that time, Singapore was predominantly Chinese and many

title: Languages of Singapore

text: Buginese, Minangkabau, Batak, Sundanese, Boyanese (which is a dialect of Madurese) and Banjarese, are also spoken in Singapore, but their use has declined. Orang Seletar, the language of the Orang Seletar, the first people of Singapore and closely related to Malay is also spoken near the Johor Strait, between Singapore and the state of Johor, Malaysia. Tamil is one of the official languages of Singapore and written Tamil uses the Tamil script. According to the population census of 2010, 9.2% of the Singaporean population were Indian origins, with approximately 76.7% who spoke Tamil most frequently as their home language. It

text: individual habitats as well. Despite the government's attempt to maintain symbolic and cultural capital in the Mother tongues, English has been deeply integrated into the local linguistic landscape of Singapore. It is evident that English has acquired a significant role in the linguistic landscape of Singapore, as Singapore is the only (non-native speaker) country which has adopted English as a working language, short of Singapore, no other country has channelled its language policies into churning out a population that is bi-literate in English and another official language. The Speak Good English Movement is a government-initiated campaign which aims "to encourage

text: precarious linguistic situation to protect Mandarin Chinese, Malay and Tamil, perhaps even Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati and Urdu alongside English. Language planning and policy in Singapore In Singapore, language planning is associated with government planning. In this top-down approach, the government influences the acquisition of languages and their respective functions within the speech community through the education system. Language planning aims to facilitate effective communication within the speech community, which can result in a language shift or language assimilation. The goals of language planning are very much dependent on the political and social forces present in Singapore during two distinct periods:

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: to better understand SgSL so as to create resources for the general public as well as members of the Deaf community. They are trying to progress in the research of SgSL in order to lead to corpus development. And out of corpus development, the aim is to produce material that is more accurate in the teaching of the sign language. This, however, will take a long time to happen, for this is still in the beginning stages; this is the case because the matter is highly complex in Singapore. The Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) linguistics sub-committee has been formed to

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: sign language as a standard in Singapore. The use of SEE-II to educate Singaporean deaf children and even adults, is an ongoing issue. This is because most of the deaf population in Singapore are not raised in English-speaking homes. Thus, parents have a difficulty learning sign language because these classes are conducted only in English and SEE-II. The idea behind these systems is that Deaf children will learn English better if they are exposed, visually through signs, to the grammatical features of English. However, exposure to them does not always provide children with the complete linguistic access, which is needed

title: Language education in Singapore

text: Language education in Singapore 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 ethnically Tamil Indians – is taught as a second language. Additionally, Higher Mother Tongue (HMT) is offered as an additional and optional examinable subject to those with the interest and ability to handle the higher standards demanded by HMT. The content taught to students in HMT is of a higher level of difficulty and is more in-depth so

title: In What Language?

text: In What Language? In What Language? is a studio album by American jazz pianist Vijay Iyer recorded with hip-hop artist Mike Ladd. The album was released on via Pi Recordings label. Joe Tangari of "Piitchfork" mentioned "What might make "In What Language?" truly important, though, is that it's focused intently on probing social issues in meaningful ways. We've all spent time lately lamenting the fact that modern music is so apolitical, and this is a good start for an antidote. If it takes a poet and a jazz pianist to expose some truth in an age where the American dream

title: In What Language?

text: eyes, our bodies, our hearts, our minds." In What Language? In What Language? is a studio album by American jazz pianist Vijay Iyer recorded with hip-hop artist Mike Ladd. The album was released on via Pi Recordings label. Joe Tangari of "Piitchfork" mentioned "What might make "In What Language?" truly important, though, is that it's focused intently on probing social issues in meaningful ways. We've all spent time lately lamenting the fact that modern music is so apolitical, and this is a good start for an antidote. If it takes a poet and a jazz pianist to expose some truth

text: While the Singaporean government promotes Standard Singapore English as a "lingua franca", it heavily discourages the usage of Singlish, a Chinese- and Malay-influenced, English-based creole language, widely spoken by Singaporeans, but virtually unintelligible to foreign speakers of English. Governments including those of Lee Hsien Loong, Lee Kuan Yew, and Goh Chok Tong have campaigned against the usage of Singlish, declaring it an obstacle to communication with the rest of the English-speaking world, and a substandard, "broken English", that ought not be part of Singapore's identity. A Speak Good English campaign aims "to encourage Singaporeans to speak grammatically correct English that

text: deals with language issues such as codification and purification, there is negligence to local English, it becomes difficult to ascertain whether there is a Standard Singapore English. With respect to Chinese language, the government selected Mandarin Chinese as the variety of Chinese language that takes precedence over other social and regional dialects i.e., Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hainanese, Hakka. Standardization generally entails increasing the uniformity of the norm, as well as of the norm. The government adopted Mandarin Chinese as one of the four official languages in Singapore and it is mandatory that the Chinese population in Singapore learn Mandarin Chinese

title: Language education in Singapore

text: use through the Speak Mandarin Campaign. Mandarin was first introduced to Singapore during British colonisation through Chinese schools in the 1920s, since then, it has gained popularity. After Singapore gained independence, the government has maintained continuous efforts to promote the language so as to ensure that Chinese Singaporeans know about their ethnic roots, culture and maintain traditional Asian values. Further efforts to encourage the use of Chinese include Chinese-medium SAP schools, which teach both English and Chinese as first-language standard. The following table summarises the changes made with regard to the Chinese Language syllabus. The basic aims of the Chinese

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: to internalize the whole language. So, there needs to be a better way for parents with hearing-impaired children to effectively communicate with them. On the other hand, if this concern with SEE-II is left unaddressed, more parents may choose to not educate their sons and/or daughters using SEE-II or sign language. There is a need to standardize the use of Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) based on cultural elements. Language instruction of Signing Exact English for the Deaf does not get used when they are amongst themselves in the deaf community. Despite SEE-II being adopted as the language of instruction among

title: Chinese language romanisation in Singapore

text: Chinese language romanisation in Singapore The romanisation of the Chinese language in Singapore is not dictated by a single policy, nor is its policy implementation consistent, as the local Chinese community is composed of a myriad of dialect groups. Although Hanyu Pinyin is adopted as the preferred romanisation system for Mandarin, the general lack of a romanisation standard for other Chinese varieties results in some level of inconsistency. This may be illustrated by the many variants for the same Chinese characters often found in surnames such as Low, Loh, Lo; Tay, Teh; Teo, Teoh; Yong, Yeong. The surname Zheng ()

text: Hokkien and Teochew share many phonemes to the point that they are mutually intelligible. Thus the romanisations are similar and surnames such as Tan (), Chua (), Koh (), etc., are very common. Chinese language romanisation in Singapore The romanisation of the Chinese language in Singapore is not dictated by a single policy, nor is its policy implementation consistent, as the local Chinese community is composed of a myriad of dialect groups. Although Hanyu Pinyin is adopted as the preferred romanisation system for Mandarin, the general lack of a romanisation standard for other Chinese varieties results in some level of

title: Language education in Singapore

text: has resulted in the controversy of whether English should be used to teach students' mother tongue, specifically Chinese, to help them learn the language better. This method of using the student's first language (L1) to teach a second language (L2) has been recognised by many professionals who teach English as a second language. However, the use of English to teach students' mother tongue in schools is treated as taboo in Singapore. Another controversy is in relation to the weightage allocated to Mother Tongues in examinations such as the PSLE. Parents have complained that their children can possibly be excluded from

title: Language education in Singapore

text: concern towards the issue. Chinese community leaders, as well as parents, are afraid that students will view and learn the Mother Tongue merely as an examinable subject, and not as a living language with social relevance. However, the Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, had mentioned in his Prime Minister's speech in 2010 that the Mother Tongue weightage in examinations will not be reduced. Instead, the teaching and examination formats for Mother Tongues will be revised and improved. Language education in Singapore Singapore embraces an English-based bilingual education system. Students are taught subject-matter curriculum with English as the medium of instruction,

title: Names of Singapore

text: country's motto and its national anthem of the same name, ""Majulah Singapura"". In Tamil, the country's name is "Ciṅkappūr" (சிங்கப்பூர்) and its official name is "Ciṅkappūr Kuṭiyaracu" (சிங்கப்பூர் குடியரசு, //). Nearly every language currently uses a name for Singapore derived from "Singapore" or "Singapura." In the Khmer language, the country's name is "Sernghakborey" (សិង្ហបុរី) from the word សិង្ហ meaning "lion" and បុរី meaning "city". The official name of the country is សធរណៈរដ្ឋសិង្ហបុរី, literally "Republic of Singapore". The French word "Singapour" is commonly spoken. Vietnamese either uses the word "Singapore" or "Xin Ga Po" for the country (and "Cộng hòa Singapore"

title: Language education in Singapore

text: a student has been living abroad and hence has no contact with his or her mother tongue for many years. In the latter case, a student can opt to study an unofficial language such as French, German or Japanese as their mother tongue. Such situations are assessed on a case-by-case basis. Mandarin Chinese, known simply as Chinese, is the official language representing the Chinese community and the home language of 47.7% of Chinese Singaporeans. Other Chinese varieties, such as Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka and Hainanese, remain widely spoken (home language of 19.2% of Chinese Singaporeans), but the government discourages their

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: the first school for local deaf in 1954. Hence, there is crucial need to preserve and maintain local signs invented by the deaf community in Singapore since the early 1950s. Various sign languages have been adopted and used by the local deaf community as a result of linguistic changes. SgSL is influenced by Shanghainese Sign Language (SSL), American Sign Language (ASL), Signing Exact English (SEE-II) and locally developed signs. It also comprises different types of systems, including SEE-II, Pidgin Signed English (PSE) and gestures. Today, SgSL consists of the following language and sign systems: Pidgin Signed English (PSE) is a

title: Eurasians in Singapore

text: as a second or third language. Like many Singaporeans, Eurasians will commonly speak Singlish. Some of the elder generation of Kristang Eurasians, typically those who have a Portuguese surname or are of Kristang-speaking descent, speak the Portuguese creole known as "Cristão" or "Papia Kristang" (Speaking Kristang) – the Kristang language at home and within their small community. Kristang is a dying patois and is only spoken by a small minority of Eurasians. The Eurasian community in Singapore includes people that belong to different religions and to no religion, but most of them are Christians, mostly Catholic, with religious celebrations like

title: Language Spoken at Home

text: Punjabi and Pennsylvania German, are collated into smaller groupings. Native North American languages besides Navajo are also collated, though they are reported on several geographic levels in another data set. For the 2009-2013 ACS data, detailed information was provided on over 300 languages. In addition to the number of speakers reported for each language, the count of speakers whose English speaking ability is less than "very well" is also reported. Updated information is available via the Census Bureau's American Fact-finder. Statistics on English-speaking ability and language spoken at home are used by the Justice Department in the implementation of the

title: Language education in Singapore

text: the objective of studying the language would be to learn the basic language skills in listening, writing and speaking, while also explaining the cultural values and values needed for the growth of Singapore. students are taught basic language skills and thinking skills, as well as areas regarding national education, information technology, social and emotional learning through a specific number of Tamil lessons every week. The primary school syllabus is also divided into 3 different triangles which target various areas of learning. These triangles include The triangles are also listed in a decreasing order of emphasis. Hence, there is an added

title: Language education in Singapore

text: the desire for Singaporeans to retain their cultures, the government encourages Singaporeans to be fluent in both English and their mother tongue. In this context, the mother tongue of a Singaporean refers to the official language assigned to their racial group (Mandarin for Chinese, Malay for Malays and Tamil for most Indians), regardless of the language spoken at home. The bilingual education policy was officially introduced in 1966 and in its early stages, English could be taught as either the first language or the second language. However, schools teaching English as a second language saw a rapid decline in enrolment

title: Indian languages in Singapore

text: of a person and the actual language that he or she uses or is able to use. Singapore's census takers make this distinction by capturing both types of data. Ancestral ethno-linguistic identity is captured under the category of 'dialect group' (although this term may be more appropriate for describing the linguistic composition of the majority Chinese, rather than Indians). In contrast, actual language use is captured by the term'language most frequently spoken at home'. In 2010, the Singapore census categorised 237,473 Singaporeans and 110,646 permanent residents into a number of 'dialect' groups. However, these groups included Sikhs, who are a

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: a beneficial setting. The Listen and Talk Programme uses the Auditory-Verbal approach, which helps children access speech and language primarily through auditory input. It allows to integrate affected children in mainstream schools so that their hearing classmates function as important language models in their learning process. American Sign Language (ASL) was introduced to Singapore’s deaf community by Lim Chin Heng, in 1974. Lim Chin Heng was instructed by Peng Tsu Ying and additionally studied English and ASL at Gallaudet University in the United States. During that period, mainstream education in Singapore shifted from a diverse to a uniform language teaching

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: has not gone through any form of linguistic research/study; this is because of a lack in government resources and funding. This basically means that it is hard to rely on the deaf population to provide updates on the local vocabularies and sign systems of SgSL, and poses an even greater obstacle for the Sign Language Interpreting community in gaining a better handle on and about the language itself. Currently, the Linguistic Sub-Committee at the Singapore Association does exciting research into SgSL for the Deaf (SADeaf). They aim to set up a sign bank to record locally developed signs and also

title: Language education in Singapore

text: aim to consider students' home language backgrounds as well as their learning abilities to further ensure they receive the best education possible. The Ministry of Education constantly reviews curricula and policies to ensure their students develop their languages to the best of their ability with a more customised and differentiated approach. With the English-based bilingual education policy in the Singapore education system, there has been a shift from students' mother tongues to English as the home language. This is especially so among the ethnic Chinese group, and it is possible that English can potentially emerge as their lingua franca. This

text: English as their first language, they also have to learn their Mother Tongue as a second language. They are offered Mandarin Chinese, Malay or Tamil depending on their father's ethnicity. While English is the core language of instruction in government schools, mother tongue languages are taught on a weekly basis. While "mother tongue" typically correlates to the first language (L1) overseas, in Singapore, the Ministry of Education refers to it as the "ethnic language" or the second language (L2). Singapore's language planning is known as exogenous planning, whereby a foreign language takes on the role as the main language of

title: Regional language

text: mainly in Fujian and in nearby Taiwan, but also in the Southeast Asian countries of Malaysia and Singapore. In some cases, a regional language may be closely related to the state's main language or official language. For example: In other cases, a regional language may be very different from the state's main language or official language. For example: An official language of a country may also be spoken as a regional language in a region of a neighbouring country. For example: Regional language A regional language is a language spoken in an area of a sovereign state, whether it be

title: Singapore Centre for Chinese Language

text: Singapore Centre for Chinese Language The establishment of Singapore Centre for Chinese Language (Abbreviation: SCCL; Chinese: 新加坡华文教研中心 ; pinyin: xīn jiā pō huá wén jiào yán zhōng xīn) was announced by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 6 September 2008, and was opened by then Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on 17 November 2009. The Centre was established to position Singapore as a centre of excellence for the learning, teaching and educational research of the Chinese language in a bilingual context. Jointly set up by the Ministry of Education (Singapore) and National Institute of Education, SCCL is an autonomous

title: Language Spoken at Home

text: spoken was a part of Summary File 3. For the 2000 census, data was published for 30 languages, chosen for their nationwide distribution, and 10 language groupings (see list below). Data from households which report languages other than the 30 are reported under the language groupings. Thus, languages which are widespread in certain areas of the country but not nationally get put together, even in block level data. Lithuanian, and Welsh are simply "Other Indo-European languages," Yoruba and Swahili are simply "African languages," and Indonesian and Hakka are simply "Other Asian languages." Several locally very well represented languages, such as

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: sign school and the oral school merged to become the Singapore School for the Deaf (SSD). Within the same premises, students in the oral section of the school were taught in English as the medium of instruction, while students in the signing section of the school were taught in Chinese, with SSL as the medium of instruction. The bilingual education policy, which came into effect in 1966, marked a linguistic transition for Singapore. The policy places English as the main medium of instruction. Since English became the language of instruction in the education sector, parents could choose education through any

text: shun away from linguistic assimilation, as it believes it must acknowledge the need to embrace the co-existence of the four official languages in the context of a multi-racial Singapore. Status Planning suggests that a particular language or variety may be chosen for specific purposes and given official status. This may result in a language policy which is a product of language planning, and can be comprehended within the discourse of language politics and society, or the more informal but powerful political and social aspects of language planning. In this view, one can argue that language status planning issues are related

title: Singapore Centre for Chinese Language

text: Education programme. The Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) and SCCL signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate in the SUSS School of Humanities and Behavioural Sciences's BA Chinese Language Education Programme (BACLE). Singapore Centre for Chinese Language is dedicated to research studies that are closely associated with the teaching and learning of Chinese language. Keeping in mind the "Research-Validate-Train (RVT)" spirit, SCCL develops innovative pedagogies and publishs academic books and teaching toolkits to meet the rising challenges in teaching and learning Chinese in Singapore. SCCL also strives to provide Chinese language teachers and students with resources, platforms and

title: Gujarati language

text: the United States. In Europe, Gujaratis form the second largest of the British South Asian speech communities, and Gujarati is the fourth most commonly spoken language in the U.K.'s capital London. Gujarati is also spoken in Southeast Africa, particularly in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa. Elsewhere, Gujarati is spoken to a lesser extent in China (particularly Hong Kong), Indonesia, Singapore, Australia and Middle Eastern countries such as Bahrain. Gujarati was the mother tongue of Mahatma Gandhi and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Gujarati (also sometimes spelled "Gujerati", "Gujarathi", "Guzratee", "Guujaratee", "Gujarati", "Gujrathi", and "Gujerathi") is a modern IA (Indo-Aryan) language

title: Madurese language

text: estimated to be 8–13 million, making it one of the most widely spoken languages in the country. A variant of Madurese that is Bawean is also spoken by Baweanese (or Boyan) descendants in Malaysia and Singapore. Madurese is a Malayo-Sumbawan language of the Malayo-Polynesian language family, a branch of the larger Austronesian language family. Thus, despite apparent geographic spread, Madurese is more related to Balinese, Malay, Sasak, and Sundanese, than it is to Javanese, the language right next door. Links between Bali–Sasak languages and Madurese are more evident with the "low" form (common form). There are some common words between

title: Japanese: The Spoken Language

text: and among pedagogical researchers. Detractors of the textbook take issue with its usage of rōmaji, the complex grammatical explanations, the emphasis on memorization, and the relatively small number of vocabulary items (among other things). However, these same points are cited as strengths of the textbook by supporters. The approach is based on Jorden's decades of experience in teaching Japanese and pedagogical research, and was preceded by her 1960s textbook, "Beginning Japanese," which JSL supersedes. Beyond the focus on the spoken language alone, the text has a number of unusual features. The text is centered around a sequence of dialogs and

text: of language. This form of language planning is often done in line with status planning. The government aims to influence aspects of the language, status, distribution and literacy through the education system. Acquisition planning is often incorporated into language planning processes in which the statuses of languages are evaluated,corpuses are revised and these revisions are implemented in society through the education system. The Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore (CDIS) was formed in 1980 as a division under the Ministry of Education. The institute had the sole task of producing teaching packages under the syllabuses prepared by the Curriculum Planning Division.

title: Eurasians in Singapore

text: child's race, said Assistant Professor Ho Peng Kee, the junior minister who announced the change in Parliament. He explained the need for flexibility stemmed from the increasing diversity of Singapore's demographics, with the inflow of immigrants and more locals marrying foreigners. On the need to identify a dominant race, Ho said: "Societal trends suggest that a child of mixed parentage tends to identify more closely with one of the two races." English is generally spoken as a first language by almost all Eurasians in Singapore. A number of Eurasians speak Asian languages like Malay, Chinese (Mandarin or dialect) or Tamil

title: Javanese language

text: Most speakers of Javanese also speak Indonesian, the standardized form of Malay spoken in Indonesia, for official and commercial purposes as well as a means to communicate with non-Javanese-speaking Indonesians. There are speakers of Javanese in Malaysia (concentrated in the states of Selangor and Johor) and Singapore. Some people of Javanese descent in Suriname (the Dutch colony of Suriname until 1975) speak a creole descendant of the language. The language is spoken in Yogyakarta, Central and East Java, as well as on the north coast of West Java. It is also spoken elsewhere by the Javanese people in other provinces

title: Timucua language

text: Timucua language Timucua is a language isolate formerly spoken in northern and central Florida and southern Georgia by the Timucua people. Timucua was the primary language used in the area at the time of Spanish colonization in Florida. Linguistic and archaeological studies suggest that it may have been spoken from around 2000 BC. Differences among the nine or ten Timucua dialects were slight, and appeared to serve mostly to delineate tribal boundaries. Some linguists suggest that the Tawasa of what is now northern Alabama may have spoken Timucua, but this is disputed. Most of what is known of the language

title: Languages of Singapore

text: Singapore and Malaysia. It developed when Portuguese colonizers incorporated borrowings from Malay, Chinese, Indian and Arab languages. When the British took over Singapore, Kristang declined as the Portuguese Eurasians learned English instead. Today, it is largely spoken by the elderly. In the 1824 census of Singapore, 18% of the population were identified as ethnic Bugis, speaking the Buginese language, counted separately from the Malays. Over the centuries, the Bugis community dwindled and became assimilated into the Malay demographic. In 1990, only 0.4% of Singaporeans were identified as Bugis. Today the term Malay is used in Singapore as an umbrella term

text: by allocating resources to develop English in various functional domains such as the government, law, business, administration, and in particular, the medium of instruction in schools—even though time is allocated for the learning of Mother tongue languages. English is the international lingua franca, it was no longer viewed as a colonial language but rather an international language permitting universal communication. The economic rewards of being proficient in English was emphasised upon perpetuating the mindset that English is the superior language in Singapore. Besides government administrative domains where English is widely practised, English has gradually been inculcated into social, family and

text: be considered as a language task resulting in increased sophistication of the chosen code. Corpus planning is often undertaken by planners with great linguistic expertise. Corpus planning is also referred as making language planning decisions to engineer changes in the structure of a language. The Singapore Government has been active in status planning and acquisition planning however with regards to corpus planning in English, nothing has been done.The government modelled Singaporean English after Standard British English, without recognising the internal issues of English which must be specific to the local context. Due to the lack of a government body that

title: Sonsorolese language

text: Sonsorolese language The Sonsorolese language is a Micronesian language spoken in Palau, originally on the islands composing the state of Sonsorol, and spreading through migration elsewhere in the country. It is very close to Tobian. Sonsorolese is mostly spoken in the Palau archipelago, particularly in Sonsorol, Pulo Anna, and the Merir Islands (ethnologue.com). The language is one of the two indigenous languages spoken in the area and is actually the most spoken in the area, especially in Palau (sonsorol.com). As the language being established in Palau, Palau has a little history of how it became what it is today. The

text: they are recognising that the continued use of dialects will add to the learning burden of their children. The success of the campaign was evident 20 years from the launch of the campaign. The campaign has significantly reduced the number of dialect speakers in Singapore. The use of Chinese dialect at home dropped from 81.4% in 1980 to 30.7% in 2000. Meanwhile, households that claimed to use Mandarin as the dominant language at home increased from 10.2% in 1980 to 35% in 2000. Although the campaign is successful in reducing the number of dialect speakers in Singapore, it is not

title: French language in the United States

text: French language in the United States The French language is spoken as a minority language in the United States. Roughly 2.07 million Americans over the age of five reported speaking the language at home in a federal 2010 estimate, making French the fourth most-spoken language in the nation behind English, Spanish, and Chinese (when Cajun, Haitian Creole and all other forms of French are included, and when Cantonese, Mandarin and other varieties of Chinese are similarly combined). Several varieties of French evolved in what is now the United States: More recently, French has also been carried to various parts of

title: Muscogee language

text: Muscogee language The Muscogee language (Muskogee, Mvskoke in Muscogee), also known as Creek, is a Muskogean language spoken by Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole people, primarily in the U.S. states of Oklahoma and Florida. Along with Mikasuki, when spoken by the Seminole it is known as Seminole. Historically the language was spoken by various constituent groups of the Muscogee or "Maskoki" in what are now Alabama and Georgia. It is related to but not mutually intelligible with the other primary language of the Muscogee confederacy, Hitchiti/Miccosukee, spoken by the kindred Miccosukee (Mikasuki), as well as other Muskogean languages. The Muscogee first

title: Language education in Singapore

text: essays and short stories. Just as in primary school, there is an emphasis on the oral and aural components of the language. In primary school, Tamil skills are evaluated through essay writing, written comprehension, listening comprehension and oral communication. Tamil examinations in secondary school include essay and letter writing, sentence completion, written comprehension, listening comprehension and oral components. In 2006, the Tamil syllabus was reformed to increase weighting of speaking and listening components at the PSLE, teach spoken Tamil instead of the formal variety and reduce emphasis on rote memorisation. To meet the needs of smaller linguistic groups within the

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: Southern California, USA with the aim of teaching deaf children English. About 75% to 80% of SEE-II signs are either borrowed from ASL or modified ASL signs. Unlike ASL, SEE-II is not a language but merely a mode of communication. Children with hearing impairments receive education through the oral approach method at the Canossian School for the Hearing Impaired (CSHI). The Directory of Services for the Disabled states that students at CSHI are taught using the Natural Auditory-Oral Philosophy, which emphasises the use of audition. Unlike students from the Singapore School of the Deaf (SSD), which is at present the

title: Chrau language

text: of the Chrau people which is why the language is sometimes referred to as Jro. As the Vietnamese began to settle in the area, the Chrau language slowly transformed into Vietnamese, which is why Chrau became an endangered language. The Chrau language has become something that is exclusively spoken to with other people who know the language. In different situations, Vietnamese is what is typically being used in the markets and not much of the newer generation will not have known what Chrau is. Chrau is currently homogeneous because of the surround clans. Being spoken in the South Vietnam in

title: Sign language in Singapore

text: only other Singaporean school specialized in education for deaf children, teaching is done without any form of signs or sign language. Hearing-impaired pupils in general public schools access the school curriculum through speech, in the same environment like their hearing classmates. The technological progress and development of hearing aids and cochlear implants allow hearing-impaired children to participate in class. Additional therapy programmes provided by schools and other specialized institutions, as in the case of CSHI with their Audio Verbal Therapy (AVT) or the Listen and Talk programme at the Singapore General Hospital, aim to improve performance of hearing-impaired children in

title: Singapore Centre for Chinese Language

text: 2014. To promote research in the field of teaching and learning Chinese as a second language and to facilitate the application of research findings, SCCL has been organising International Conference on Teaching and Learning Chinese as a Second Language on a biennial basis since 2009. Singapore Centre for Chinese Language The establishment of Singapore Centre for Chinese Language (Abbreviation: SCCL; Chinese: 新加坡华文教研中心 ; pinyin: xīn jiā pō huá wén jiào yán zhōng xīn) was announced by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 6 September 2008, and was opened by then Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on 17 November 2009.

title: Singapore

text: Singapore Chinese characters are written using simplified Chinese characters. Malay was chosen as a national language by the Singaporean government after independence from Britain in the 1960s to avoid friction with Singapore's Malay-speaking neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia. It has a symbolic, rather than functional purpose. It is used in the national anthem "Majulah Singapura", in citations of Singaporean orders and decorations, and in military commands. In general, Malay is spoken mainly within the Singaporean Malay community, with only 17% of all Singaporeans literate in it and only 12% using it as their native language. While Singaporean Malay is officially written

title: Singapore English

text: 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". 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". In 2010, speakers of English in Singapore were classified into five different groups: , English is the most commonly spoken language in all Singaporean homes.

text: "The Sunday Times" on 26 April 2009, the event made occasional use of Singlish, such as the lexical item 'chope', which is used to indicate the reservation of a seat. The intended audience there is not the 'less-educated', since most of the overseas Singaporeans are working professionals or university students pursuing a degree abroad. Acquisition Planning can be defined as the co-ordination of the language planning goals of the official parties involved in the implementation and integration of a language policy to ensure its timely and cost effective acquisition. In Singapore, the government has sole control over the acquisition planning

title: Languages of Singapore

text: ethnic groups present in Singapore at the time: Mandarin had gained status since the introduction of Chinese-medium schools; Malay was deemed the "most obvious choice" for the Malay community; and Tamil for the largest Indian ethnic group in Singapore, in addition to being "the language with the longest history of education in Malaysia and Singapore". In 2009, more than 20 languages were identified as being spoken in Singapore, reflecting a rich linguistic diversity in the city. Singapore's historical roots as a trading settlement gave rise to an influx of foreign traders, and their languages were slowly embedded in Singapore's modern

title: Education in Singapore

text: believed that this comes from the style of teaching that is implemented in Singapore. Teachers focus on making sure that each of their students thoroughly move through the syllabus before moving on. By doing this teachers in Singapore teach a much more narrow but deeper type of instruction. The main language of instruction in Singapore is English, which was officially designated the first language within the local education system in 1987. English is the first language learned by half the children by the time they reach preschool age and becomes the primary medium of instruction by the time they reach