English is an Asian language

In 1991 I spent four months at the National University of Singapore teaching lexicography and researching Singaporean English.  I persuaded Professor Ann Pakir to hold a symposium on Singaporean English that was not just an academic event but included writers, editors and everyone engaged in language matters in Singapore.  One of the issues that emerged was the battle between those who felt that any toleration of what they called Singlish (colloquial Singaporean English) would lead to a degrading of the standards of the English language in Singapore and that would affect the economy and lead to poverty and ruin for Singaporeans.  In the other camp were those who appreciated that Singaporean English (influenced by Singlish) was different in some ways and that it was linked to a sense of Singaporean identity.

The end result of that little excursion was the inclusion of 50 Singaporean and Malaysian English lexical items, 15 from Hong Kong English, and  more from  Philippine English, in the next edition of the Macquarie Dictionary.  Our mantra was : English is an Asian language.  This passed without comment in Australia and in Asia and the rest of the world.

Lisa Lim, Associate Professor in the School of Education at Curtin University in Perth, has charted the progress of Singlish since then.  In 2015 Singapore celebrated its 50 years of nationhood with banners in Singlish.  The Prime Minister commented on his Facebook book using some of the items that had been splashed around.  This in Singapore is a significant indicator of government tolerance and has widespread repercussions.

Then in 2016 the Oxford English Dictionary included 40 words from Singapore and Hong Kong and this was headlines in the South China Post.  Lisa Lim now tells us that the barriers have broken down even further and Singlish is being accepted as part of the Singaporean way of life.  The Speak Good English Movement (established in 2000) has a TikTok item on code-switching implying that standard English and Singlish could exist side by side and that Singaporeans could use either one as appropriate.  (This is what Singaporeans have always done).  And  government institutions are including some of the common items that have been accepted in standard Singaporean English in documents going out under their name.

We tried to do a small dictionary for Singapore which included some Singaporean English back in the 1990s and got nowhere.  Perhaps the time is ripe for a proper dictionary of Singaporean English.