Singlish

Singlish (a portmanteau of Singapore and English), formally known as Colloquial Singaporean English, is an English-based creole language originating in Singapore. Singlish arose out of a situation of prolonged language contact between speakers of different languages in Singapore, including English, Malay, Cantonese, Hokkien (especially the Singaporean Hokkien variety), Mandarin (especially Singaporean Mandarin), Teochew, and Tamil. Singlish is spoken alongside Standard Singapore English in a diglossic manner, and represents the colloquial register of English used between locals. As such, Singlish is sometimes not regarded as a separate language from English in Singapore, but rather, a sub-variety of it, forming a lectal continuum with the standard language. Despite this, it is still linguistically an independent creole language. The term Singlish was first recorded in the early 1970s. Singlish has similar roots and is highly mutually intelligible with the Manglish spoken in Peninsular Malaysia.

Like all languages, Singlish and other creole languages show consistent internal logic and grammatical complexity, and are learnt natively within a community. As with many other creoles, it is sometimes perceived to be a "broken" form of the lexifier language—in this case, English. Due in part to this perception of Singlish as "broken English", the use of Singlish is greatly frowned on by the Singaporean government. In 2000, the government launched the Speak Good English Movement in an attempt to discourage the use of Singlish, although more recent Speak Good English campaigns are conducted with tacit acceptance of Singlish as valid for informal usage. Several current and former Singaporean prime ministers have publicly spoken out against Singlish. However, the prevailing view among contemporary linguists is that, regardless of perceptions that a dialect or language is "better" or "worse" than its counterparts, when dialects and languages are assessed "on purely linguistic grounds, all languages—and all dialects—have equal merit".

In addition, there have been recent surges in the interest of Singlish internationally, sparking several national conversations. In 2016, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) added 19 new "Singapore English" items such as "hawker centre", "shiok", and "sabo" to both its online and printed versions. Several Singlish words were previously included in the OED's online version, including "lah" and "kiasu". Reactions were generally positive for this part of Singaporean identity to be recognised on a global level, and Singlish has been commonly associated with the country and is considered a unique aspect of Singaporean culture.