Languages of Singapore

Languages of Singapore
A construction danger sign in Singapore's four official languages: English, Standard Chinese, Malay and Tamil
Official	English, Chinese, Malay, Tamil
National	Malay
Main	English (de facto) Malay (de jure)
Vernacular	Singapore English (formal), Singlish (informal)
Minority	Baba Malay, Bazaar Malay, Cantonese, Hokkien, Hainanese, Hakka, Teochew, Javanese, Punjabi, Malayalam,
Immigrant	Armenian, Bengali, Hebrew, Hindustani, Telugu, Sindhi, Kannada
Foreign	Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Filipino, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese, Burmese, Khmer, Lao
Signed	Singapore Sign Language
Keyboard layout	QWERTY

The languages of Singapore are English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay and Tamil, with the lingua franca between Singaporeans being English, the de facto main language in daily, governmental, legal, trade and commercial affairs. Among themselves, Singaporeans often speak Singlish, an English creole arising from centuries of contact between Singapore's multi-ethnic and multilingual society and its legacy of being a British colony. Linguists formally define it as Singapore Colloquial English.^[1] A multitude of other languages are also used in Singapore. They consist of several varieties of languages under the families of the Austronesian, Dravidian, Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan languages. The Constitution of Singapore states that the national language of Singapore is Malay. This plays a symbolic role, as Malays are constitutionally recognised as the indigenous peoples of Singapore, and it is the government's duty to protect their language and heritage.^[a] (Singapore is geographically located within the sociopolitical realms known as the Malay World or Nusantara.)

The three languages other than English were chosen to correspond with the major ethnic groups present in Singapore at the time: Mandarin Chinese had gained pre-eminent status (over the Southern Chinese dialects of the overseas Chinese) 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".^[2] In 2009, more than 20 languages were identified as being spoken in Singapore, reflecting a rich linguistic diversity in the city.^[3][4] Singapore's historical roots as a trading settlement gave rise to an influx of foreign traders,^[5] and their languages were slowly embedded in Singapore's modern day linguistic repertoire.

In the early years, the lingua franca of the island was Bazaar Malay (Melayu Pasar), a creole of Malay and Chinese, the language of trade in the Malay Archipelago.^[6] While it continues to be used among many on the island, especially Singaporean Malays, Malay has now been displaced by English. English became the lingua franca due to British rule of Singapore,^[5] and was made the main language upon Singaporean independence. Thus, English is the official medium of instruction in schools, and is also the main language used in formal settings such as in government departments and the courts. According to Singaporean President Halimah Yacob during her 2018 speech, "Through the education system, we adopted a common working language in English."^[7] English was chosen as the medium of instruction in education due to Singapore's heavy reliance on international trade, international commerce, international finance, foreign direct investment, along with the onshoring of multinational corporations and associated innovation economics, for its economic input and output, procuring and providing goods and services from and to the global marketplace.

Hokkien (Min Nan) briefly emerged as a lingua franca among the Chinese,^[5] but by the late 20th century it had been eclipsed by Mandarin. The Government emphasises Mandarin Chinese amongst Chinese Singaporeans, as the Government views Mandarin as lingua franca between the diverse non-Mandarin speaking groups which form the Chinese Singaporean community (derived historically from the various regions of Southern China), and as a tool for forging a common Chinese cultural identity within Singapore.^[8] Mainland China's economic rise in the 21st century has also encouraged a greater use of Mandarin, particularly Simplified Chinese. Other Chinese varieties such as Hokkien, Teochew, Hakka, Hainanese and Cantonese have been classified by the Government as "dialects"; governmental language policies on the use of “dialects”, such as the elimination of non-Mandarin Chinese ("Chinese dialects") usage in official settings, heavy restrictions of dialect use in television and radio media, the non-provision of non-Mandarin “dialects” language classes within the national education system, along with changing societal language attitudes based on perceived economic value, have led to language attrition and a sharp decrease in the number of speakers of these varieties of colloquial ancestral “dialects”, especially amongst the younger generations.^{[9][10][11][12]} In particular, Singapore has its own lect of Mandarin; Singaporean Mandarin, itself with two varieties, Standard and Colloquial or spoken. While Tamil is one of Singapore's official and the most spoken Indian language, other Indian languages are also frequently used by minorities.^[13]

Almost all Singaporeans are bilingual, as Singapore's bilingual language education policy mandates a dual-language learning system, with English being the main medium of instruction. Learning a second language has been compulsory in primary schools since 1960 and secondary schools since 1966;^[14] children are required to learn one of the three official languages as a second language, according to their official registered ethnic group (the associated language is classified as a “Mother Tongue” language). Since 1 January 2011, if a person is of more than one ethnicity and their race is registered in the hyphenated format, the race chosen will be the one that precedes the hyphen in their registered race.^[15] Within the national education system, students are also eligible to learn another approved third language, of their choice.^[16]

In modern Singapore, contemporary language issues frequently discussed involve the widespread and increasing language attrition of the second languages (ethnic Mother Tongue languages) amongst Singaporeans, due to the pervasive use of the English language in daily life within Singapore and its households.^{[17][18][19][20][21][22][23]}

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