Deterding: Research on Singapore English

-- ISLE is the International Society for the Linguistics of English --
Find out how to join us at www.isle-lingu...
David Deterding's presentation on "Research on Singapore English" at the 2022 ISLE summer school
Abstract
This presentation discusses approaches to research on Singapore English and also considers future directions. First, it describes early works, particularly Tongue (1979) and Gupta (1994). Then, based on Deterding (2007), it offers an overview of the pronunciation, lexis, syntax and discourse of Singapore English, analyses how we can investigate them, and outlines some of the issues that are still to be resolved and how we might conduct research on them. Next, it provides a brief introduction to two more recent works, Leimgruber (2011) and Bao (2015), and discusses what they tell us about the status and characteristics of Singapore English. Finally, it considers how new approaches to modelling language development, such as Schneider (2020), offer fresh ideas for the description of varieties of English such as that of Singapore.
Readings
Bao, Z. 2015. The Making of Vernacular Singapore English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Deterding, D. 2007. Singapore English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Gupta, A. F. 1994. The Step-Tongue: Children's English in Singapore. UK: Clevedon.
Leimgruber, J. R. E. 2011. Singapore English: Structure, Variation, and Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schneider, E. W. 2020. ‘Calling English As Complex Dynamic Systems: Diffusion and Restructuring’. In A. Mauranen & S. Vetchinnikova (eds.), Language Change: The Impact of English as a Lingua Franca. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 15-43.
Tongue, R. K. 1979. The English of Singapore and Malaysia (2nd ed.). Singapore: Eastern University Press.