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An exploratory study of the evolving Singapore colloquial English lexis : a survey of a sub-set of thirty lexical items
Author
Tessensohn, Denyse
Supervisor
Saravanan, Vanithamani
Abstract
This exploratory study investigates how well the corpus of the lexical innovations in one variety of English widely spoken in Singapore known as Singapore Colloquial English (SCE), a non-standard variety of English, is established among Singaporeans in their late teens. A questionnaire was administered and follow-up questions and answers conducted over the Internet to find out whether a shared knowledge and use of the lexis continues across the generations and whether the lexis of SCE is evolving.
Of sociolinguistic interest is that younger generation Singaporeans may be incorrectly assumed to comprehend the meaning of SCE lexical items by academics and policy makers. In domains such as the media, literary arts, advertising and politics they may misunderstand, ignore or reject the meaning in communications the speakers or writers think are being successfully communicated to them.
A set of SCE lexical items was tested in a pilot with older generation Singaporeans and then a final list of thirty SCE lexical items was tested with multi-ethnic students in a junior college.
Findings indicate that a corpus does exist but that the usage and understanding of some of those lexical items may be at odds with the lexicographers' and the academicians' who also are not always in agreement. Some lexical items are well established among this representation of the younger generation of both sexes and there is some evidence that the corpus is evolving.
Of sociolinguistic interest is that younger generation Singaporeans may be incorrectly assumed to comprehend the meaning of SCE lexical items by academics and policy makers. In domains such as the media, literary arts, advertising and politics they may misunderstand, ignore or reject the meaning in communications the speakers or writers think are being successfully communicated to them.
A set of SCE lexical items was tested in a pilot with older generation Singaporeans and then a final list of thirty SCE lexical items was tested with multi-ethnic students in a junior college.
Findings indicate that a corpus does exist but that the usage and understanding of some of those lexical items may be at odds with the lexicographers' and the academicians' who also are not always in agreement. Some lexical items are well established among this representation of the younger generation of both sexes and there is some evidence that the corpus is evolving.
Date Issued
2003
Call Number
PE3502.S55 Tes
Date Submitted
2003