English varieties, Singapore, South Africa and India

Singapore (by Erlend J.C.)

English is one of four official languages in Singapore, and Singapore English is divided into two different sub-forms, Standard Singapore English (SSE) and Singapore Colloquial English. Singapore was a British Colony from 1819-1965, and like in many of the other nations that were British colonies in the past, English has maintained a firm ground. English was the administrative language of the British colonial government, and the Singaporean government chose to keep English as their main language, when they gained self-government in 1959 and independence in 1965. This decision to keep English was made in order to maximize the economical prosperity of Singapore, as well as being a lingua franca for the various different ethnicities and cultures of Singapore.

Standard Singapore English resembles British English in its’ grammar and way of writing, but differs in the pronunciation. Unlike SSE, Singapore Colloquial English (Singlish) includes linguistic features from Malay, Mandarin and Hokkien. Singlish is not commonly used in formal speech or writing, due to it´s reputation of being a low-prestige form of English. Wikipedia states, on based on various sources, that 71% of Singapore´s population in 2010 spoke English as their native or second language. These are quite a few Singaporeans!

This video displays some Singlish charateristics.

South Africa (by Jørgen F.)

In South-Africa there was apartheid for 46 years, from 1948 to 1994. The white European descendants controlled  South Africa, and used apartheid to suppress the natives/ black people. Because of this, the South-African English today is heavily influenced by the British English. English is only one of the eleven official languages in South-Africa. That also means that The South-African English not only is influenced by the British, but also by the ten other languages in the country.

What characterizes the South-African English depends on the form. In South-Africa there are three different forms of English, often referred to as “The Great Trichotomy”, or just three groupings. The three different forms have are much affected by the social varieties. The most formal and "finest" of the three forms is the Cultivated. This type of English is often associated with the upper class. The second type is called General, and is a social indicator of the middle class. The third type of English is called Broad, this form of speaking is mostly associated with the working class. It is also in many ways similar to the other official language Afrikaans. In other words, the more formal the setting, the more British English they talk in South-Africa, and the more informal the occasions are, the more influenced by the other official languages the English is. 

 A scene taken from the film Invictus, South African accent.

India (by Sindre G.)

The British first arrived in India in the early 1600s and they established trading posts in a number of cities under the control of The East India Company. Over the next hundred years, the British influence grew to a much greater extent, and English became the administrative language. The British did not force their language on the Indian population, but it was slowly accepted as the language of the government, the national press and the social elite. India became a British colony in 1858, and it stayed so until 1947. The intentions of the Indian government after they gained their independence, was that English gradually would be phased out as the administrative language. The government had problems finding a language to replace English, due to the fact that there are many different languages, so choosing one as the national language became almost impossible. Even Gandhi, who was a proponent of a native variety as a national language, expressed that his message was most widely understood when he used English. Therefore, English stayed as a strong language in India, widely used in the media, the government and higher education. Recent studies shows that nearly 4% of the Indian population speak English as their main language. This equals to approximately 35 million speakers. India is the largest English speaking country in the world, apart from America and the UK.

English is mostly taught as a second language. Many Indians are therefore strongly influenced by the linguistic habits of their first language. Because there are large diversities in the Indian language and culture, there are also different accents depending on where in India, and the social background of the speaker. Some Indians speak English with an accent very close to a Standard British accent, while others lean towards a more vernacular accent. The diversity is so large that some words can even have different meanings in different parts of India. The grammar, such as the accents, is influenced by the native language of the speaker. Indians tend to often use idioms literal translated from their own native language, although this is less common amongst the proficient speakers, who also tend to use grammar closer to standard British.

A sampling of different Indian English Accents.

Comparison

All of the countries above were British colonies, and bear linguistic traits from the colonial times. Local languages and others have influenced the further development of the English, differentiating the varieties today. They serve to some degree as a lingua franca in the Singapore, South Africa and India, but aren´t necessarily the mother tong of the majority of the population. By looking at some characteristics for these English varieties they can be recognized.

This post was written as collaboration post with two of my fellow students. Links to their blogs:

http://internationalengelsk.blogspot.no/

http://www.theamazingbookblogg.blogspot.no/