The Step-tongue

The Step-tongue
Author: Anthea Fraser Gupta
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
Total Pages: 248
Release: 1994-01-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9781853592294

In Singapore, multilingualism is the norm, and English (often the local variety) is widely acquired and used. This book examines the social and historical context of children's English in Singapore, and traces the development of four Singaporean children who have English as a native language. The implications for education and speech therapy are discussed.

Children’s English in Singapore

Children’s English in Singapore
Author: Sarah Buschfeld
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2019-12-06
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1351780786

Combining the World Englishes framework with First Language Acquisition methodology, this book investigates children’s acquisition of L1 English in the context of multilingual Singapore, one of the traditional Kachruvian Outer Circle or ESL countries. The book investigates language choice, use, and dominance in Singaporean families, identifies common linguistic characteristics of L1 Singapore English, as well as the acquisitional route that Singaporean children take. It discusses characteristics at the different levels of language organization, i.e., phonological, morphosyntactic, lexical, and pragmatic features, drawing on a variety of systematically elicited data and Praat-based acoustic analyses. Comparing the results to similar data obtained from children living in England (both mono- and bi-/multilingual), the book also sheds light on how the acquisitional steps taken by Singaporean children differ from or are similar to traditional native speakers of English and children from immigrant families in England.

Singapore Children's Favorite Stories

Singapore Children's Favorite Stories
Author: Diane Taylor
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Total Pages: 108
Release: 2012-11-27
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1462908497

This colorfully illustrated multicultural children's book presents Singaporean fairy tales and other folk stories--providing insight into a rich literary and oral culture. Singapore Children's Favorite Stories is a collection of eleven stories that provide an insight into the traditional culture and history of Singapore. They make perfect new additions for story time or bedtime reading. Retold by Diane Taylor for an international audience, the whimsical watercolor illustrations by Lak-Khee Tay-Audouard offer insight into Singapore's multicultural past and present, as well as its colonial roots. The famous story of the tiger under the billiard table at the Raffles Hotel is retold, as is the myth of how the name "Singapore" (Lion City) came about. Magical princesses, mermaids, tigers, pirates and buffalos compete for every child's attention. Singapore Children's Stories include: Queen of the Forest Vanished! The Pirates of Riau The Magical Princess The Children's Favorite Stories series was created to share the folktales and legends most beloved by children in the East with young readers of all backgrounds in the West. Other multicultural children's books in this series include: Asian Children's Favorite Stories, Indian Children's Favorite Stories, Indonesian Children's Favorite Stories, Japanese Children's Favorite Stories, Filipino Favorite Children's Stories, Favorite Children's Stories from China & Tibet, Chinese Children's Favorite Stories, Korean Children's Favorite Stories, Balinese Children's Favorite Stories, and Vietnamese Children's Favorite Stories.

English in Singapore

English in Singapore
Author: Lisa Lim
Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2010-06-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9888028421

English in Singapore provides an up-to-date, detailed and comprehensive investigation into the various issues surrounding the sociolinguistics of English in Singapore. Rather than attempting to cover the usual topics in an overview of a variety of English in a particular country, the essays in this volume are important for identifying some of the most significant issues pertaining to the state and status of English in Singapore in modern times, and for doing so in a treatment that involves a critical evaluation of work in the field and new and thought-provoking angles for reviewing such issues in the context of Singapore in the twenty-first century. The contributions address the historical trajectory of English (past, present and possible future), its position in relation to language policy and multiculturalism, the relationship between the standard and colloquial varieties, and how English can and should be taught. This book is thus essential reading for scholars and students concerned with how the dynamics of the English language are played out and managed in a modern society such as Singapore. It will also interest readers who have a more general interest in Asian studies, the sociology of language, and World Englishes.

Singapore English

Singapore English
Author: Jakob R. E. Leimgruber
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 167
Release: 2013-05-09
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1107355257

In recent years the study of English and its global varieties has grown rapidly as a field of study. The English language in Singapore, famous for its vernacular known as 'Singlish', is of particular interest to linguists because it takes accent, dialect and lexical features from a wide range of languages including Malay, Mandarin, Hokkien and Tamil, as well as being influenced by the Englishes of Britain, Australia and America. This book gives a comprehensive overview of English in Singapore by setting it within a historical context and drawing on recent developments in the field of indexicality, world Englishes and corpus research. Through application of the indexicality framework Jakob Leimgruber offers readers a new way of thinking about and analysing the unique syntactic, semantic and phonological structure of Singapore English. This book is ideal for researchers and advanced students interested in Singapore and its languages.

Education in Singapore

Education in Singapore
Author: Yew-Jin Lee
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2022-04-06
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9811699828

This edited book is a comprehensive resource for understanding the history as well as the current status of educational practices in Singapore. It is a one-stop reference guide to education and educational issues/concerns here. There are three sections: Part 1 provides a sectorial overview of how education has been organized in this country such as preschool, special needs, primary and secondary, and adult education divisions. In Part 2, contributors critically delve into issues and policies that are pertinent to understanding education here such as underachievement, leadership, language education, assessment, and meritocracy to question what Part 1 might have taken for granted. Part 3 contains the largest number of contributors because it offers a scholarly examination into specific subject histories. This section stands out because of the comparative rarity of its subject matter (history of Physical Education, Art, Music, Geography Education, etc.) in Singapore.

Crosslinguistic Influence in Singapore English

Crosslinguistic Influence in Singapore English
Author: Ming Chew Teo
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 163
Release: 2020-01-06
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0429873875

In a social setting where speakers with several languages interact extensively, a major source of variation in Colloquial Singapore English comes from the complex interaction between crosslinguistic influences and various social and linguistic factors. By unifying both social and linguistic aspects of the phenomenon through the use of multivariate analyses like logistic regressions and Poisson regressions, this book represents a novel approach to the study of crosslinguistic influence in Colloquial Singapore English. As multivariate analyses provide us with information regarding the relative strengths of each social and linguistic factor, they are useful tools that allow us to have a more nuanced understanding of crosslinguistic influence in contact situations. Linguistic features from a variety of linguistic domains – morphology, semantics, and discourse – will be quantified, and statistical analyses will be run in R to determine the degree to which various social and linguistic factors affect the extent of crosslinguistic influence. Well-known Singlish features like the optionality of past tense and plural marking, the unique meanings of already, got, and one, and discourse particles lah, leh, and lor, are analyzed using this approach. The statistical modeling of these features is a first step towards creating a unified framework to understanding crosslinguistic influence.

Language, Education and Discourse

Language, Education and Discourse
Author: Joseph Foley
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2004-04-29
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1847141013

This collection of essays by leading functional linguists presents the latest perspectives on language and discourse in educational settings. Language, Education and Discourse is divided into two sections. Part one covers early childhood and the growing development of a language system from the basic semiotic system of the infant. This is followed by an analysis of the beginnings of literacy in kindergarten, the introduction to writing in primary school and the ideological content of reading material. Part two furthers this analysis by looking at discourse in secondary and tertiary education. The contributors pose questions about the role and importance of teaching grammar in the school system, and finally examine how to refine the discourse of education. This book will be useful to academics interested in the latest functional perspectives on language and education.

The Handbook of Asian Englishes

The Handbook of Asian Englishes
Author: Kingsley Bolton
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 932
Release: 2020-09-14
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1118791657

Winner of the 2021 PROSE Humanities Category for Language & Linguistics The first volume of its kind, focusing on the sociolinguistic and socio-political issues surrounding Asian Englishes The Handbook of Asian Englishes provides wide-ranging coverage of the historical and cultural context, contemporary dynamics, and linguistic features of English in use throughout the Asian region. This first-of-its-kind volume offers a wide-ranging exploration of the English language throughout nations in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Contributions by a team of internationally-recognized linguists and scholars of Asian Englishes and Asian languages survey existing works and review new and emerging areas of research in the field. Edited by internationally renowned scholars in the field and structured in four parts, this Handbook explores the status and functions of English in the educational institutions, legal systems, media, popular cultures, and religions of diverse Asian societies. In addition to examining nation-specific topics, this comprehensive volume presents articles exploring pan-Asian issues such as English in Asian schools and universities, English and language policies in the Asian region, and the statistics of English across Asia. Up-to-date research addresses the impact of English as an Asian lingua franca, globalization and Asian Englishes, the dynamics of multilingualism, and more. Examines linguistic history, contemporary linguistic issues, and English in the Outer and Expanding Circles of Asia Focuses on the rapidly-growing complexities of English throughout Asia Includes reviews of the new frontiers of research in Asian Englishes, including the impact of globalization and popular culture Presents an innovative survey of Asian Englishes in one comprehensive volume Serving as an important contribution to fields such as contact linguistics, World Englishes, sociolinguistics, and Asian language studies, The Handbook of Asian Englishes is an invaluable reference resource for undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and instructors across these areas. Winner of the 2021 PROSE Humanities Category for Language & Linguistics

From Here to Denmark

From Here to Denmark
Author: Rajat Mohan Nag
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2023-08-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0198893116

From Here to Denmark: The Importance of Institutions for Good Governance represents the journey of developing nations from a state of poor governance - that manifests itself in various forms, such as lack of respect for rule of law, delay (and even denial) of justice, a capricious and corrupt ruling elite, lives deprived of basic human dignities and marked with fear and insecurity - to a state of good governance, reflected in predictability, accountability, and fairness in governance matters, and the strong presence of the rule of law. Drawing on experiences of some countries which have made the transition to 'Denmark' over time, the book identifies basic enablers which help a society to make the journey from here to Denmark. These are: building sufficient human capital (education and health) and enabling the effective participation by citizens in having a meaningful say in how they are governed.