On my recent visit to the Chinatown Heritage Centre, a particular display caught my eye. It described Chinatown as the opium den center of the city where high-end clientelle as well as "coolies" frequented for their daily fix. "Coolies"??? This was a term I hadn't heard before.For those just as clueless as me, "coolie" is actually in the American-English dictionary: "an unskilled laborer or porter usually in or from the Far East hired for low or subsistence wages." For those more vocabularily inclined, what you may not know is its origin – a loan word from the Chinese 苦力), which literally means "bitter; hardship" and "strength." With 75% of Singapore's residents hailing from Asia's most populace country, it's no surprise that Chinese (in its various forms and dialects) dominates the linguistic cultural backdrop.
Though English is for many the lingua franca of Singapore, various dialects of Chinese (mostly Hakka, Hokkien, and Mandarin) are spoken at home and to friends of the same linguistic network. Code-switching (using both English and Chinese) is frequent and no-switching (no English, Chinese-only) is not uncommon. From business cards, to retail signs, to advertisements, Chinese holds its own in this English speaking "international" city.
But it isn't just the "China Talk" here that hints at Singapore's dominant cultural population; just listen to the English (endearingly called Singlish) spoken by Chinese, Indians, and Malay alike. Singlish cadence is staccato and short, with syllables deliberately separated and sounding a bit abrupt to the American ear. Not only is the cadence short, but the actually sentence constructions are, too, mirroring the concise uncomplicated Chinese phraseology.
Speaking in fragments or removing subjects or even verbs is also commonplace in Singlish exchanges. When you answer in the affirmative, a simple verb often suffices ("can," "have," "take" instead of "yes, you can" etc.). This is taken directly from Chinese grammatical structure, which doesn't really have a word for "yes." Also, Singlish sentences often conclude with a lingering "laaaah" or "maaaaah." Similarly, "ma" is the Chinese interrogative indicator placed at the end of questions; while, "le" is placed at the end of many statements as an intensifier or to indicate a completed action.
Both in phonology and cadence as well as construction, the Singaporean English is no doubt influenced by its Chinese counterparts.
***As an aside, the photo above was featured on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. What Mr. Bourdain may not know is that this sign is a perfect example of the linguistic fusion apparent all over Singapore. Not only does its name appear in Chinese and English, but also pinyin. "Tian tian" is the roman alphabet pronunciation of the two symbols which appear above it. Tian tian (天天) actually means "every day" in Chinese.
I think we need a lingua franca for the World as well.
ReplyDeleteSo which language should it be?
The British learn French, the Australians study Japanese and the Americans prefer Spanish. Yet this leaves Mandarin Chinese out of the equation.
I think we need to move forward and teach a neutral non-national language, worldwide, and in all schools.
As a native English speaker I would prefer Esperanto :)
Your readers may be interested in the following video at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a translator with the United Nations in Geneva.
A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net
Surely are are being facetious.
ReplyDeleteLanguage outside of the context of culture might as well be a mathmatical 'sentence' or a computer language. Without context and culture,language would stay at the level of decoding rather than being connected to a meaning deeper than the literal.
Sure you could translate a joke into Esperanto, but it would be an English or French or Yiddish joke and you would understand, enjoy and appreciate it based on the context and your own prior knowledge of English, French or Yiddish culture. And if you did have a meaningful conversation in Esperanto or some other artificial language, it would still be based on whatever outside culture you brought to the conversation.
You both bring up good points. I do believe there is a need for a world-wide lingua franca (which right now English seems to be the closest thing); but is it worth it at the risk of losing other languages and the cultures that it represents. Also, the political implications of which language is chosen cannot be ignored. After all, language is power.
ReplyDeleteGiven that, Esperanto would be the natural choice...as neutral politically as you can get. But Mary Lou also brings up a good point. By creating a language we are taking away the depth of understanding that a natually-born language brings us.
Perhaps the practically obsolete Latin was the best compromise, being used as a written langauge and only for political/academic/religious communications.
Thank you both for reading! This is exactly what I'd hoped my blog would do...entice ideas and conversation=)
I love provocative discourse! Particularly on the topics of language and culture. Look forward to more.
ReplyDeleteWe were in P.F. Changs last night to celebrate Uncle Ralph's birthday. I observed another use for Pinyin, The Tian-Tian was used on the menu to denote hot and spicy. Within the culture, I guess hot and spicy could mean 'every-day'.
ReplyDeleteGrandma
Interesting! I wonder if it's a dialect thing, or as you suggest that hot and spicy IS everyday. Fortunately for the spice-a-phobs, Tian Tian Chicken Rice is as mild as you come.
ReplyDelete