Mohamed Hafiz, Mie Hiramoto, Jakob R. E. Leimgruber, Wilkinson Daniel Wong Gonzales, Jun Jie Lim
{"title":"Sociolinguistic variation in Colloquial Singapore English sia","authors":"Mohamed Hafiz, Mie Hiramoto, Jakob R. E. Leimgruber, Wilkinson Daniel Wong Gonzales, Jun Jie Lim","doi":"10.1111/weng.12700","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Colloquial Singapore English (CSE), also known as ‘Singlish’, features a wide range of sentence‐final particles (SFP) influenced by local languages such as Hokkien, Cantonese, Mandarin and Malay. This study focuses on the SFP <jats:sc>sia</jats:sc>, a relatively new and less‐explored particle with Malay roots. We examine <jats:sc>sia</jats:sc> and its variants (<jats:italic>sia, sial</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>siak</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>siol</jats:italic>) using data from the Corpus of Singapore English Messages, a 6.9‐million‐word text‐message corpus from 2016 to 2022.While previous research has associated <jats:italic>sia</jats:italic> and its variants with strong illocutionary contexts, particularly among young male Singaporeans due to its vulgar and masculine connotations, our data indicate that <jats:sc>sia</jats:sc> is now used more broadly among CSE‐speaking youth. It is employed in both strong and weak illocutionary contexts, suggesting a shift away from its negative/vulgar associations. <jats:italic>Sia</jats:italic> and its variants are emerging as general phatic markers reflecting the identity of CSE‐speaking youth.","PeriodicalId":23780,"journal":{"name":"World Englishes","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"World Englishes","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12700","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Colloquial Singapore English (CSE), also known as ‘Singlish’, features a wide range of sentence‐final particles (SFP) influenced by local languages such as Hokkien, Cantonese, Mandarin and Malay. This study focuses on the SFP sia, a relatively new and less‐explored particle with Malay roots. We examine sia and its variants (sia, sial, siak and siol) using data from the Corpus of Singapore English Messages, a 6.9‐million‐word text‐message corpus from 2016 to 2022.While previous research has associated sia and its variants with strong illocutionary contexts, particularly among young male Singaporeans due to its vulgar and masculine connotations, our data indicate that sia is now used more broadly among CSE‐speaking youth. It is employed in both strong and weak illocutionary contexts, suggesting a shift away from its negative/vulgar associations. Sia and its variants are emerging as general phatic markers reflecting the identity of CSE‐speaking youth.
期刊介绍:
World Englishes is integrative in its scope and includes theoretical and applied studies on language, literature and English teaching, with emphasis on cross-cultural perspectives and identities. The journal provides recent research, critical and evaluative papers, and reviews from Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Americas. Thematic special issues and colloquia appear regularly. Special sections such as ''Comments / Replies'' and ''Forum'' promote open discussions and debate.