Social network effects on particle variation among Singapore students

Abstract

We situate our study of Singapore English particles in the context of social network theory and language variation in order to gain access to Singapore students’ most natural language use (that is, their vernacular, in the Labovian sense), and consider aspects of social as well as stylistic variation. We provide the results of a study on the ego‐centric social networks of Chinese and Malay students and consider the network effects of social network zones as important in the social and stylistic variability of discourse particle use in these social networks. We argue that variation in the use of discourse particles is multifaceted and cannot be simply explained in terms of so‐called social constraints such as ethnicity, or gender, but rather as a combination of social variables that are fluid, and which reveal insights into the changing language situation of Singapore society at large.