Subject: sum : singapore english

content - length : 4261 a couple of weeks ago , i asked the following question : ) many people would not regard s ' pore english as a " native " english . ) however , there are many speakers here who grew up speaking ) english , ) ie acquiring english as their first language ; though certainly it may be a ) somewhat different variety from the english spoken in britain or ) america . ) in this respect , what is the currently accepted way of classifying ) singapore english ? in particular , is it possible to say that it is not a ) native language given that some people have it as their first ) language ? three respondants believed that singapore english should be regarded as " native " if it is the first language learned ; while three others suggested " native " has other connotations or suggested other terms for the english of singapore . thus anthea fraser gupta said : i strongly feel that the term " native language " should be used to refer to the language ( s ) an individual first learns , and that any other definition , based on race , on ancestral language use , or geographical origin , is untenable . debbie ziegeler agreed with this view : most people i believe would classify a first language as a native language ( = mother tongue ) , and i think this is what anthea gupta had in mind when she said that english in singapore now has native speakers , and that approximately 20 % of singapore 's incoming schoolchildren have english as a native language and ms . faridah hudson said : i believe that any language that is learned by a child as its first language should be considered as the native language . granted that singapore english is not as well studied as british or american english , it is still a form of english . on the other hand , wen - chao li claims suggests that " native " does not just refer to the linguistic experience of the individual : i think the word " native " here refers not to whether or not people speak the variety as a native language , but is just a convenient label used to distinguish the english of britain and the us , where the language originated ( " native " in this sense ) , from the english of places like singapore , india , and many countries in africa , where although english is widely spoken as a native language , it is a language that had transplanted another in the last 200 years , a language that was introduced rather than one that 's been culturally and historically " native " . mario cal varela suggested the use of the term " localized forms of english " for new varieties such as that of singapore : the expression " localized forms of english " is often used . . . to refer to varieties of english that have developed peculiar characteristics ( nativized features ) because of being used in cultural settings different from the so-called native englishes . and rodrik wade prefers " new englishes " : a term that was popularised , if not introduced by platt , weber and ho ( 1984 ) for se and other similar varieties of english is ' new englishes ' . i have used this term when writing about south african black english although as yet this variety has few l1 speakers . i would like to thank all these respondants , as well as alan firth and benny lee for their useful references and umberto for his questions about the pronunciation involved . special thanks to my mentor david deterding for introducing me to the list and for helping me out with this summary . kia - sheng chew national technological university singapore 91a26936217f @ nievax . nie . ac . sg
