Latah as a discourse strategy in Singaporean Malays

• Main Author: Dwi Idayuny Jumadi
• Other Authors: Luke Lu
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
• Subjects: Humanities::Linguistics::Sociolinguistics
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/138282
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This study presents an overview of how familiar Singaporean Malays are towards latah as an actual practice and its prevalence in the local community. By adopting a perception-based approach, this study sheds light on perceptions attached to latah as a display as well as their impressions of those who engage in latah. The Reysen’s likeability and Goldberg's Big Five personality traits scales were embedded into the study to quantify these perceptions regarding latah. The study was intended to uncover whether latah could eventually function as a tool to elevate individuals’ likeability and gradually utilised as a discourse strategy to achieve the desired impression or social distance with interlocutors. Findings found that latah was easily identified and labelled by Singaporean Malays. The likeability scale suggested that latah allowed people to form an amicable impression of a person who engages in latah although it may consequently result in them being taken less seriously. Similarly, the five personality traits which were posted onto a semantic differential scale found that people perceived those who latah as outgoing however, they may appear emotionally unstable. The study unveiled perceptions of a multifaceted nature of latah in Singapore. While it helped generate the impression of friendly dispositions, it contributed to the strengthening of one’s self-identity as well as aided assimilation into the community as an in-group marker. While features of latah contradicted the normative frame of the Malay culture, it is seemingly widely accepted and its negative effects or perceived vices are comparatively minute as compared to its apparent benefits. In all, latah was perceived as a harmless display that not only exudes amusement within the community but also possesses the capacity to make one perceived as being more ‘Malay’.