Language, race, and citizenship in Singapore

• Main Author: Lim, Xin Hwee
• Other Authors: Tan Ying Ying
• Format: Thesis-Master by Research
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2025
• Subjects: Arts and Humanities; Language; Sociolinguistics; Singapore; Race; Citizenship
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/182544
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This thesis examines how citizenship and race are constructed and “co-naturaliz[ed]” (Rosa & Flores, 2017, p. 622) with language use in the context of Singapore. In the construction of national identity, Singapore is “imagined” (Anderson, 1983) as a diverse nation, one that is multiracial, multicultural, and multilingual. This multilingualism has been instituted in Singapore throughout its history through language policies—these policies overlap with the management of diversity in Singapore. Singaporeans are prescribed a race at birth according to the CMIO (Chinese, Malay, Indian, Other) framework and are required to learn an additional ‘mother tongue’ language that corresponds to their race. On top of this, English is prescribed a non-cultural, ‘neutral’ function. Given recent discourse on migrant flows, there is a growing discussion on what makes one a ‘real’ Singaporean; this discussion is steeped in discourses of race, citizenship, and language use. To that end, the thesis sets out to answer the question: how do views on language use assist in constructing racial/national identity in Singapore, and how might raciolinguistic ideologies (Rosa & Flores, 2017) be relevant in the process?