Beyond the ‘mother tongue’ speaker : a study on the relationships Singaporean Malay youths have with the Malay language.

With the prevalent use of English in Singapore, it is increasingly a challenge for many young Singaporeans to connect with their ethnic languages. Nevertheless, the Malay community in Singapore has often been described as proud keepers of their ethnic language and identity. This study hopes to obtai...

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Main Author: Chong, Euvin Loong Jin.
Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55073
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-550732019-12-10T13:32:11Z Beyond the ‘mother tongue’ speaker : a study on the relationships Singaporean Malay youths have with the Malay language. Chong, Euvin Loong Jin. School of Humanities and Social Sciences Mark Fifer Seilhamer DRNTU::Humanities::Linguistics With the prevalent use of English in Singapore, it is increasingly a challenge for many young Singaporeans to connect with their ethnic languages. Nevertheless, the Malay community in Singapore has often been described as proud keepers of their ethnic language and identity. This study hopes to obtain a sense of whether this is indeed the case by investigating how a sample of Singaporean Malay youths’ (18-26 years) relationships with the Malay language are characterized by the areas of language expertise, language inheritance and language affiliation, and by examining the links between these areas. A survey was conducted with 50 participants reporting on their use of Malay across different activities and domains, and their perceptions towards Malay. The results indicate that their relationships with Malay are strongly and positively characterized by expertise, inheritance and affiliation. Follow-up interviews conducted with 10 participants indicate that high levels of expertise, though not absolutely essential, can increase a sense of both inheritance and affiliation, while a strong sense of inheritance can help to develop and increase affiliation. The overall results suggest that the transmission and cultivation of a sense of ethnic rootedness and belonging partly through the Malay language has been considerably successful in some of today’s younger generation of Malays, despite the prevalent use of English in all but a few domains. Bachelor of Arts 2013-12-11T08:51:50Z 2013-12-11T08:51:50Z 2013 2013 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55073 en Nanyang Technological University 71 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic DRNTU::Humanities::Linguistics
spellingShingle DRNTU::Humanities::Linguistics
Chong, Euvin Loong Jin.
Beyond the ‘mother tongue’ speaker : a study on the relationships Singaporean Malay youths have with the Malay language.
description With the prevalent use of English in Singapore, it is increasingly a challenge for many young Singaporeans to connect with their ethnic languages. Nevertheless, the Malay community in Singapore has often been described as proud keepers of their ethnic language and identity. This study hopes to obtain a sense of whether this is indeed the case by investigating how a sample of Singaporean Malay youths’ (18-26 years) relationships with the Malay language are characterized by the areas of language expertise, language inheritance and language affiliation, and by examining the links between these areas. A survey was conducted with 50 participants reporting on their use of Malay across different activities and domains, and their perceptions towards Malay. The results indicate that their relationships with Malay are strongly and positively characterized by expertise, inheritance and affiliation. Follow-up interviews conducted with 10 participants indicate that high levels of expertise, though not absolutely essential, can increase a sense of both inheritance and affiliation, while a strong sense of inheritance can help to develop and increase affiliation. The overall results suggest that the transmission and cultivation of a sense of ethnic rootedness and belonging partly through the Malay language has been considerably successful in some of today’s younger generation of Malays, despite the prevalent use of English in all but a few domains.
author2 School of Humanities and Social Sciences
author_facet School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Chong, Euvin Loong Jin.
format Final Year Project
author Chong, Euvin Loong Jin.
author_sort Chong, Euvin Loong Jin.
title Beyond the ‘mother tongue’ speaker : a study on the relationships Singaporean Malay youths have with the Malay language.
title_short Beyond the ‘mother tongue’ speaker : a study on the relationships Singaporean Malay youths have with the Malay language.
title_full Beyond the ‘mother tongue’ speaker : a study on the relationships Singaporean Malay youths have with the Malay language.
title_fullStr Beyond the ‘mother tongue’ speaker : a study on the relationships Singaporean Malay youths have with the Malay language.
title_full_unstemmed Beyond the ‘mother tongue’ speaker : a study on the relationships Singaporean Malay youths have with the Malay language.
title_sort beyond the ‘mother tongue’ speaker : a study on the relationships singaporean malay youths have with the malay language.
publishDate 2013
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55073
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