Accommodation by immigrants : the role of situational language norms

• Main Author: Ng, Trina Jia Ying
• Other Authors: Alexander Robertson Coupe
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities::Linguistics::Sociolinguistics::Language acquisition
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/62781
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This study explores language accommodation in the case study of Filipino immigrant workers in the food & beverage industry of Singapore. Thirteen Filipino immigrants were observed for their interactions at their workplaces, followed by interviews for eight of them. The data revealed linguistic convergence of varying levels to Singapore Colloquial English (SCE), as hypothesized. Particular features of SCE including already, one and SCE particles were observed. However, further analysis showed also non-linguistic, behavioural accommodation to the norms and rules of the participants’ workplaces, the customer service role and the Singapore community at large. Regardless of type, the convergence shown was attributed to desires to avoid conflict, to build solidarity, to facilitate communication, and to accommodate workplace pressures and norms.