The Multilingual State in Search of the Nation: The Language Discourse in Singapore’s Nation-Building

Around the world, especially in Asia, languages are dying out from assimilation policies as well as from oppression of minorities. Even languages which hitherto had not been under threat now have to grapple with the realities of the dynamic and variable nature of language shifts. Language issues hav...

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Main Author: TAN, Eugene K. B.
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2007
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Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/361
https://search.library.smu.edu.sg/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma996072402601&context=L&vid=65SMU_INST:SMU_NUI&lang=en&search_scope=Everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,Language,%20Nation%20and%20Development%20in%20Southeast%20Asia&offset=0
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spelling sg-smu-ink.sol_research-13602018-07-27T03:46:29Z The Multilingual State in Search of the Nation: The Language Discourse in Singapore’s Nation-Building TAN, Eugene K. B. Around the world, especially in Asia, languages are dying out from assimilation policies as well as from oppression of minorities. Even languages which hitherto had not been under threat now have to grapple with the realities of the dynamic and variable nature of language shifts. Language issues have also featured prominently in manifestations of ethnic conflict in Asia. In Singapore, there is no real fear of the languages of the three racial groups, viz Chinese (Mandarin), Malay, and Tamil, becoming extinct or obsolete. Rather, the feeling of the intellectual and cultural elites from the Chinese, Malay and Indian communities is that more could be done to promote their respective languages and cultures. What is clear is the pivotal role of language in Singapore's socio-economic development and nation-building. Arising from the language policies, there are ramifications for politics, economics, culture and education. Thus, national language policy will retain its saliency in many societies and language planning an integral part of maintaining ethnic stability in many multilingual societies. The link between language and identity has not had much analysis in scholarly discussion. Similarly, the role of language in nation-building in Singapore has not been examined in any significant way. This is not surprising as race has been the dominant prism in the study of ethnic relations in Singapore. Yet language is a proxy by which issues of race and culture are often discussed in Singapore. Indeed, language is construed as a less contentious context with which to deal with the tricky issues of ethnicity, broadly conceived. Language discourse is also less susceptible towards a class-based explanation of difference. This chapter examines the role of language in nation-building in multilingual Singapore. The first part discusses Singapore's language regime and an overview of language development in Singapore since its independence in 1965. 2007-01-01T08:00:00Z text text/html https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/361 info:doi/10.1355/9789812304834-009 https://search.library.smu.edu.sg/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma996072402601&context=L&vid=65SMU_INST:SMU_NUI&lang=en&search_scope=Everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,Language,%20Nation%20and%20Development%20in%20Southeast%20Asia&offset=0 Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Nation-building language policy Singapore ethnic relations politics Asian Studies Law and Society Social Influence and Political Communication South and Southeast Asian Languages and Societies
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic Nation-building
language policy
Singapore
ethnic relations
politics
Asian Studies
Law and Society
Social Influence and Political Communication
South and Southeast Asian Languages and Societies
spellingShingle Nation-building
language policy
Singapore
ethnic relations
politics
Asian Studies
Law and Society
Social Influence and Political Communication
South and Southeast Asian Languages and Societies
TAN, Eugene K. B.
The Multilingual State in Search of the Nation: The Language Discourse in Singapore’s Nation-Building
description Around the world, especially in Asia, languages are dying out from assimilation policies as well as from oppression of minorities. Even languages which hitherto had not been under threat now have to grapple with the realities of the dynamic and variable nature of language shifts. Language issues have also featured prominently in manifestations of ethnic conflict in Asia. In Singapore, there is no real fear of the languages of the three racial groups, viz Chinese (Mandarin), Malay, and Tamil, becoming extinct or obsolete. Rather, the feeling of the intellectual and cultural elites from the Chinese, Malay and Indian communities is that more could be done to promote their respective languages and cultures. What is clear is the pivotal role of language in Singapore's socio-economic development and nation-building. Arising from the language policies, there are ramifications for politics, economics, culture and education. Thus, national language policy will retain its saliency in many societies and language planning an integral part of maintaining ethnic stability in many multilingual societies. The link between language and identity has not had much analysis in scholarly discussion. Similarly, the role of language in nation-building in Singapore has not been examined in any significant way. This is not surprising as race has been the dominant prism in the study of ethnic relations in Singapore. Yet language is a proxy by which issues of race and culture are often discussed in Singapore. Indeed, language is construed as a less contentious context with which to deal with the tricky issues of ethnicity, broadly conceived. Language discourse is also less susceptible towards a class-based explanation of difference. This chapter examines the role of language in nation-building in multilingual Singapore. The first part discusses Singapore's language regime and an overview of language development in Singapore since its independence in 1965.
format text
author TAN, Eugene K. B.
author_facet TAN, Eugene K. B.
author_sort TAN, Eugene K. B.
title The Multilingual State in Search of the Nation: The Language Discourse in Singapore’s Nation-Building
title_short The Multilingual State in Search of the Nation: The Language Discourse in Singapore’s Nation-Building
title_full The Multilingual State in Search of the Nation: The Language Discourse in Singapore’s Nation-Building
title_fullStr The Multilingual State in Search of the Nation: The Language Discourse in Singapore’s Nation-Building
title_full_unstemmed The Multilingual State in Search of the Nation: The Language Discourse in Singapore’s Nation-Building
title_sort multilingual state in search of the nation: the language discourse in singapore’s nation-building
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2007
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/361
https://search.library.smu.edu.sg/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma996072402601&context=L&vid=65SMU_INST:SMU_NUI&lang=en&search_scope=Everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,Language,%20Nation%20and%20Development%20in%20Southeast%20Asia&offset=0
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