Singlish

Not to be confused with Singapore English or Simlish.

Singlish
Native to	Singapore
Region	Southeast Asia
Language family	Creole English creole Singlish
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	sing1272
IETF	cpe-SG

Exaggerated Singlish on an advertising board outside a café in Pulau Ubin

Singlish (a portmanteau of Singapore and English), formally known as Colloquial Singaporean English, is an English-based creole language originating in Singapore. Singlish arose out of a situation of prolonged language contact between speakers of different languages in Singapore, including English, Malay, Cantonese, Hokkien (especially the Singaporean Hokkien variety), Mandarin (especially Singaporean Mandarin), Teochew, and Tamil. Singlish is spoken alongside Standard Singapore English in a diglossic manner, and represents the colloquial register of English used between locals. As such, Singlish is sometimes not regarded as a separate language from English in Singapore, but rather, a sub-variety of it, forming a lectal continuum with the standard language. Despite this, it is still linguistically an independent creole language. The term Singlish was first recorded in the 1970s, and first appeared in newspapers and academic discourse in 1975. Singlish has similar roots and is highly mutually intelligible with the Manglish spoken in Peninsular Malaysia, although subtle differences do exist. Singlish vocabulary generally contains more words from Chinese languages, while Manglish vocabulary contains more Malay words.

Singlish shows consistent internal logic and grammatical complexity, and are learnt natively within a community; all languages have equal merit linguistically. However, it is sometimes perceived to be a "broken" form of the lexifier language, English, and is hence opposed by the Singaporean government. In 2000, the government launched the Speak Good English Movement in an attempt to discourage the use of Singlish, although more recent Speak Good English campaigns are conducted with acceptance of Singlish. Several Singaporean prime ministers, such as Lee Hsien Loong, have publicly spoken out against Singlish. From the 2010s, it received greater global interest and became more celebrated in Singapore.

In 2016, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) added 19 new "Singapore English" items such as hawker centre, shiok, and sabo to both its online and printed versions. Several Singlish words were previously included in the OED's online version, including lah and kiasu. Reactions were generally positive for such a recognition of Singaporean identity on a global level, and Singlish has been commonly associated with the country and is considered a unique aspect of Singaporean culture.

Creole continuum

Singlish and English in Singapore exist along a creole continuum, ranging from standard English with local pronunciation on one end, to the most colloquial registers of Singlish on the other.

1. Acrolectal: Acrolectal Singaporean English is very similar to Standard English as spoken in other English-speaking countries, with some differences in pronunciation. For example, DRESS and TRAP are often merged, so letter and latter have identical pronunciations. Singapore English is also prominently distinguished by an intonational system governed by pitch accent.
2. Mesolectal: An intermediate form between Standard English and basilectal Singlish. At this level, a number of grammatical features and syntax structures not found in standard English begin to emerge. For example, the use of topic-prominent syntax and discourse particles.
3. Basilectal: This is the most colloquial form of speech. All of the unique phonological, lexical, and grammatical features of Singlish are present at this level. Many of these features can be attributed to the influence of different Chinese varieties, Malay, and Indian languages such as Tamil, though some features appear to be innovations unique to Singlish. Both the basilect and mesolect are referred to as "Singlish". Basilectal speech is characteristic of older and less educated working-class Singaporeans, typically those who are less capable of speaking in standard English. Nowadays, basilectal speech is uncommon among the younger generation, and its prevalence continues to dwindle as English becomes more institutionalised in the country.
4. Pidgin: This represents the first stage of development of the Singlish language, before creolisation took place and solidified Singlish as a fully-formed creole. As with all pidgins, speakers of the pidgin form of Singlish speak another language as a first language and Singlish as a second language. However, since a substantial number of people today learn Singlish natively, the number of speakers at the pidgin level of Singlish is dwindling. This is because by definition, a pidgin is not learnt natively.

Since many Singaporeans can speak Standard English in addition to Singlish, code-switching can occur very frequently along the continuum. In addition, as many Singaporeans are also speakers of Chinese languages, Malay, or Indian languages such as Tamil and Malayalam, code-switching between English and other languages also occurs dynamically. Code-switching may extend to three languages—it is natural for some older Chinese Singaporeans to be able to switch between English, Mandarin and a southern Chinese language, like Hokkien, within the same conversation.

Example

The examples below demonstrate how English is spoken in Singapore at different levels of the creole continuum, with basilectal speech attributed to the less-educated, mesolectal speech attributed to the majority of the speakers, and acrolectal speech being very close to Standard British English.

Basilect Document long zong must check finish meh? Si beh leceh leh...

Mesolect All the document need to check meh? Damn inconvenient leh...

Acrolect ("Standard") Do we really need to review all the documents? It's such a hassle...

Origin and development

Singlish originated with the arrival of the British and the establishment of English language education in Singapore. Elements of English quickly filtered out of schools and onto the streets, resulting in the development of a pidgin language spoken by non-native speakers as a lingua franca used for communication between speakers of the many different languages used in Singapore. Singlish evolved mainly among the working classes who learned elements of English without formal schooling, mixing in elements of their native languages. After some time, this new pidgin language, now combined with substantial influences from Peranakan, southern varieties of Chinese, Malay, and Tamil, became the primary language of the streets. As Singlish grew in popularity, children began to acquire Singlish as their native language, a process known as creolisation. Through this process of creolisation, Singlish became a fully-formed, stabilised and independent creole language, acquiring a more robust vocabulary and more complex grammar, with fixed phonology, syntax, morphology, and syntactic embedding.

Usage in society

Singlish was initially regarded as a threat to Singapore. From the 2010s, it received greater global interest and became more celebrated and accepted in Singapore. An increasing majority of Singaporeans from surveys done in 2018 and 2024 regarded Singlish as a national identity and important part of culture, but Indians were the least likely to agree compared to the Chinese and Malays. In 2024, younger Singaporeans were most comfortable in using Singlish and most disapproving of policies that curb Singlish.

In 1974, Dick Lee's song, Fried Rice Paradise, was banned due to "improper use of English". In 1999, the sitcom Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd was singled out by prime minister Goh Chok Tong, warning against its use of Singlish and effects on society it could have. In response, the show toned down its use of Singlish. Lee Kuan Yew had also described Singlish as "a handicap we must not wish upon Singaporeans". In 2000, the Speak Good English Movement was launched, an annual campaign to encourage standard English and discourage Singlish.

The Speak Good English Movement adjusted their stance later to encourage those who only speak Singlish to also speak standard English and sought to differentiate Singlish and standard English. In 2015, the government made use of Singlish to promote SG50 National Day celebrations. In the 2020s, foreign artistes who hold concerts in Singapore, such as during Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, used some Singlish in their performances. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Phua Chu Kang's educational raps which used Singlish went viral and caught the attention of international media.

On television

The Infocomm Media Development Authority's free-to-air TV code states that the use of "ungrammatical" Singlish is only permitted in interviews, "where the interviewee speaks only Singlish," but the interviewer must refrain from using it. Despite this stance, the use of Singlish remains popular. On television, local sitcoms such as Under One Roof and Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd is described as one of "best-loved".

Code-switching

In informal settings, such as during conversation with friends, or transactions in kopitiams and shopping malls, Singlish is used without restriction. In a 2024 study, 71.1% of Singaporeans said that it was appropriate to use Singlish with friends. However, many Singaporeans hold a strong attitude against Singlish in formal settings.

In Singaporean schools, although Singlish is officially discouraged, there is often code-switching present in the classroom. This is inevitable given that Singlish is the home language of many students, and many teachers themselves are comfortable with the variety. In a 2024 study, 57.6% of Singaporeans said that it was inappropriate for teachers to use Singlish in class.

In many white-collar workplaces, Singlish is avoided in formal contexts, especially at job interviews, meetings with clients, presentations or meetings, where Standard English is preferred, due to clarity, accessibility and being understood internationally. In a 2024 study, 57.6% of Singaporeans said that it was inappropriate to use Singlish in e-mails, and 60.1% of Singaporeans said it was inappropriate for use in governmental speeches.

In literature and academics

Singapore humour writer Sylvia Toh Paik Choo was the first to publish books on Singlish in Eh Goondu! (1982) and Lagi Goondu! (1986). This was later followed by the publishing of a few other Singlish books including Coxford Singlish Dictionary (2002) by Colin Goh, The Three Little Pigs Lah (2013) by Casey Chen, and Spiaking Singlish: A companion to how Singaporeans Communicate (2017) by Gwee Li Sui. In 2024, a non-profit online dictionary known as the Chimbridge Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English was launched by Daniel Goh, which filled the gaps in existing works by including etymologies. According to Goh, it is the most comprehensive Singlish dictionary attempted.

In recent times, Singlish is considered by linguists to be an independent language with its own systematic grammar, being studied by at least seven universities internationally. Words such as lah and sinseh were included in the debut of Oxford English Dictionary (OED) in March 2000. In 2007, kiasu was added and was selected as the word of the day on February 11, 2015. In 2016, it added 19 new terms including ang moh, shiok and sabo in both its online and printed versions. In 2026, it added 11 more, including BTO, wayang and kaypoh.

Phonology

See also: Singapore English § Overview of Singaporean accents

Variation

Singlish pronunciation, while built on a base of British English, is heavily influenced by Malay, Hokkien and Cantonese. There are variations within Singlish, both geographically and ethnically. Chinese, Native Malays, Indians, Eurasians, and other ethnic groups in Singapore all have distinct accents, and the accentedness depends on factors such as formality of the context and language dominance of the speaker.

Consonants

The consonants in Singlish are given below:

	Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Post- alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		m				n						ŋ
Stop / Affricate	p	b			t	d	tʃ	dʒ			k	ɡ
Fricative	f	v	(θ	ð)	s	z	ʃ	ʒ					h
Approximant						l		r		j		w

• Pronunciation of ⟨th⟩: As onset consonants, the dental fricatives – /θ/ and /ð/ – often merge with /t/ and /d/, so three is pronounced like tree, and then like den. As coda consonants (i.e., at the end of syllables), they are fronted to /f/ and /v/ respectively, so north is pronounced like norf, and bathe like bave. The contrast is usually maintained in acrolectal speech, though even among educated speakers there is some variation.
• Aspiration: Onset /p/, /t/ and /k/ are sometimes unaspirated, especially among Malays. Aspiration is retained in loanwords from Chinese.
• L-vocalisation: Word-final or preconsonantal /l/, as in mail – realised as a dark l in Received Pronunciation and American English – is often so velarised in Singlish that it approaches a high back vowel, e.g. sale [seɤ̯ ~ seu̯]. The sound tends to be lost after the back vowels /ɔ, o, u/, and sometimes /ə/, which makes mall and more, wall and war, and Saul and saw homophones. This is not the case for some speakers with Tamil or Malay accents who may use clear or dark "l"s in these environments instead.
• Lack of syllabic consonants: Sequences like /ən/ or /əm/ are never syllabic consonants in Singlish, hence taken [ˈtekən], never *[ˈtekn̩].
• Glottal stop insertion: A glottal stop [ʔ] may be inserted at the beginning of words starting with a vowel, as in German. As a result, final consonants do not experience liaison, i.e. run onto the next word. For example, "ran out of eggs" is realised as [ɹɛn ʔau̯t ʔɔf ʔeks] for some speakers (compare General American [ɹɛən‿aʊɾ‿əv‿ɛɡz]), with glottal stops in lieu of null onsets. This contributes to what linguists have described as the 'staccato effect' of Singapore English.
• Glottal replacement: Though uncommon in modern speakers, a glottal stop [ʔ] may replace final stop consonants (except /p, b/), especially in fast-paced speech: Goodwood Park becomes Gu'-wu' Pa' [ˈɡuʔ ˈwuʔ ˈpaʔ], exist is realised as [ɛʔˈzist], and there may be a glottal stop at the end of words like back and out.
• Final-obstruent devoicing: Word-finally, the distinction between voiced and voiceless sounds, i.e. /s/ – /z/, /t/ – /d/, etc., is sometimes not maintained. As a result, cease = seize /sis/ and race = raise /res/ for some speakers.
• Cluster reduction: Final consonant clusters may simplify, especially in fast speech. In general, plosives, especially /t/ and /d/, are lost if they come after another consonant that is non-lateral, e.g. want = one /wan/, tact = tack /tɛk/. Additionally, /k/ may be deleted after /s/, e.g. flask /flas/.

Vowels

Broadly speaking, there is a one-to-many mapping of Singlish vowel phonemes to British Received Pronunciation vowel phonemes, with a few exceptions (as discussed below, with regard to egg and peg). The following describes a typical system. There is generally no distinction between the non-close front monophthongs, so pet and pat are pronounced the same /pɛt/.

At the acrolectal level, the merged vowel phonemes are distinguished to some extent. These speakers make a distinction between the tense vowels /i, u/ (FLEECE, GOOSE) and the lax vowels /ɪ, ʊ/ (KIT, FOOT) respectively. Some speakers introduce elements from American English, such as pre-consonantal [ɹ] (pronouncing the "r" in bird, port, etc.). This is caused by the popularity of American TV programming. Current estimates are that about 20 per cent of university undergraduates sometimes use this American-style pre-consonantal [ɹ] when reading a passage.

Vowel phonemes

	Front		Central		Back
	lax	tense	lax	tense	lax	tense
Close	(ɪ)	i			(ʊ)	u
Mid		e	ə			o
Open		ɛ		a		ɔ
Diphthongs	ai   au   ɔi   iə   uə

Vowel comparison between Singlish and English diaphonemic system:

Singlish phoneme	WP	as in
/i/	/iː/	meet
	/ɪ/	pit
/e/	/eɪ/	day
/e, ɛ/ – see below	/ɛ/	leg, set
/ɛ/	/ɛər/	hair
	/æ/	map
/a/	(trap-bath split)	pass
	/ɑː/	father
	/ɑːr/	car
/ə, a/	/ʌ/	just, bus
/ə/ – see below	/ɜːr/	bird
	/ə/	idea
	/ər/	better
/ɔ/	/ɒ/	mock
	/ɔː/	thought
	/ɔːr/	court
/o/	/oʊ/	low
/u/	/uː/	food
	/ʊ/	put
/ai/	/aɪ/	my
/a/	/aɪ/ (before /l/)	mile
/au/	/aʊ/	mouth
/ɔi/	/ɔɪ/	boy
/iə/	/ɪər/	here
/uə/	/ʊər/	tour
/ɔ/	/ʊər/ (after /j/)	cure
/ai.ə/	/aɪər/	fire
/au.ə/	/aʊər/	power

• Next–text split: For many speakers, some words, including leg and bed, have the raised vowel /e/, instead of /ɛ/. This is not entirely predictable, as egg has a close vowel (so it rhymes with vague) while peg has an open vowel (and rhymes with tag); and similarly for most speakers bed has a close vowel (so it rhymes with made), while fed has a more open vowel (the same vowel as in bad). The word next has the raised vowel and does not rhyme with text. Which vowel occurs in each word therefore appears in these cases not to be predictable. This is illustrated by the fact that red /red/ and read (past tense) /rɛd/ are not homophones in Singlish. This split only applies to the diaphoneme /ɛ/.
• /ai/ remains /ai/ in Singlish, except when followed by /l/, in which case it is the monophthong /a/.
• Examples of words that have idiosyncratic pronunciations: flour /fla/ (expected: /flau.ə/ = flower); and their /ðja ⁓ dja/ (expected: /ðɛ ⁓ dɛ/ = there). Flour/flower and their/there are therefore not homophones in Singlish.
• In general, Singlish vowels are tenser – there are no lax vowels (which RP has in pit, put, and so forth).
• The vowels in words such as day /de/ and low /lo/ are pronounced with less glide than the comparable diphthongs in RP, so they can be regarded as monophthongs – i.e. vowels with no glide.
• Where other varieties of English have an unstressed /ə/, i.e. a reduced vowel, Singlish tends to use the full vowel based on orthography. This can be seen in words such as accept /ɛksɛp/, example /ɛ(k)sampə(l), ɛ(k)zampə(l)/, purchase /pətʃes/, maintenance /mɛntenəns, mentenəns/, presentation /prizɛnteʃən/, and so on. However, this does not mean that the reduced vowel /ə/ never occurs, as about and again have /ə/ in their first syllable. It seems that the letter 'a' is often pronounced /ə/, but the letter 'o' usually has a full vowel quality, especially in the con- prefix (control, consider, etc.). There is a greater tendency to use a full vowel in a syllable which is closed off with a final consonant, so a full vowel is much more likely at the start of absorb /ɛbzɔb/ than afford /əfɔd/.
• In loanwords from Hokkien that contain nasal vowels, the nasalisation is often kept – one prominent example being the mood particle hor, pronounced [hõ˨].

Tone

Singlish is tonal, as words of Sinitic origin generally retain their original tones in Singlish, such as sentence-final discourse particles, the vast majority of which derive from Cantonese. On the other hand, although English, Malay and Tamil words are non-tonal in origin, tonogenesis has occurred. It has been claimed that the tones assigned to the bulk of English vocabulary, with noticeable word- and phrase-final prominence, derive from the prosody of Bazaar Malay, rather than from the explicitly tonal substrate languages of Sinitic origin. This has been cited as an example of Peranakan influence functioning as a founder effect within the linguistic ecology of the language's emergence.

Prosody

One of the most prominent and noticeable features of Singlish is its unique intonation pattern, which is quite unlike non-creole varieties of English. For example:

• Singlish is syllable-timed compared to most varieties of English, which are usually stress-timed. This in turn gives Singlish a rather staccato feel.
• In words with lexical stress, the syllable bearing the highest pitch within a prosodic word is normally the rightmost one, regardless of underlying stress. Words with no stress (e.g. the) and unstressed initial syllables (e.g. undo) have a low tone. Every other syllable, including stressed ones, is assigned a mid tone. For example, the word redundant [ɹi˨ˈdan˧.dənt˦], which has lexical stress on the second syllable, is pronounced with a low–mid–high pitch contour. In most compound words, e.g. watermelon [ˈwɔ˧.tə˦ˌmɛ˧.lən˦], tone assignment occurs individually in each constituent word (water and melon). These patterns are well-established in Singapore English and do not apply to loanwords from Chinese with lexical tone.
• There is a tendency to use a rise-fall tone to indicate special emphasis. A rise-fall tone can occur quite often on the final word of an utterance, for example on the word cycle in "I will try to go to the park to cycle" without carrying any of the suggestive meaning associated with a rise-fall tone in British English. In fact, a rise-fall tone may be found on as many as 21 per cent of declaratives, and this use of the tone can convey a sense of strong approval or disapproval.
• There is a lack of the de-accenting that is found in most dialects of English (e.g. British and American), so information that is repeated or predictable is still given full prominence.
• There is often an 'early booster' at the start of an utterance, so an utterance like "I think they are quite nice and interesting magazines" may have a very high pitch occurring on the word think.
• There may be greater movement over individual syllables in Singlish than in other varieties of English. This makes Singlish sound as if it has the tones of Chinese, especially when speakers sometimes maintain the original tones of words that are borrowed into Singlish from Chinese.

Overall, the differences between the different ethnic communities in Singapore are most evident in the patterns of intonation. For example, Malay Singaporeans often have the main pitch excursion later in an utterance, unlike ethnically Chinese and Indian Singaporeans.

Grammar

The grammar of Singlish has been heavily influenced by Malay and the Chinese languages. For example, the lack of verbal inflexions, the lack of articles and topic-prominence are grammatical features that Singlish, Malay and the Chinese languages share.

Topic prominence

Singlish is topic-prominent, like Chinese and Malay. This means that Singlish sentences often begin with a topic (or a known reference of the conversation), followed by a comment (or new information). This contrasts with Standard English, which is subject-prominent and thus the semantic relationship between topic and comment is not as important there. In Singlish, nouns, verbs, adverbs, and even entire subject-verb-object phrases can all serve as the topic.

• Christmas we don't celebrate because we are not Christians. – 'We don't celebrate Christmas because we are not Christians.'
• Which item can't remember. – 'I can't remember which item it was.'

The topic can be omitted when the subject is understood from the context. Utterances without a topic are a diagnostic feature of Singlish. Verb groups with null subjects are also referred to as pro-drop.

Topics can be categorised into three different kinds: "theme-proper" (TP), "diatheme" (DT) and "middle-theme" (MT).

"Theme-proper" topics carry information of a topic from an earlier clause. Omission of topics of this kind make up 90.76% of all omitted topics in Leong Ping's research. This is because they contribute the least to the development of the conversation. The omission of these topics is also known as a topic chain, which is also present in Chinese and Malay.

• What did you_TP do in your English classes_TP?
• ∅_TP Write compositions. – 'In my English classes, I wrote compositions.'

"Diatheme" topics carry information of a non-topic from an earlier clause. These are omitted infrequently as they are more important to communication.

• I mean um, it's not every day that I_TP can play with little children.
• Uh huh, but ∅_DT very tiring right? – 'Uh huh, but playing with little children is very tiring, right?'

"Middle-theme" topics carry information that may be recoverable from the context, but otherwise do not have relation to the established conversation. These are omissible only if there is a shared understanding, or if the situational context permits it, such as if the referents are present in the conversation.

• ∅_MT Got a meeting. ∅_TP Can't come. – 'He has a meeting. He cannot come.' (If he is a shared understanding)

Nouns

Nouns are optionally marked for plurality. Articles are also optional.

• He can play piano. – 'He can play the piano.'
• I like to read storybook. – 'I like to read storybooks.'
• Your computer got virus or not? – 'Does your computer have a virus?'
• This one ten cent only. – 'This one only costs ten cents.'

Many uncountable nouns, such as furniture and clothing, can be made countable.

• By feeling the cardboards, it can fold up to 600 cartons a day. – 'By feeling the cardboard, it can fold up to 600 cartons a day.'
• Why a salesman is now a client relations personnel. – 'Why a salesman is now a client relations person.'

Nouns after premodifiers that represent a quantitatively definite set, such as all, are more likely to be marked for plurality.

Inclusion of an unnecessary quantifier with countable nouns can also be found, such as on invoices.

• Twenty pieces of chairs. – 'Twenty chairs.'
• About 270 units of "lifestyle cars" were sold. – 'About 270 "lifestyle cars" were sold.'

Copula

The copula verb be tends to be omitted,but omission varies with education level; the less-educated omit be more often where it would be expected. It is a diagnostic feature of Singlish. The omission can be explained with topic prominence.

It is omitted the most before an adjective or adjective phrase. It is omitted the least before a preposition phrase expressing a location. These findings are consistent across education levels ranging from primary to tertiary education. This may be influenced by Chinese and Malay grammar.

• This coffee house ∅ very cheap.
• My brother ∅ in Australia.

Sometimes, an adverb such as very occurs, and this is reminiscent of Chinese usage of 很 (hěn) or 好 (hǎo):

• Dis house very nice.

It is also common for the present participle of the verb to be used without the copula:

• I still finding.
• How come you so late still playing music, ah?
• You looking for trouble, is it?

The zero copula is also found, although less frequently, as an equative between two nouns, or as a locative.

• Dat one his wife lah. – That lady is his wife.
• Dis boy the class monitor. – This boy is the class monitor.
• His house in Toa Payoh. – His house is in Toa Payoh.

In general, the zero copula is found more frequently after nouns and pronouns (except I, he, and she), and much less after a clause (what I think is...) or a demonstrative (this is...).

Tense–aspect–mood

Past tense

Past tense marking is optional in Singlish. Marking of the past tense occurs most often in irregular verbs, followed by verbs where the past tense suffix is pronounced /ɪd/, and least often in verbs that end in a /t/ or /d/. However, attributing the omission to a phonological or syntactic process is unclear. Only verbs that end in a /t/ or /d/ can be explained with consonant cluster simplification.

The past tense is most likely to be marked for punctual verbs that happen momentarily, such as jump or paint a picture. The past tense is least likely to be marked for non-punctual verbs, expressing iterative and durative actions, such as jump for five minutes or paints like Rivera.

Be is frequently marked for the past tense, and is used to set a scene of the discourse happening in the past. Once the time frame of the discourse is established with the past tense, subsequent verbs may not be marked for the past tense.

Habitual adverbs like sometimes and when also cause verbs to be unmarked for the past tense. This may be influenced by Chinese, as the Chinese perfective aspect marker 了 (le, Pe̍h-ōe-jī: liáu) is similarly unable to co-occur with a habitual verb.

Stative verbs such as be that remain true are more likely to be expressed with the present tense, but not as likely as punctual verbs.

• We went there to shop, and then we see a lot of things.

Habitual aspect

Will, influenced by Hokkien 欲 (beh) and Malay akan, expresses the habitual aspect. The regular event may be in the present or in the past. Would may also be used in place of will, but may additionally indicate some tentativeness and the irrealis mood.

• Last time, she will babysit for other people. – 'Last time, she babysat for other people.'
• I usually would study in school until the evenings. – 'I usually studied in school until the evening.'

Perfective and inchoative aspect

Instead of the past tense, the completion of an action or a change of state can be expressed by adding already or liao [ljau˩] to the end of the sentence, analogous to the Chinese 了 (le, Pe̍h-ōe-jī: liáu). This is not the same as the past tense, as it does not cover past habitual or continuous occurrences. Instead, already and liao are markers of perfective and inchoative aspect, and can refer to real or hypothetical events in the past, present or future.

The frequent use of already (pronounced more like "oreddy" and sometimes spelt that way) in Singlish is probably a direct influence of the Hokkien liao particle. For example:

• Aiyah, cannot wait any more, must go already. (Oh dear, I cannot wait any longer. I must leave immediately.)
• Ah Song kena sai already, then how? (Ah Song has gotten into trouble, what will you do (now)?)
• Your ice cream melt already. (Your ice cream is starting to melt / has melted.)

Some examples of the direct use of liao:

• He throw liao. (He has already thrown it away.)
• I eat liao. (I ate or I have eaten.)
• This new game, you play liao or not? (Have you played this new game yet?)

Realis mood

The realis mood is expressed with got, which is used to assert a fact; it allows expression of the past, the present, the definite future, a habit, a completion or an experiential.

• I got go Japan before. – 'I have been to Japan before.'
• I got go Japan next week. – 'I am going to Japan next week.'

The above sentence cannot be interpreted with the indefinite future, such as "I will go to Japan next week", since the speaker must be certain to make the assertion, for example, if a concrete plan was already decided in advance.

• These days, I got swim ten laps. – 'These days, I swim ten laps.'
• You got wash your hands? – 'Did you finish washing your hands?'
• You got ski? – 'Have you skiied before?'

Irrealis mood

The irrealis mood is expressed with would, which is used to state something that has not happened, and may or may not happen, expressing tentativeness and uncertainty. It is derived from the logical extension of would being more polite than will. While British English also uses would to express politeness and tentativeness, it is restricted to requests, and cannot be used for the irrealis mood.

• I feel that the knowledge would help. – 'I feel that the knowledge can possibly help.'
• It is strongly hoped that the reserved lanes would give priority to public buses. – 'It is strongly hoped that the reserved lanes will give priority to public buses.'

Would may also be used as a variant of will to express the habitual aspect.

Negation

Negation works in general like English, with not added after to be, to have, or modals, and don't before all other verbs. Contractions (can't, shouldn't) are used alongside their uncontracted forms. However, due to final cluster simplification, the -t or -nt may drop out from negative contractions.

• I do (/du/) want it.
• I don't (/do/) want it.

• I can (/kɛn/) eat it.
• I can't (/kan/) eat it.

Also, never is used as a negative past and perfective marker, and does not have to carry the English meaning. In this construction, the negated verb is never put into the past-tense form:

• How come today you never (=didn't) hand in homework?
• How come he never (=didn't) pay just now?

Interrogative

In addition to the usual way of forming yes–no questions such as the usage of inversion or a tag question, Singlish uses other constructions too.

The don't know construction is a specific construction of a question. It is always ended with or not and must be asked negatively. The subject must be definite if it appears before don't know, but there is no restriction if it appears after don't know. The subject may also be omitted, but only if it involves the speaker, such as I, we and nobody. Don't know may be replaced with similar phrases like not sure.

• The car he not sure can drive or not. – 'He is not sure if he can drive the car or not.'
• The laksa don't know nice or not. – 'I don't know if the laksa is nice or not.' or 'Nobody knows if the laksa is nice or not.'
• Don't know the laksa nice or not. – 'I don't know if the laksa is nice or not.' or 'Nobody knows if the laksa is nice or not.'
• Don't know a cat got scratch your car or not. – 'I don't know if a cat scratched your car or not.' or 'Nobody knows if a cat scratched your car or not.'

In a construction similar (but not identical) to Chinese A-not-A, or not is appended to the end of sentences to form yes/no questions. Or not cannot be used with sentences already in the negative:

• You want this book or not? – Do you want this book?
• Can or not? – Is this possible / permissible?

The phrase is it, appended to the end of sentences, forms yes–no questions. Is it implies that the speaker is simply confirming something they have already inferred:

• They never study, is it? (No wonder they failed!)
• You don't like that, is it? (No wonder you had that face!)
• Alamak, you guys never read newspaper is it? – "What? Haven't you guys ever read a newspaper?" (No wonder you aren't up to date!)

The phrase isn't it also occurs when the speaker thinks the hearer might disagree with the assertion.

There are also many discourse particles (such as hah, hor, meh, and ar) used in questions. They are discussed at § Discourse particles.

Inversion

The order of the verb and the subject in an indirect question is the same as a direct question.

• Do you know where is he? – 'Do you know where he is?'

Reduplication

Reduplication, also present in Chinese and Malay, is a productive morphological process involving repeating a word, possibly up to several times. Singlish exhibits verb triplication, which according to Ansaldo and Matthews is a rare phenomenon that does not appear in any other English varieties. Nouns are reduplicated for intimacy, verbs are reduplicated for attenuation, and adjectives or verbs demonstrating a property are reduplicated for intensification.

Verbs

Finite verbs can be repeated to show that it lasts for a short duration, or that something is done for a little bit, known as attenuation. This is also found in Chinese and Malay.

• The lion want to chase chase to catch him. – 'The lion wanted to chase a little bit to catch him.'
• When I see them, I just nod nod my head. – 'When I see them, I just nod my head a little.'

It may also express a tentative aspect of "just" doing something.

• They all play play only la. Disturb a bit ah. – 'They were all just playing. Poking a bit of fun.'

It may also suggest informality and casualness. This is also found in Chinese and Malay.

• I went there to see see look look. – 'I went there to take a look.'

It may also be used for dramatic effect. This is also found in Chinese, which uses reduplication to create a vivid effect.

• Then she came back from the market, carry the basket of vegetables and this purse put the hand here, walk walk walk up with the two children ... – 'Then she came back from the market, carrying the basket of vegetables and this purse with her hand here, walking up with the two children ...'

It may also show emphasis. This is also found in English, which uses reduplication chiefly to convey urgency, impatience or caution.

• Go go go! Don't hold up the queue. – 'Go! Don't hold up the queue.'

It may also show an iterative, habitual or continuing action. This is also found in Malay.

• Might as well I fax you the list, then you tick tick tick tick what you want. – 'I might as well fax you the list, and you tick repeatedly against what you want.'

Present participles may also be repeated to show an iterative or continuing action.

• When the Singtel was allocated, I think it was $3.60. Everybody was selling selling. Then the price keeps dropping dropping. So can't sell for my mother. – 'When the Singtel shares were allocated, I think it was $3.60. Everybody was constantly selling, so the price kept dropping. So, I couldn't sell them for my mother.'

Verb phrases may also be repeated to show the repetition of the action, and gives a heightened sense of intensity, urgency and drama.

• Sometime I call her, call her, call her—always not at home. – 'Sometimes, I call and call her, but she's always not at home.'
• You just want to fast and pray fast and pray until your prayer is answered. – 'You just want to keep fasting and praying until your prayer is answered.'

Nouns

Nouns referring to people or pets can be repeated for intimacy. This is also found in Chinese languages like Hokkien and Cantonese, involving mainly kinship terms.

• Where is your boy-boy? – 'Where is your son?'

• We buddy-buddy. You don't play me out, okay? – 'We're close friends. Don't play me out, okay?'

Names may also be repeated, indicating affection, but must be shortened to one syllable. It may refer to humans or pets.

• I'm looking for Ry-Ry. – 'I'm looking for Henry.'
• This is my dog, Su-Su. – 'This is my dog, Suzie.'

Nouns that are unlikely of affection are unable to reduplicate. For example, Monday, cow and water cannot reduplicate.

Nouns may also be repeated to suggest a numerous amount, creating an image of the spread of the item. It may also have overtones of disapproval and disgust.

• So heavy, all bottle bottle bottle, how to carry to Australia? – 'It's so heavy, it's all bottles, how are we going to carry these to Australia?'
• My father's diet is all meat meat meat meat meat. He died of a mild stroke. – 'My father's diet was all meat. He died of a mild stroke.'

Adjectives

Adjectives can be repeated for intensification. This is also found in Chinese and Malay.

• In Hawaii you can do a lot of shopping. In their duty free they have nice nice shirts. – 'In Hawaii, you can do a lot of shopping. In their duty-free shop, they have very nice shirts.'

Comparative adjectives that end in -er are able to reduplicate for intensification, but not superlative adjectives because they cannot be intensified any further. Comparative adjectives that require more such as more selfish cannot reduplicate as it consists of more than one word.

• That one! That greener-greener one. – 'That one! That greener one.'

Adverbs

According to Wee, adverbs do not accept reduplication, such as the adverb loudly, possibly due to the preference of using adjectives over adverbs in Singlish, comparing Singlish "don't laugh so loud" to Standard English "don't laugh so loudly".

However, according to Lian, adverbs can reduplicate for intensification, such as the adverb very, with a lengthened first syllable in very.

• I feel very very interesting la, when you see the clown. – 'I feel that it is very very interesting, when you see the clown.'

Passive voice

Kena

Kena can be used as an auxiliary to mark the passive voice.

It is derived from a Malay word that means "to encounter or to come into physical contact", and is only used with objects that have a negative effect or connotation. The lexical verb after kena may appear in the infinitive form or as a past participle. It is similar in meaning to passive markers in Chinese such as in Mandarin 被 (bèi).

• He kena scold/scolded. – 'He was scolded.'
• Dun listen, later you kena punish/punished then you know. – 'If you don't listen to me, you will be punished, after which you will know that you were wrong.'

Kena is not used with positive things; the subject must be adversarially affected:

• *He kena praised.
• *He kena jackpot.

When the context is given, kena may be used without a verb to mean 'get something bad'.

• Better do your homework, otherwise you kena. – 'You had better do your homework, otherwise you will get punished.'
• Don't listen to me, later you kena. – 'Don't listen to me, otherwise you may get something bad.'

Give

Give, at the basilectal level, functions as a marker of the adversarial passive voice, like kena. It is used less pervasively than kena. It originates from the grammaticalization of the passive construction in Chinese variants, such as Mandarin 被 (bèi), Hokkien 予 (hō͘), or Cantonese 畀 (bei2). Give is always used in its base form, while the lexical verb showing adversarial effect can be conjugated in the base form or past participle form. Unlike kena, use of give implies that the adversarial effect is caused by the patient directly or indirectly.

• John give his boss scold. – 'John was scolded by his boss.'

The patient of the adverse effect, which must be animate, is followed by the verb give, then the agent, and finally the verb. Omission of the agent, such as his boss in the above example, is ungrammatical.

Reflexive pronouns

Ownself, possibly derived from a Chinese variety of 自己 (zì jǐ), is similar to reflexive pronouns such as himself or herself, but only as a manner adverbial similar to the clause-final expression by himself, and not as a reflexive marker nor an emphatic marker. Ownself does not have any additional contrastive or emphatic reading.

• Ownself open the door! – 'Open the door by yourself!'

In the above sentence, ownself cannot be replaced with yourself.

• You ownself open the door! – 'Open the door by yourself!'

In the above sentence, ownself is the manner adverbial, but by replacing it with yourself, it becomes an emphatic marker.

Other reflexive pronouns such as himself or herself may also adapt the manner adverbial form without by, but only if it follows a transitive verb.

• He carry the bag himself. – 'He carried the bag by himself.'

Sentences with intransitive verbs such as "*He cry himself" are unacceptable because of blocking; without a by, the reflexive pronoun occupies an ungrammatical direct object position.

Discourse particles

Discourse particles, also known as pragmatic particles, are minimal lexemes that occur at the end of a sentence or clause with a syntactic or pragmatic role. They do not carry referential meaning, but may relate to linguistic modality, register or other pragmatic effects. They may be used to indicate how the speaker thinks that the content of the sentence relates to the participants' common knowledge or change the emotional character of the sentence.

Discourse particles are a distinctive feature and characteristic of Singlish, with lah suggested to be the most famous word, as well as a cultural and national identity. Ah and lah are the most common particles, accounting for 94% of the particles in a speech corpus in Smakman and Wagenaar's research.

The earliest particles, lah, ah, and what, were acquired from Hokkien and Bazaar Malay, while a later set of particles, lor, hor, leh, meh and mah, mostly from Cantonese, were imported with tones intact. Lah, ah and what appear consistently across all registers of Singlish.

Particles keep their tones regardless of the remainder of the sentence.

The use of multiple discourse particles, termed particle stacks or particle complexes, are primarily found in pairs with a declarative particle followed by an interrogative particle. Declarative particles are used for assertions and include lah, leh, lor, and meh. Interrogative particles are used for backchanneling and include ah, ha, eh, and hor. Such declarative-interrogative particle pairs in this order are consistent cross-linguistically with German, Cantonese and Japanese.

Ah

Ah, also spelled a, from the combination of Hokkien 啊 (a) and Bazaar Malay ahcode: msa promoted to code: ms , is highly prominent in Singlish, appearing in 49% of the particles in a speech corpus in Smakman and Wagenaar's research.

Ah can be used for backchanneling, by copying the other party's statement and adding an ah behind. This indicates attentiveness and confirmation.

• A: The red one.
• B: The red one ah? – 'The red one, is that right?'
• A: Yes.

Similarly, it may be used to solicit agreement or a response. Usage in this sense is similar to hor pragmatically.

• Mummy, I go hospital ah. – 'Mummy, I'm going to the hospital, okay?'

It may be used to declaratively hedge a statement and can be compared to the tag question you know or isn't it. It is sometimes used when speakers are unsettled.

• I feel sad for them ah. – 'I feel sad for them, you know.'

It may also express confidence in one's statement.

• For two hundred dollars, go cruise, just a swab test, a bit of pain, can ah. – 'For two hundred dollars, you go on a cruise; it's just a swab test—there's a bit of pain and that's okay.'

It may be used imperatively.

• Young people, help your uncle and auntie ah! – 'Young people, help your uncle and auntie, okay?'

It may be used vocatively, to directly address a noun, such as a person or a title.

• The army machine ah, he also come to recycle. – 'He also came to recycle at the army's recycling machine.'
• Mummy ah, can help me? – 'Mummy, can you help me?'

It may be used interrogatively, spoken with a low tone. It occurs with questions that insist on a reply, pressuring the listener and hence may appear to be aggressive and confrontational, but it may also be used in a friendly manner.

• What do couples normally do? You know ah? – 'What do couples normally do? You know it?'
• That is a problem ah? – 'Is that a problem?'

Ah may also be used sentence-medially, either after the topic in a topic-prominent sentence, or after a full clause similar to a comma.

• The locals ah, advised us to go there. – 'The locals, you know, advised us to go there.'
• It's not advisable to plunge in ah, but if you were to... – 'It's not advisable to plunge in, you know, but if you were to...'

Bah

Bah, from Mandarin 吧 / 罷 / 罢 (ba), is a newer addition to Singlish, compared to other particles like lah or wat which are documented since the 1970s, due to a shift towards Mandarin in usage compared to other Chinese varieties like Hokkien and Cantonese. It is used to show unsureness or tentativeness.

• Me and this gal are quite on good terms bah. – 'Me an this gal are on quite good terms, I guess.'

Can

Can is a flexible and pervasive word that can be used as a discourse particle, stand-alone response as well as a verb without a subject and an object.

Can as a discourse particle expresses a firm stance and a desire of approval through assertion.

• Find me at 3 o' clock can? – 'Can you find me at 3 o' clock?'

The stand-alone response, can, showing approval, may be used to replace the common response yes. Cannot or can't on the other hand, shows disapproval and replaces the common response no. It may be combined with a discourse particle, such as lah, liao or lor to convey the nuance of the stance taken.

• Can you give that to me?
  • Can. – 'Yes.'
  • Cannot. – 'No.'

It is also used as a tag question; can may be added to the end to ask for verification. It may also be replaced by can anot, from the phrase can or not, which is used exclusively for permission, obligation and capability.

• Tomorrow meet can anot? – 'Can we meet tomorrow or not?'
• Eat chicken rice can? – 'Can we eat chicken rice?'

It can also be used as a non-auxiliary verb, with the subject and object both omissible.

• My schedule is packed, but Monday can. – 'My schedule is packed, but Monday is okay.'
• Why can't? It should be easy. – 'Why can't you? It should be easy.'

Dei

Dei, also spelled dey, from a clipping of Malay adik 'brother' or Tamil டேய் (ṭēy) 'hey', is used sentence-finally as a form of familiar address and for exclamation. It may be combined with lah, forming lah dei, to show obviousness. Dei is associated with Indian masculinity; non-Indian speakers feel that dey is racial appropriation and hesitate to use dei.

• Bro, water parade finish dei. – 'Bro, the water parade is already done!'
• Driving lah dei. – 'I'm clearly driving.'

It may also be used sentence initially as a term of address, sometimes as an exclamation. Chinese speakers are less inclined to use dei this way than sentence-finally, possibly due to substrate influence from Chinese and to compensate for the foreignness associated with dei.

• Dei, you high ah? – 'Bro, are you high?'

Hah

Hah is used to mark a question, which may come after a wh-interrogative or a declarative.

• Who shall I invite for the BBQ hah? – 'Who shall I invite for the BBQ?'
• Sorry I am late. You have eaten lunch hah? – 'Sorry, I am late. Have you eaten lunch?'

It may not appear with auxiliary fronted interrogatives, such as "*Is he going hah?".

It may be used alone to ask for an earlier utterance to be repeated.

Hor

Hor, from Hokkien 乎 (hōⁿ) and Cantonese 嗬 (ho2), is used to mark a proposition as easily recallable and accessible information. It may be used in a rising tone or a falling tone with distinct meanings.

The rising tone creates a check on whether the proposition is readily accessible information, and may be used to solicit agreement, or stand-alone to solicit agreement for a previous statement after silence. Usage in this sense is similar to ah pragmatically. It can only follow a declarative form and not a wh-interrogative or polar interrogative where the auxiliary is fronted, for example, "*Where's the box hor?" is unacceptable.

• This shopping centre very nice hor? – 'This shopping centre is very nice, isn't it?'
• This shopping centre very nice... (extended silence) Hor? – 'This shopping centre is very nice... right?'

It may also be used to indicate assumption of agreement if no objection is given, but still expects the listener to respond with an agreement.

• If you have no problems with Tuesday hor, then I will reschedule my tuition session. – 'If you have no problems with Tuesday, yeah, then I will reschedule my tuition session.'

It may also be used mid-sentence like a filler after a topic.

• Then hor, another person came out of the house. – 'Then, yeah, another person came out of the house.'

The falling tone is used to create a reminder, which may or may not be negative, since hor indicates an instruction to keep the proposition accessible.

• Don't call him a little monster hor. – 'Don't call him a little monster, okay.'
• Give me $20 later hor. – 'Remember to give me $20 later.'

The above sentence is not acceptable with now in place of later since it would no longer be a reminder.

According to Lee, ya hor, an expression of agreement, and orh hor, an expression of accusation, are considered expressions that do not compositionally involve the discourse particle hor, evidenced by how ya hor cannot be replaced with *yes hor.

Know

Know, from English you know, is used to remind or inform the listener about the importance and consequence of the statement. It cannot appear with other discourse particles, and can only be used clause-finally.

• The bus is late, know. – 'The bus is late, you know?'

Lah

Lah, also spelled la, from the combination of Hokkien 啦 (la), Bazaar Malay or Malay lahcode: msa promoted to code: ms , and Cantonese 啦 (laa1), is recognised as stereotypical of English spoken in Singapore and Malaysia by both native speakers and non-speakers; usage is important to partake in their speech communities. It is seen as a national and cultural identity. It is also the most researched particle as of 2003, focusing on its use to show solidarity and its pragmatic functions.

It is highly prominent in Singlish, appearing in 44% of the particles in a speech corpus in Smakman and Wagenaar's research.

Besemeres and Wierzbicka summarise the use of lah as "I think that you can know what I want to say"; lah expects the listener to be able to understand and is always addressed to a person. This accounts for the range of meanings lah can have, such as: rapport, persuasion, impatience, obviousness, emphasis, friendliness and uncertainty. It also accounts for how lah imparts a sense of completeness after a sequence of narration.

Hence, rhetorical questions accept lah, but factual questions do not.

• What to do lah! – 'Oh, whatever I shall do!'
• What for lah! – 'Oh, what for!'
• *What are you doing lah?
• *Where you want me to put this lah?

It directs the attention to the mood of the speaker. It also softens the force of an utterance and expresses solidarity. Hence, it occurs frequently with expressions of agreement like okay lah.

• What do you want to talk about?
• Anything under the sun lah. – 'Anything under the sun.'

The use of lah with a longer duration changes its meaning to signal power, coldness and increased social distance. The short lah, which lasts around 300 milliseconds, also described as "unstressed" or "contracted" by Kwan-Terry, differs only in duration with the long lah, which lasts around 700 milliseconds; they are both pronounced at the same frequency with the same tone.

• You stupid lah. (pronounced short) – 'You're stupid, haha.'
• You stupid lah. (pronounced long) – 'You're stupid, I mean it.'

It may be used to emphasise the clause that occurs before it. It may be used sentence-finally, after a non-verb phrase, or between the first auxiliary verb and a second auxiliary verb in a verb phrase.

• The dog ate the food lah. – 'The dog really ate the food.'
• The dog lah ate the food. – 'It really was the dog that ate the food'.
• He must lah have been cooking. – 'It really must be that he has been cooking.'

The meaning of lah primarily depends on its pitch height (high, mid, low) and pitch contour (falling, rising, rise-fall and fall-rise). It secondarily depends on its duration (short, long). It tertiarily depends on stress, which can occur independently of the previously mentioned characteristics.

A low falling lah with short duration or a stressed high rise-fall lah of short duration is used to express authority. A high lah with a rise-fall, rising, or falling pitch contour of a long duration is used to express irritation.

Leh

Leh, also spelled lei and le, from Cantonese 哩 (le1), is used mostly by Chinese speakers only. It has an element of 'what about?'.

It indicates new information to the listener and is used to disagree with a suggestion, or to forestall a possible disagreement.

• You can walk her there, very far leh. – 'You can walk her there, it's too far and I disagree with you.'
• Forty dollars only leh. – 'It's only forty dollars, if you don't think it's cheap, I do.'

It is also used with questions that make a comparison.

• My parents very old fashion ah? Then your parents leh? – 'Are you saying that my parents are old-fashioned? Then what about your parents?'

It can be used to soften a disagreement, question, opinion, or protest.

• Technically wrong leh. – 'It's technically kind of wrong...'
• How come you don't give me leh? – 'Why aren't you giving it to me?'
• Very bad leh, make him buy. – 'It's kind of bad that we're making him buy it...'
• I cannot take it. Tired leh. – 'I cannot take it. I'm kind of tired.'

It can be used to make a tentative reminder.

• There's still your mushroom potage leh. – 'There's still your mushroom potage, yeah?'

It can be used to show helplessness and uncertainty, signalling that nothing can be done or said about the situation.

• A: Confirm going already ah? – 'Is it confirmed that you're already going?'
• B: Don't know leh... – 'I don't know...'

It can be used to ask for support and agreement.

• I asked my brother to bring it for me. It should be okay... it's better than me going home and taking it leh. – '...it's better than me going home and taking it, don't you agree?'

Especially when on a low tone, it can be used to show the speaker's disapproval:

• You call her walk there, very far leh. – 'If you ask her to go there on foot, it will be a rather long distance.'

Lor

Lor, also spelled loh or lo, from Cantonese 囖 or 咯 (lo1), indicates obviousness or resignation, or dismissiveness, in which nothing can be done about a situation; one has to accept the situation or its consequences.

• Dun have work to do, den go home lor. – 'If you're done working, obviously you should go home.'
• Kay lor, you go and do what you want. – 'Fine, go ahead and do what you want.'

According to Wee, lor was initially used only to indicate obviousness, but through grammaticalization and appealing to metonymy, it gained an additional sense to indicate resignation, due to a pragmatic change to express subjectivity with the speaker's beliefs.

Mah

Mah, also spelled ma, from Cantonese 嘛 (maa3), is used to assert that something is obvious.

• This one also can work one mah! – 'This one also can work one, obviously.'
• He also know about it mah! – 'He also knew about it, clearly.'

According to Gupta, it "appears to be no difference" with the discourse particle wat; both express obviousness, but Wee writes that mah shows obviousness without any contradiction unlike wat. Use of mah is indicative of a Chinese background, unlike wat, which is not indicative of ethnicity or education.

Meh

Meh, also spelled mei and me, from Cantonese 咩 (me1), is pronounced with a high level tone. Meh is only used after a declarative sentence or a sentence fragment, expecting a yes or no answer. It is used to form questions expressing surprise or skepticism, questioning a presupposition.

• You don't know meh? – 'You don't know? I thought you would've known.'
• You not asleep meh? – 'Shouldn't you have been asleep? I thought you would've been sleeping.'

It may also be used sarcastically, forming a rhetorical question, in a way that questions their presupposition.

• If I say I don't like, you will stop meh? – 'If I say I don't like you, do you really think you will stop?'

It is also used to signal surprise when a presupposition is contradicted.

• A: It's $40.
• B: Not $109 meh? – 'It's not $109?'
• A: Got discount. – 'There's a discount.'

It is more common with the Chinese compared to Malays and Indians.

Nia

Nia, from Hokkien 爾 or 尔 (niā), means 'only'. It may also be perceived as being dismissive. While the original Hokkien word is used as an adverb, it underwent grammaticalization, turning into a clause-final discourse particle.

• I not so old lah, I 18 nia. – 'I am not so old, I am only 18.'

Nia may also be used for intensification when it follows an adjective.

• Should still have lah, now so early nia. – 'They should still have it, it's still so early now.'

One

One, from Cantonese 嘅 (ge3), Hokkien 個 or 个 (ê), or Mandarin 的 (de), alongside English one, is suggested to be a common and culturally significant word by Wong, demonstrating the direct attitude the society has.

It is used with declarative sentences to express confidence and definitiveness, as well as for giving advice.

• This one got milk one. – 'This one has milk.'
• You must always have a back-up copy one. – 'You must always have a back-up copy.'

Additionally, it may be used to form a question, which makes a request for a definitive answer.

• The real game no time one, right? – 'The real game has no time limit, right?'

Finally, it can be used emphatically, which may make the sentence sound over-exaggerated. It may be glossed in English as "I'm thinking about this; I can't not think about it like this; You have to think about this the same way".

• Last night I lost $40. Always $40 one, you know. – 'Last night, I lost $40. It's always $40, you know.'

As such, it appears often with words of confidence such as definitely and overstatements like always, but is unacceptable with epistemic words such as maybe and understatements like nowadays. Wong suggests that this reflects the Singaporean culture of being overtly confident and willing to impose opinions on others, in contrast to the Anglo culture of acknowledging different perspectives and understating things with epistemic words.

It also functions as a pronoun; it substitutes a noun and can be made explicit through a substitution.

• Buy the packet type. Don't buy the box box one. – 'Buy the packet type. Don't buy the boxy type.'

It also functions as a nominalizer which appears at the final direct object position of a clause, turning it into a noun phrase.

• She buy one got more features than yours. – 'The one she bought has more features than yours'.

It might also be analysed as a relative pronoun occurring at the end of the relative clause instead of between the head and dependent clause.

• The man sell ice cream one gone home already. – 'The man who sells ice cream has gone home already.'

Sia

Sia, also spelled siah, from the Malay vulgar word sial, is used to express emphasis. It establishes an in-group relationship and a deeper level of intimacy in an interaction.

• I lazy sia. – 'I am lazy.'

In Malay, it often appears as sial ah at the start of utterances. According to Khoo, this may have been rebracketed as sia lah since lah is a common discourse particle, giving rise to sia.

The Malay vulgar word sial functions like damn in English and has the nuance of misfortune; Singaporean Malay speakers tend to classify people who use sial as uneducated men of lower socio-economic class. As such, women and older people are less likely to use sia. In particular, Malay women strongly avoid using sia, while the younger population strongly continue to use sia. Many Chinese and Indian Singaporeans do not know the origin of sia, allowing them to more easily use sia, even though they have feelings that it is a newer, coarser and more masculine word.

Wat

Wat, also spelled what, possibly calqued from Hokkien 嘛 (ma) or Cantonese 嘛 (maa3), is said with a low tone, which is a step lower than the pitch of the previous syllable.

It is used to remind or contradict the listener, and is used to override any possible disagreement. It is primarily used for four functions: objection, discontent, agreement elicitation, and opinion mitigation.

• But he very good at Maths wat. – 'But he is very good at mathematics.'
• You never give me wat! – 'You didn't give it to me!'
• Quite a nice place wat, no? – 'It's quite a nice place, don't I know it, no?'
• The quality not bad wat. – 'I think the quality is not bad.'

According to Gupta, it "appears to be no difference" with the discourse particle mah; both express obviousness, but Wee writes that wat shows obviousness with contradiction unlike mah. Use of wat is not indicative of ethnicity or education, unlike mah, which is indicative of a Chinese background.

Wor

Wor, from Cantonese 喎 (wo3), is used to report hearsay and give a reminder.

• Got cocktails wor. – 'I heard there are cocktails.'
• Your shirt still with me wor. – 'Remember, your shirt is still with me.'

It can also show surprise and realisation.

• This new song not bad wor. – 'This new song is surprisingly not bad.'

It can also express irony and sarcasm.

• Wow, playing mahjong? Taitai wor. – 'Wow, playing mahjong? You're such a retired lady.'

Ya

Ya, also spelled yah, is a relatively new discourse particle, and is comparable with yeah in British English. Use of a sentence-final ya is distinct from the affirmative ya or yes. It is more likely to be used by young women as a politeness strategy.

It is used to mark a statement one deems to be relatively uncontroversial, which cannot be used if the statement's truth is challenged.

• Most people don't know much about psychology, ya. – 'Most people don't know much about psychology.'

It may also be used to ask a question, but only if it is used to end an enumeration of examples one deems to be relatively uncontroversial.

• I want to ask you about the teachers in the schools, do they bring the children on trips, visits to museums, temples or other cultural activities, ya. – 'I want to ask you about ... cultural activities, this sounds right, doesn't it?'

Vocabulary

Many signs in Singapore include all four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. In some cases, English takes prominence as the main language.

Main article: Singlish vocabulary

Much of Singlish vocabulary is derived from British English, in addition to loanwords from Malay, Hokkien, Mandarin, Cantonese and Tamil. Malay and Hokkien contributed the most loanwords to Singlish. Of the Chinese varieties, Mandarin is a newer influence on Singlish, while Hokkien and Cantonese have had a longer history and had greater influence. It also shares some words with American English such as Scotch tape, compared to British English Sellotape.

Examples of loanwords in Singlish from various languages

Language	Etymon	Singlish	Definition in Singlish	Ref.
Malay	makan	makan	to eat
Hokkien	惊输 (kiaⁿ-su)	kiasu	fear or dislike of losing to others
Mandarin	加油 (jiā yóu)	jiayou	"all the best!", "work hard!"
Cantonese	长气 (coeng4 hei3)	cheong hei	long-winded
Tamil	குண்டு (kuṇṭu)	goondu	a fool; a simpleton

An instance of a borrowing is kiasu, from Hokkien 惊输 / 驚輸 (kiaⁿ-su), meaning 'afraid of losing out'. It is used to attributed to mindsets like not wanting to forgo a free benefit and not wanting to fall behind peers in academics, and may be compared to the fear of missing out.

In some cases, words of English origin take on the meaning of their Chinese counterparts, resulting in a shift in meaning. For example, send can be used to mean 'accompany someone', as in "Let me send you to the airport", possibly under the influence of Hokkien 送 (sàng) or Cantonese 送 (sung3).

The lexis of Singlish is very similar to Manglish, although there are some differences in the frequency of usage. Manglish receives more influence from Malay, such as the greater use of the suffix -kan to gain clarification, while Singlish receives more influence from Chinese languages, such as the greater use of Cantonese lor to express obviousness and resignation.

See also

• List of Singapore abbreviations
• Sound correspondences between English accents
• Kristang language, a Portuguese-based creole in Singapore

Further reading

• Brown, Adam (1999). Singapore English in a Nutshell: An Alphabetical Description of its Features. Singapore: Federal Publications. ISBN 981-01-2435-X.
• Crewe, William (ed. 1977) The English Language in Singapore. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press.
• Deterding, David (2007). Singapore English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-2545-1.
• Deterding, David, Brown, Adam and Low Ee Ling (eds. 2005) English in Singapore: Phonetic Research on a Corpus. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Education (Asia). ISBN 0-07-124727-0.
• Deterding, David, Low Ee Ling and Brown, Adam (eds. 2003) English in Singapore: Research on Grammar. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Education (Asia). ISBN 0-07-123103-X.
• Deterding, David and Hvitfeldt, Robert (1994) 'The Features of Singapore English Pronunciation: Implications for Teachers', Teaching and Learning, 15 (1), 98–107. (on-line version)
• Deterding, David and Poedjosoedarmo, Gloria (2001) The Grammar of English: Morphology and Syntax for English Teachers in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Prentice Hall. (Chapter 19: Singapore English). ISBN 0-13-093009-1.
• Foley, Joseph (ed. 1988) New Englishes: the Case of Singapore, Singapore: Singapore University Press.
• Foley, J. A., T. Kandiah, Bao Zhiming, A.F. Gupta, L. Alsagoff, Ho Chee Lick, L. Wee, I. S. Talib and W. Bokhorst-Heng (eds. 1998) English in New Cultural Contexts: Reflections from Singapore. Singapore: Singapore Institute of Management/Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-588415-9.
• Gopinathan, S., Pakir, Anne, Ho Wah Kam and Saravanan, Vanithamani (eds. 1998) Language, Society and Education in Singapore (2nd edition), Singapore: Times Academic Press.
• Gupta, Anthea Fraser (1992) 'Contact features of Singapore Colloquial English'. In Kingsley Bolton and Helen Kwok (eds.) Sociolinguistics Today: International Perspectives, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 323–45.
• Gupta, Anthea Fraser (1994). The Step-Tongue: Children's English in Singapore. Clevedon, UK: Multimedia Matters. ISBN 1-85359-229-3.
• Ho, Mian Lian and Platt, John Talbot (1993). Dynamics of a contact continuum: Singapore English. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-824828-8.
• Lim, Lisa (ed. 2004). Singapore English: a grammatical description. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins. ISBN 1-58811-576-3.
• Low, Ee Ling and Brown, Adam (2005) English in Singapore: An Introduction. Singapore: McGraw-Hill.
• Melcher, A. (2003). Unlearning Singlish: 400 Singlish-isms to avoid. Singapore: Andrew Melcher Pte. Ltd. ISBN 981-04-8952-8
• Newbrook, Mark (1987). Aspects of the syntax of educated Singaporean English: attitudes, beliefs, and usage. Frankfurt am Main; New York: P. Lang. ISBN 3-8204-9886-9.
• Ooi, Vincent B. Y. (ed. 2001) Evolving Identities: the English Language in Singapore. Singapore: Times Academic. ISBN 981-210-156-X.
• Pakir, Anne (1991). "The range and depth of English-knowing bilinguals in Singapore". World Englishes, 10(2), 167–179.
• Platt, John Talbot and Weber, Heidi (1980). English in Singapore: status, features, functions. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-580438-4.
• Shelley, R., Beng, K.-S., & Takut bin Salah. (2000). Sounds and sins of Singlish, and other nonsense. Kuala Lumpur: Times Books International. ISBN 981-204-392-6
• Tongue, R. K. (1979) The English of Singapore and Malaysia (2nd edition). Singapore: Eastern Universities Press.
• VJ Times Editorial Team. (2000). Singlish to English: basic grammar guide. Singapore: VJ Times. ISBN 981-221-161-6
• Wee, Lionel (2004) 'Singapore English: Phonology'. In Edgar W. Schneider, Kate Burridge, Bernd Kortmann, Rajend Mesthrie and Clive Upton (eds.) A Handbook of Varieties of English. Volume 1: Phonology, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 1017–33.
• Wee, Lionel (2004) 'Singapore English: morphology and syntax'. In Bernd Kortmann, Kate Burridge, Rajend Mesthrie, Edgar W. Schneider and Clive Upton (eds.) A Handbook of Varieties of English. Volume 2: Morphology and Syntax, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 1058–72.
• Wong, J. O. (2001). The natural semantic metalanguage approach to the universal syntax of the Singlish existential primitive. CAS research paper series, no. 30. Singapore: Centre for Advanced Studies, National University of Singapore. ISBN 981-04-3817-6

External links

• The Chimbridge Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English
• The Coxford Singlish Dictionary @ Talkingcock.com
• A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English
• Singlish Books to Get Intimate with Locals
• 'Hover & Hear' pronunciations in a Standard Singapore English accent, and compare side by side with other English accents from around the World.
• An Annotated Bibliography of Works on Singapore English
• The NIE Corpus of Spoken Singapore English
• The Lim Siew Lwee Corpus of Informal Singapore Speech