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| Singapore English | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Singapore |
| Region | Asia |
| Ethnicity | Singaporeans |
Native speakers | Approx. 4 million[1] (2020) |
Early forms | |
| Latin (English alphabet) Unified English Braille | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Singapore |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| IETF | en-SG |
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Singapore English (SgE, SE, en-SG) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Singapore. In Singapore, English is spoken in two main forms: Singaporean Standard English, which is indistinguishable grammatically from British English, and Singaporean Colloquial English, which is better known as Singlish.[2][3]
Singapore is a cosmopolitan society.[4] For example, in 2015, among Singaporeans of Chinese descent, over a third spoke English as their main language at home while almost half spoke Mandarin and the rest spoke various varieties of Chinese such as Hokkien.[5] Most Singaporeans of Indian descent speak either English or a South Asian language. Many Malay Singaporeans use Malay as the lingua franca among the ethnic groups of the Malay world, while Eurasians and mixed-race Singaporeans are usually monolingual in English.
English is the medium of communication among students from primary school to university in Singapore. Many families use two or three languages on a regular basis, and English is often one of them. The level of fluency in English among residents in Singapore also varies greatly from person to person, depending on their educational background, but English in general is nevertheless understood, spoken and written as the main language throughout the country.
- ^ "Census 2020" (PDF). Singapore Department of Statistics. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ Harada, Shinichi (2009). "The Roles of Singapore Standard English and Singlish" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
- ^ Leith, Dick (1997). Social History of English. p. 209.
In writing, the spellings color, program and check (cheque), the form gotten and vocabulary such as garbage and faucet (tap) ... the notion of a native Singaporean English has been separated from that of a Singaporean 'standard' of English.
- ^ "United Nations Population Division | Department of Economic and Social Affairs". Retrieved 13 February 2020.
- ^ "Chapter 3 Literacy and Home Language" (PDF). Statistics Singapore – General Household Survey 2015. Department of Statistics, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Republic of Singapore. 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2020.