Dr Lisa Lim, Associate Professor in the School of English, congratulates
Singaporean politicians for embracing multilingualism and diversity as part of
their culture five decades after independence in her fortnightly Post Magazine
column: Language Matters.
“Early policies, initiated by Lee Kuan Yew, took a hard line:
supporting ‘standard’, official languages and suppressing all others. From
1979, the annual Speak Mandarin Campaign promoted the use of Singapore’s
official Chinese language and discouraged all other Chinese varieties. This led
to a significant shift in Chinese households from mother tongues such as
Hokkien and Teochew, to Mandarin. Similarly, from 2000, the Speak Good English
Movement discouraged the burgeoning use of Singapore English.
Fast-forward to 2015 and a more compromising, inclusive
attitude prevails. The lead-up to Singapore’s 50th National Day, and Lee’s
death earlier that year, prompted a rise in sentimentality and attention to
heritage – including a sea change in official attitudes towards non-official
languages.”
Please click on the following link for the complete article:
http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/2002360/singapore-embraces-multilingualism-five-decades-after
http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/2002360/singapore-embraces-multilingualism-five-decades-after
Source: SCMP
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