Abstract
ABSTRACT: This paper explores the way a group of pre‐teens in Singapore use Malay, Chinese and English to perform identity. It is based on one case study of a Malay girl, Syafiqah, from a larger project called The Sociolinguistic Survey of Singapore 2006, and does not claim to be generalizable. The data are transcripts of recordings made on the speech patterns of Syafiqah in the domain of family and friends. Though Malay and Mandarin are out‐group languages in the language ideology of Singapore, we find that among this group of friends, the Malay and Chinese pre‐teens cross over into these languages to create solidarity between different ethnicities. They use Malay and Mandarin to perform and display identity. Patterns of exclusion in this group are based on personality and not ethnicity. Though a language of solidarity in Singapore's language ideology, these pre‐teens perceive Standard English as an exclusionary language of status and accept Singlish as the language of solidarity.
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