Intra-Language Discrimination and Linguistic Human Rights: The Case of Singlish

Abstract

Although studies involving linguistic human rights (LHRs) have focused at length on cases of inter-language discrimination, much less attention has been given to intra-language discrimination (Blommaert 2001a; Skutnabb-Kangas et al. 2001). This paper highlights a number of theoretical issues that the LHRs framework needs to deal with once intra-language discrimination is seriously considered. It does this by analysing the case of English in Singapore, and in particular, debates surrounding the colloquial variety of Singapore English (known as Singlish). Supporters of Singlish are concerned with negotiating a space for the variety, especially in response to the Singapore government's Speak Good English Movement, which seems intent on eliminating Singlish. The implications of the Singlish case raise some very fundamental questions about LHRs, such as whether LHRs can be coherently attributed to groups (rather than just individuals), and whether LHRs can, in fact, be waived. The latter part of the paper considers these questions by drawing upon the work of scholars who have approached the issue of human rights from a more philosophical perspective (Donnelly 1989; Nickel 1987).