Language policy ambivalence

Abstract

This article focuses on historicising Singaporean English/Singlish and tracing its genealogy as a demotic language to understand the changing relationship between Singlish and the Singaporean state. It takes as an entry point a recent infomercial-style music video featuring the well-known fictive Singlish-speaking character Phua Chu Kang that was released by the Singaporean government in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. It encouraged residents to get vaccinated for their own protection and was widely circulated across mainstream news media as well as other platforms. Mining the character of Phua Chu Kang, previously fiercely criticised by the government for speaking Singlish, the article historicises Singlish and its shifting place in Singapore’s cultural politics and language policy. It demonstrates how the language has shifted from a previous position as a state antagonist to a demotic language now actively mobilised by the state. In so doing, it updates extant understandings of Singlish in relation to language policy and culture in Singapore where antagonism has given way to a relationship of ambivalence with the state. More broadly, it also highlights the instrumental value of mobilising a demotic language for its persuasive potential within speech communities that have an affinity for it.