Linguistic chutzpah and the Speak Good Singlish movement

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper discusses the Speak Good Singlish Movement, which was started as a response to the Speak Good English Movement, the latter having been initiated by the Singapore government. The Speak Good Singlish Movement represents a good example of linguistic chutzpah, where speakers demonstrate confidence in their language choices while also having the metalinguistic awareness and sophistication needed to articulate rationales for these choices. The paper argues that linguistic chutzpah is especially important in relation to the global spread of English, where speakers are often confronted with the need to make decisions about language while not being able to rely on traditional sources of authority (such as the speech community or prescriptive grammars). Under such circumstances, speakers need to be able to adopt confident stances about their language choices, even while knowing that these choices may be met with criticism. To make this point, the paper also describes two cases involving anxieties about appropriate language use.