Singlish in focus: a personal view from Downstairs

Abstract

ABSTRACT The status of Singlish in Singapore media is a site of conflict between the government and the populace. Linguistic control in Singapore, as a strategy for managing national identity and cohesion, is not new. However, understanding the regulation of Singlish in television and cinema elucidates the media’s role in Singapore’s language policy. Singlish validates the lived experience of Singaporeans in media representations, yet the government discourages its use. This paper examines the language use in the first two seasons of the adult animated series Downstairs (Han) to explore Singlish’s role in local media as a conduit of cohesion, division and transgression. Brief comparisons are made to three prominent movies released in the same period: A Land Imagined (Yeo), A Long Long Time Ago 3: Diam Diam Era and A Long Long Time Ago 4: Diam Diam Era 2 (Neo). Singlish neutralizes identity markers like ethnicity, culture and nationality but emphasizes boundaries of class, education and perceived success. Singlish, as a language of disempowerment and marginalization, symbolizes anti-establishment attitudes and solidarity against English-speaking status. Downstairs demonstrates how language differentiates class, expresses cultural values and addresses social issues, empowering its satire in interrogating the typical Singapore experience.