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Colloquial Singapore English in advertisements
Author(s) -
Hiramoto Mie
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/weng.12422
Subject(s) - government (linguistics) , identity (music) , state (computer science) , politics , media studies , advertising , political science , order (exchange) , position (finance) , public relations , sociology , law , linguistics , business , art , aesthetics , philosophy , finance , algorithm , computer science
Throughout the history of Singapore, Colloquial Singapore English (CSE) has been treated as an obstacle to Singaporeans’ acquisition of standardized English. The Speak Good English Movement (SGEM) was launched in 2000 to promote standardized English while discouraging the use of CSE. Nonetheless, CSE is increasingly used in local commercial advertisements by private companies. Recently, the state has also changed its firm anti‐CSE position, and begun to recognize CSE as part of the unique identity that ties Singaporeans together. Rather surprisingly, government advertisements have begun employing CSE expressions, particularly since the state's 50th anniversary in 2015. This study investigates how the use of CSE is semioticized in both government and private‐company advertisements that have appeared in recent years. The findings suggest that CSE is integrated into government advertisements as an invocation of a pan‐Singaporean identity in order to naturalize the state's larger political discourses.