Article published In:
English World-WideVol. 26:2 (2005) ► pp.179–197
Emergent patterns in the vowels of Singapore English
In the past, the vowels of Singapore English (SgE) have often been described with reference to British English (BrE). However, certain idiosyncratic patterns are now emerging, and these often cannot be predicted by referring to any other varieties of English. The vowels in words such as egg, beg, poor, pure, won, one and the first syllable of absorb and abroad are investigated from the data of 38 speakers, and it is shown that a new standard of SgE pronunciation is emerging for the great majority of speakers.
Keywords: English, Singapore English, vowels, vowel quality
Cited by
Cited by 26 other publications
Botha, Werner
2019. ‘Technically wrong leh’. English Today 35:4 ► pp. 13 ff. 
Botha, Werner
2021. The functions of language mixing in the social networks of Singapore students. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2021:269 ► pp. 203 ff.
Botha, Werner & Tobias Bernaisch
2020. The Features of Asian Englishes. In The Handbook of Asian Englishes, ► pp. 169 ff.
CAVALLARO, FRANCESCO & NG BEE CHIN
2009. Between status and solidarity in Singapore. World Englishes 28:2 ► pp. 143 ff.
CAVALLARO, FRANCESCO, BEE CHIN NG & MARK FIFER SEILHAMER
2014. Singapore Colloquial English: Issues of prestige and identity. World Englishes 33:3 ► pp. 378 ff.
Deterding, David
2006. Review of Lim (2004): Singapore English. A Grammatical Description. English World-Wide. A Journal of Varieties of English 27:1 ► pp. 106 ff.
DETERDING, DAVID
2010. Norms for pronunciation in Southeast Asia. World Englishes 29:3 ► pp. 364 ff.
Deterding, David
2015. Segmentals. In The Handbook of English Pronunciation, ► pp. 67 ff.
DETERDING, DAVID & ANDY KIRKPATRICK
2006. Emerging South‐East Asian Englishes and intelligibility. World Englishes 25:3-4 ► pp. 391 ff.
Deterding, David & Salbrina Sharbawi
2013. Pronunciation. In Brunei English [Multilingual Education, 4], ► pp. 23 ff.
Evans, Bronwen G. & Gisela Tomé-Lourido
2019. Effects of Language Background on the Development of Sociolinguistic Awareness: The Perception of Accent Variation in Monolingual and Multilingual 5- to 7-Year-Old Children. Phonetica 76:2-3 ► pp. 142 ff.
Gardiner, Ishamina Athirah & David Deterding
2020. The Features of Asian Englishes. In The Handbook of Asian Englishes, ► pp. 189 ff.
Geraldine, Kwek & Low Ee-Ling
2021. Emergent features of young Singaporean speech: an investigatory study of the labiodental /r/ in Singapore English. Asian Englishes 23:2 ► pp. 116 ff.
Hong Sim, Jasper
2019. “But you don’t sound Malay!”. English World-Wide. A Journal of Varieties of English 40:1 ► pp. 82 ff.
Kalaivanan, Kastoori, Patrick C. M. Wong, Francis C. K. Wong & Alice H. D. Chan
2023. Native Language Perceptual Sensitivity Predicts Nonnative Speech Perception Differently in Younger and Older Singaporean Bilinguals. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research ► pp. 1 ff.
Low, Ee Ling
2019. English in Southeast Asia. In The Handbook of World Englishes, ► pp. 135 ff.
LOW, EE‐LING
2014. Research on English in Singapore. World Englishes 33:4 ► pp. 439 ff.
Ng, Matthew H. S. & Chi‐Ying Cheng
2024. The social evaluation of accents and perceived social influence in Singapore: A comparison of American and Singaporean English accents. Asian Journal of Social Psychology
Rahman, A. R. M. Mostafizar
2017. Tense-lax merger: Bangla as a first language speakers’ pronunciation of English monophthongs. Asian Englishes ► pp. 1 ff.
Schmitt, Holger
2007. The case for the epsilon symbol (ε) in RP dress. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 37:3 ► pp. 321 ff.
Erik R. Thomas
2019. Mexican American English,
Toefy, Tracey
2017. Revisiting the kit-split in Coloured South African English. English World-Wide. A Journal of Varieties of English 38:3 ► pp. 336 ff.
Tong, Ho Kin & Lin Hong Cheung
2011. Cultural identity and language: a proposed framework for cultural globalisation and glocalisation. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 32:1 ► pp. 55 ff.
Ul-Aine, Qurat-
2021. THE URDUNIZATION OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THREE SHORT STORIES FORM SHORT STORY COLLECTION, “IN OTHER ROOMS, OTHER WONDERS”. Addaiyan Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences ► pp. 09 ff.
Wang, Qian
2023. An instrumental investigation of the vowel inventory of China English. Asian Englishes 25:1 ► pp. 111 ff.
Waschl, Nicolette & Mo Chen
2022. Cross-Cultural Considerations for Adapting Valid Psychoeducational Assessments. In Early Childhood Development and Education in Singapore [Empowering Teaching and Learning through Policies and Practice: Singapore and International Perspectives, 2], ► pp. 113 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 2 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.