Cover not available
Article published In:
Pragmatics and Society
Vol. 5:1 (2014) ► pp.22–49

Speaking in (Whose) Tongue

Heritage Language Maintenance and Ritual Practices in Singapore

This article discusses the intricate religio-linguistic links in multiethnic, multi-religion and multi-lingual Singapore, and looks at how language use in religious activities may affect language maintenance. As an ethnographic study, it examines heritage language use in both private and public domains of traditional religious events, in addition to discussing the implications that meaning-making processes involved in religious conversions in multi-faith families have for heritage language maintenance. The study also reveals the family institution as a stronghold where national language policy does not fully penetrate, and argues that the vitality of heritage language may depend on how successfully cultural and religious practices continue to be performed in the heritage languages.

Keywords: ancestor worship, religious conversion, heritage language maintenance, ethnic Chinese, language policy, Singapore
Published online: 5 May 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.5.1.02chi
References
???????????40% (When Gods Speak English, Young Followers Increase by 40%)
. ???? (The Shinmin Daily) , Local News, 5. Published on October 6 2009 Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings.Google Scholar
Austin, John L
1962  How to Do Things with Words . Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Baker, Colon and Sylvia Prys Jones.
1998  Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education . Clevedon, Avon, U.K.: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre.
1991  Language and Symbolic Power . Cambridge, United Kingdom: Polity Press in association with Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Chew, Phyllis Ghim Lan.
2006 Language Use and Religious Practice: The Case of Singapore. In: Explorations in the Sociology of Language and Religion , Omoniyi Tope and Joshua Fishman (eds), 213–234. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logo DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chiang, Wai Fong.
2009 Heritage, Historicity and Identity: Intergenerational Negotiations of Language Ideologies in Singapore. Ph. D. dissertation. Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Clammer, John R.
1985  Singapore: Ideology, Society, Culture . Singapore: Chopmen Publishers.Google Scholar
1991  The Sociology of Singapore Religion: Studies in Christianity and Chinese Culture . Singapore: Chopmen Publishers.Google Scholar
DeBernardi, Jean.
2004 Christianity and Chinese Religious Culture in Singapore: Anthropological Perspectives. In: Facing Faiths, Crossing Cultures: Key Trends and Issues in a Multicultural World , Lai Ah Eng (ed), 178??–202. Singapore: The Institute of Policy Studies.Google Scholar
Ding, Lee Yong and Lee Yee Lew.
2009 ???????????? (New Immigrants, Watching and Singing Getai During the Ghost Festival). ???? (Lianhe Zaobao) , ??? (Crossroads). Published on August 31 2009 Singapore.
Elliott, Alan John Anthony.
1990  Chinese Spirit-Medium Cults in Singapore . London & Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Athlone Press.Google Scholar
Fairclough, Norman.
2001  Language and Power (2nd edition). London: Longman.Google Scholar
Fishman, Joshua.
1980 Minority Language Maintenance and the Ethnic Mother Tongue School. The Modern Language Journal 64(2), 167??–172. DOI logo DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Freedman, Maurice.
1957  Chinese Family and Marriage in Singapore . London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Gal, Susan, and Judith T. Irvine.
1995 The Boundaries of Languages and Disciplines: How Ideologies Construct Difference. Social Research 62(4), 967??–1004.Google Scholar
Grosjean, Francois.
1982  Life with Two Languages: An Introduction to Bilingualism . Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Irvine, Judith T., and Susan Gal.
2000 Language Ideology and Linguistic Differentiation. In: Regimes of Language , Paul Kroskrity (ed), 35??–84. Santa Fe, N.M.: School of American Research Press.Google Scholar
Keane, Webb.
2004 Language and Religion. In: A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology , Alessandro Duranti (ed), 431??–448. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Kuo, Eddie C.?Y???. and Björn H. Jernudd.
1988  Language Management in a Multilingual State: The Case of Planning in Singapore . Singapore: Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore.Google Scholar
Kwok, Kian Woon.
1994  Social Transformation and the Problem of Social Coherence: Chinese Singaporeans at Century’s End . Singapore: Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore.Google Scholar
Leow, Bee Geok.
2001  Census of Population 2000: Education, Language and Religion . Singapore: Singapore Department of Statistics.Google Scholar
Pang, Yun Han.
2009 Language Shift in Temples in Singapore. B.A. Honors Thesis. Department of Chinese Studies, National University of Singapore.Google Scholar
Spitulnik, Debra.
1998 The Language of the City: Town Bemba as Urban Hybridity. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 81, 30??–59. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spolsky, Bernard.
2003 Religion as a Site of Language Contact. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 231, 81??–94. DOI logo DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tan, Charlene.
2006 Change and Continuity: Chinese Language Policy in Singapore. Language Policy , 51, 41??–62.Google Scholar
Tan, Eugene K.?B???.
2002 Reconceptualizing Chinese Identity: The Politics of Chineseness in Singapore. In: Ethnic Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia , Leo Suryadinata (ed), 109??–136. Singapore: Times Academic Press.Google Scholar
Tong, Chee Kiong.
1992 Traditional Chinese Customs in Modern Singapore. In: Asian Traditions and Modernization: Perspectives from Singapore , Yong Man Cheong (ed), 78??–101. Singapore: Centre for Advanced Studies, National University of Singapore.Google Scholar
2007  Rationalizing Religion: Religious Converstion, Revivalism and Competition in Singapore Society . Leiden: Brill. DOI logo DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vaish, Viniti.
2007 Bilingualism without Diglossia: The Indian Community in Singapore. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 101, 171–188. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008 Mother Tongues, English, and Religion in Singapore. World Englishes 27, 3/4, 450–464. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Watson-Gegeo, Karen Ann and David Welchman Gegeo.
1991 The Impact of Church Affiliation on Language Use in Kwara’ae (Solomon Islands). Language in Society 20, 4, 533??–555. DOI logo DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wee, Lionel.
2003 Linguistic instrumentalism in Singapore. Journal of Multilingual and Multi­cultural Development 24, 3, 211–224. DOI logo DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wong, Wee Kim.
2011  Census of Population 2010 Statistical Release 1: Demographic Character­istics, Education, Language and Religion . Singapore: Singapore Department of Statistics.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Ng, Patrick Chin Leong
2017. Qualitative Analysis: Views Towards the Speak Mandarin Campaign. In A Study of Attitudes of Dialect Speakers Towards the Speak Mandarin Campaign in Singapore [SpringerBriefs in Linguistics, ], ► pp. 45 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 september 2023. 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.