Young people, Malay and English in multilingual Singapore
Young people, Malay and English in multilingual Singapore
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多语言新加坡的年轻人、马来语和英语
DOI：
10.1111/weng.12095
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发表时间：
2014
期刊：
影响因子：
1.6
通讯作者：
M. Seilhamer
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Euvin Loong Jin. Chong;M. Seilhamer
随着英语在新加坡的使用极为普遍，新加坡年轻人越来越多地放弃使用他们的少数民族语言。然而，新加坡马来人社区经常被描述为这一趋势的例外，他们自豪地保持马来语作为他们的主导语言和文化认同的一个组成部分，尽管在当今新加坡社会中英语占据了压倒性的主导地位。本研究旨在通过调查新加坡马来族大学生(18-26岁)在语言技能、语言传承和语言隶属等方面与马来族人之间的关系，来了解是否真的是这样。50名调查参与者报告了他们对马来语和英语的熟练程度、使用情况和看法。结果表明，参与者与马来人的关系确实在所有三个维度上都有很强的特征-专业知识、遗传和从属关系-尽管他们在除少数领域外的所有领域都普遍使用英语，而且大多数人认为英语是最能将他们定义为新加坡人的语言。
With English use extremely prevalent in Singapore, young Singaporeans are increasingly abandoning the use of their ethnic languages. The Singapore Malay community, however, is frequently depicted as an exception to this trend, proudly keeping Malay as their dominant language and an integral part of their cultural identities despite the overwhelming dominance of English in present day Singaporean society. This study seeks to obtain a sense of whether this is indeed the case by investigating the relationships Singaporean Malay university students (ages 18–26) have with Malay along the dimensions of language expertise, language inheritance, and language affiliation. Fifty survey participants reported on their proficiency in, use of, and perceptions of Malay and English. The results indicate that participants’ relationships with Malay are indeed strongly characterized by all three dimensions – expertise, inheritance, and affiliation – despite their prevalent use of English in all but a few domains and, by the majority, identification of English as the language that best defines them as Singaporeans.