How multilingual are Singaporeans really? A study of linguistic repertoires in Singapore's Institute of Technical Education.

新加坡人到底有多会说多种语言？

• 批准号: 264695797
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Jakob Leimgruber
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik (IAA)
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2013-12-31 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/264695797?language=en
• 关键词: How; multilingual; Singaporeans; really; study

This project is a follow-up study of a previous project carried out by Siemund et al (submitted), which gathered linguistic and sociological information from 300 Singaporean university and polytechnic students. The study was the first larger-scale survey to take a sociolinguistic approach: most descriptions of Singapore in the linguistics literature are concerned with structural features, whereas comparatively few seek to shed light on the interaction between the many languages in the city-state. In addition, the study included an examination of speaker attitudes towards the varieties spoken in Singapore, as well as towards the various government language policies in place.The present project seeks to enhance the validity of this study by extending the informant base beyond university and polytechnic students, to include students of the Institute of Technical Education (ITE). By doing so, it is argued that a more representative cross-section of the population would be mobilized to further inform our understanding of the language dynamics in the city-state. Most (84%) Singaporean secondary school students carry on with some sort of post-secondary education: Leimgruber (2013: 21-22) reports that 26% choose a junior college (pre-university), 35% go to a polytechnic, and 23% opt for vocational training at the Institute of Technical Education. This choice is, of course, subject to performance in the secondary school leaving examinations, the O Level examination. Taking the rather established methodological route of equating educational attainment with socioeconomic status (see e.g. Pakir 1991; Chew 1995), complementing the binary (university-polytechnic) setup of Siemund et al's study with a third (vocational training) component will produce a more comprehensive picture of the sociolinguistic landscape of Singapore.Specific differences expected among ITE students include a larger array of language profiles, with a more multilingual repertoire, as well as a more balanced ethnic sample, resulting in turn in more Malay and Indian languages. While general attitudes towards languages and policies are not expected to differ greatly from those gathered among university and polytechnic students, it is expected that non-official languages enjoy greater vitality in the ITE sample.

该项目是Siemund等人（已提交）先前项目的后续研究，该项目收集了300名新加坡大学和理工学院学生的语言学和社会学信息。这项研究是第一次采用社会语言学方法的大规模调查：语言学文献中对新加坡的大多数描述都与结构特征有关，而相对而言，很少有人试图揭示这个城市国家中多种语言之间的相互作用。此外，该研究还调查了说话者对新加坡各种语言的态度，以及对政府各种语言政策的态度。本项目旨在通过将信息库从大学和理工学院的学生扩展到包括技术教育学院的学生来提高这项研究的有效性。通过这样做，我们可以动员更有代表性的人口，从而进一步了解城邦的语言动态。大多数（84%）新加坡中学生继续接受某种形式的高等教育：Leimgruber（2013: 21-22）报告说，26%的人选择专科学院（大学预科），35%的人选择理工学院，23%的人选择在技术教育学院接受职业培训。当然，这种选择取决于中学毕业考试（O - Level考试）的表现。采用相当成熟的方法路线，将受教育程度与社会经济地位等同起来（例如Pakir 1991； Chew 1995），用第三个组成部分（职业培训）补充Siemund等人研究的二元（大学-理工学院）设置，将产生更全面的新加坡社会语言学景观。预计理工学院学生之间的具体差异包括更多的语言背景，更多的多语言曲目，以及更平衡的种族样本，从而导致更多的马来语和印度语。虽然预计对语言和政策的一般态度与大学和理工学院学生的态度不会有很大的不同，但预计非正式语言在信息技术学院样本中享有更大的活力。