Indian languages in Singapore
Encyclopedia
Indian languages in Singapore are mainly used by the country's 332,300 ethnic South Asian residents, who form about 9% of Singaporean citizens and permanent residents. As a result of historical migration and settlement patterns, Singapore Indians came to the island from various parts of South Asia
speaking a variety of Indian languages. Today, most ethnic Indians in Singapore are locally-born second, third, fourth or even fifth generation descendants of immigrant forefathers. In addition, a substantial minority are recent immigrants from the Indian subcontinent.
In Singapore, a distinction is made between the ancestral ethno-linguistic identity of a person and the actual language that he or she uses, or is able to use. Singapore's census takers make this distinction by capturing both types of data. Ancestral ethno-linguistic identity is captured under the category 'dialect group' (although this term may be more appropriate for describing the linguistic composition of the majority Chinese
, rather than Indians). In contrast, actual language use is captured by 'language most frequently spoken at home'.
census categorised the 257,845 Indian Singapore citizens and permanent residents into a number of 'dialect
' groups. However, these groups included Sikh
s, who are a religious rather than linguistic group, virtually all of whom are Punjabi
, which was also captured as a separate 'dialect' category (presumably comprising mainly Hindu or Muslim Punjabis). Also, while 'Hindustani
', 'Hindi
' and 'Urdu
' are mutually intelligible, they are presented as distinct dialects.
Given their small absolute and relative numbers, the following table adapts the 2000 census data by combining the 'Sikh' (13,188) and 'Punjabi' (4,711) category under 'Punjabi', while 'Hindustani' (5,064), 'Hindi' (3,971) and 'Urdu' (2,989) are combined as 'Hindustani' (figures in brackets refer to the size of these groups according to the census). The percentages in the table refer to the proportion of each language group within the larger Resident Indian community in Singapore.
Singapore's Indian community is characterised by an ethnic Tamil majority (58%) and a large number of smaller groups. Ethnic Tamils in Singapore include both Sri Lankan Tamils (sometimes referred to as 'Ceylonese') and Tamils from India
. Malayalees from Kerala
in South India form the second largest community, making up 8.43% of the Indian population. Tamils and Malayalees are the two main South Indian communities in Singapore, forming two-thirds of the Indian population. Meanwhile, the four main North Indian groups in Singapore (the Punjabi, Hindi, Sindhi
and Gujarati
communities) constitute 14.5% of all Indians. The remaining 18% comprised many smaller groups from both South India (such as Telugu
) and East India (such as Bengali
).
11.4% of Indians spoke 'other languages' at home (including non-Tamil Indian languages). In contrast, 41.7% of Indians were deemed to be non-Tamil Indians in 2000. Assuming that most Indians who reported speaking 'other languages' were referring to their (non-Tamil) ancestral languages, this would imply that up to a quarter of non-Tamil Indians in Singapore use mainly their ancestral language in the home.
Interestingly, about half of Indians in Singapore predominantly use a non-Indian language in the home. 39% spoke mainly English
, in contrast to 28.1% nationally. This made English the most spoken language in Indian homes, by a small margin. A further 10.6% of Indians reported speaking mainly Malay in their homes. It is likely that most are Indian Muslims married to ethnic Malays. Although they are counted as Indian in official statistics, a substantial number of these people consider themselves to be ethnically and culturally Malay, and many of them may be racially mixed.
The language most spoken at home by Indian Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents in 2005 can be seen in the following table.
s, alongside Mandarin
, Malay (the national language) and English (the language of administration). and 3.1% of Singapore residents speak Tamil at home. Singapore is one of the three countries in the world to make Tamil an official language, the others being India and Sri Lanka
.
As part of Singapore's bilingual education policy, Tamil is offered as a second language option in most public schools. As part of a policy to subsidise minority language television programming, the government subsidises a free-to-air
Tamil television channel (Vasantham). Similarly, as part of the policy of the National Library Board
, community lending libraries in Singapore, as well as the national-level Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, maintain sections of books in all four official languages, including Tamil.
Singapore has a commercially run Tamil language daily newspaper, Tamil Murasu
. Although Tamil Murasu was founded as an independent private newspaper by Thamizhavel G. Sarangapani
, it has since become part of the Singapore Press Holdings
group, which includes the Straits Times as part of its stable. It is believed that although the Tamil Murasu has difficulty surviving commercially, there is a political commitment to retaining a national daily Tamil newspaper in Singapore, although technically the paper remains a commercial enterprise, and is not known to receive any state subsidy. Other Tamil media include the (Sun TV
) cable television channel, provided by the main cable television
operator in Singapore, StarHub
, and the local Tamil language radio station (Oli 96.8FM), which is run by the state-owned MediaCorp
broadcasting company.
Tamil movies are screened in some cinemas, particularly at the (Yishun 10
) branch of the Golden Village
cinema chain. The country also has a Tamil theatre scene in the form of groups like Agni Koothu and the Ravindran Drama Group. There is also a small Tamil literary scene. Two Tamil language writers and two Tamil language theatre practitioners have won Cultural Medallion
s, the nation's highest arts award. Tamil is used in temples, mosques and churches catering to the community. Some business and non-profit groups, especially those in the Little India
neighbourhood, use Tamil on a daily basis.
Since 1990, public school students were able to take Hindi or some other Indian languages as their second language in major examinations, whereas previously only official languages like Tamil were offered. Students of other non-Tamil Indian language communities can choose to offer Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi or Urdu as their Mother-Tongue at the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and the GCE ‘N’, ‘O’ and ‘A’ level examinations Mother-Tongue Language Policy. As with the Tamil community, the other Indian communities also support a number of community groups for the promotion of social and cultural activities catering to each community.
, India
, Malaya
and China
(especially Hong Kong
), Indian influences have crept into a variety on non-Indian Singapore languages through a number of paths -
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
speaking a variety of Indian languages. Today, most ethnic Indians in Singapore are locally-born second, third, fourth or even fifth generation descendants of immigrant forefathers. In addition, a substantial minority are recent immigrants from the Indian subcontinent.
In Singapore, a distinction is made between the ancestral ethno-linguistic identity of a person and the actual language that he or she uses, or is able to use. Singapore's census takers make this distinction by capturing both types of data. Ancestral ethno-linguistic identity is captured under the category 'dialect group' (although this term may be more appropriate for describing the linguistic composition of the majority Chinese
Spoken Chinese
Chinese comprises many regional language varieties sometimes grouped together as the Chinese dialects, the primary ones being Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, and Min. These are not mutually intelligible, and even many of the regional varieties are themselves composed of a number of...
, rather than Indians). In contrast, actual language use is captured by 'language most frequently spoken at home'.
Ethno-linguistic profile
In 2000, the SingaporeSingapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
census categorised the 257,845 Indian Singapore citizens and permanent residents into a number of 'dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
' groups. However, these groups included Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
s, who are a religious rather than linguistic group, virtually all of whom are Punjabi
Punjabi people
The Punjabi people , ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ), also Panjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan group from South Asia. They are the second largest of the many ethnic groups in South Asia. They originate in the Punjab region, which has been been the location of some of the oldest civilizations in the world including, the...
, which was also captured as a separate 'dialect' category (presumably comprising mainly Hindu or Muslim Punjabis). Also, while 'Hindustani
Hindustani language
Hindi-Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language and the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan. It is also known as Hindustani , and historically, as Hindavi or Rekhta...
', 'Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
' and 'Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
' are mutually intelligible, they are presented as distinct dialects.
Given their small absolute and relative numbers, the following table adapts the 2000 census data by combining the 'Sikh' (13,188) and 'Punjabi' (4,711) category under 'Punjabi', while 'Hindustani' (5,064), 'Hindi' (3,971) and 'Urdu' (2,989) are combined as 'Hindustani' (figures in brackets refer to the size of these groups according to the census). The percentages in the table refer to the proportion of each language group within the larger Resident Indian community in Singapore.
| 'Dialect' group | Number | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Tamil Tamil language Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore... |
150,184 | 58.25% |
| Malayalam | 21,736 | 8.43% |
| Punjabi Punjabi language Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language... |
17,899 | 6.9% |
| Hindustani Hindustani language Hindi-Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language and the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan. It is also known as Hindustani , and historically, as Hindavi or Rekhta... |
12,024 | 4.7% |
| Sindhi Sindhi language Sindhi is the language of the Sindh region of Pakistan that is spoken by the Sindhi people. In India, it is among 22 constitutionally recognized languages, where Sindhis are a sizeable minority. It is spoken by 53,410,910 people in Pakistan, according to the national government's Statistics Division... |
4,071 | 1.58% |
| Gujarati Gujarati people Gujarati people , or Gujaratis are an ethnic group that is traditionally Gujarati-speaking and can trace their ancestry to the state of Gujarat in western India... |
3,260 | 1.26% |
| Sinhalese | 2,427 | 0.94% |
| Other Indians | 46,244 | 17.94% |
Singapore's Indian community is characterised by an ethnic Tamil majority (58%) and a large number of smaller groups. Ethnic Tamils in Singapore include both Sri Lankan Tamils (sometimes referred to as 'Ceylonese') and Tamils from India
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
. Malayalees from Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
in South India form the second largest community, making up 8.43% of the Indian population. Tamils and Malayalees are the two main South Indian communities in Singapore, forming two-thirds of the Indian population. Meanwhile, the four main North Indian groups in Singapore (the Punjabi, Hindi, Sindhi
Sindhi language
Sindhi is the language of the Sindh region of Pakistan that is spoken by the Sindhi people. In India, it is among 22 constitutionally recognized languages, where Sindhis are a sizeable minority. It is spoken by 53,410,910 people in Pakistan, according to the national government's Statistics Division...
and Gujarati
Gujarati language
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...
communities) constitute 14.5% of all Indians. The remaining 18% comprised many smaller groups from both South India (such as Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
) and East India (such as Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
).
Language use
According to the 2005 General Household Survey, Tamil was spoken at home by 3.1% of all Singapore residents. Among Indians residents, 38.8% used Tamil at home. As 58.3% of Indians were deemed to be ethnic Tamils in the 2000 census, this suggests that two-thirds of ethnic Tamils in Singapore used it as the main language in their homes.11.4% of Indians spoke 'other languages' at home (including non-Tamil Indian languages). In contrast, 41.7% of Indians were deemed to be non-Tamil Indians in 2000. Assuming that most Indians who reported speaking 'other languages' were referring to their (non-Tamil) ancestral languages, this would imply that up to a quarter of non-Tamil Indians in Singapore use mainly their ancestral language in the home.
Interestingly, about half of Indians in Singapore predominantly use a non-Indian language in the home. 39% spoke mainly English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, in contrast to 28.1% nationally. This made English the most spoken language in Indian homes, by a small margin. A further 10.6% of Indians reported speaking mainly Malay in their homes. It is likely that most are Indian Muslims married to ethnic Malays. Although they are counted as Indian in official statistics, a substantial number of these people consider themselves to be ethnically and culturally Malay, and many of them may be racially mixed.
The language most spoken at home by Indian Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents in 2005 can be seen in the following table.
| Primary home language | Percentage |
|---|---|
| English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
39.0% |
| Tamil Tamil language Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore... |
38.8% |
| Malay Malay language Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore... |
10.6% |
| Chinese languages | 0.2% |
| Other languages | 11.4% |
Tamil language in Singapore
Tamil is the only Indian language among Singapore's four official languageOfficial language
An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
s, alongside Mandarin
Standard Mandarin
Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
, Malay (the national language) and English (the language of administration). and 3.1% of Singapore residents speak Tamil at home. Singapore is one of the three countries in the world to make Tamil an official language, the others being India and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
.
As part of Singapore's bilingual education policy, Tamil is offered as a second language option in most public schools. As part of a policy to subsidise minority language television programming, the government subsidises a free-to-air
Free-to-air
Free-to-air describes television and radio services broadcast in clear form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscription or one-off fee...
Tamil television channel (Vasantham). Similarly, as part of the policy of the National Library Board
National Library Board
The National Library Board is a statutory board of the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, Singapore...
, community lending libraries in Singapore, as well as the national-level Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, maintain sections of books in all four official languages, including Tamil.
Singapore has a commercially run Tamil language daily newspaper, Tamil Murasu
Tamil Murasu
Tamil Murasu is a Singapore based Tamil language newspaper. Launched in 1935 by Thamizhavel G. Sarangapani, Tamil Murasu is Singapore's only Tamil language newspaper...
. Although Tamil Murasu was founded as an independent private newspaper by Thamizhavel G. Sarangapani
Thamizhavel G. Sarangapani
Thamizhavel G. Sarangapani, or Kosa as he was also known, a Tamil writer and publisher, was born in Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu, on 20 April 1903. He received a good education and was effectively bi-lingual in Tamil and English. At 21, he went to Singapore to work as a bookkeeper, eventually becoming...
, it has since become part of the Singapore Press Holdings
Singapore Press Holdings
Singapore Press Holdings Limited is a media organisation in Singapore with businesses in print, Internet and new media, television and radio, outdoor media, and property. SPH has over 4,000 employees, including a team of approximately 1,000 journalists, including correspondents operating around...
group, which includes the Straits Times as part of its stable. It is believed that although the Tamil Murasu has difficulty surviving commercially, there is a political commitment to retaining a national daily Tamil newspaper in Singapore, although technically the paper remains a commercial enterprise, and is not known to receive any state subsidy. Other Tamil media include the (Sun TV
Sun TV (India)
Sun TV is a regional Indian cable television station. It is the flagship channel of the Chennai-based Sun Network. It was founded and currently owned by Kalanidhi Maran. It was the first fully privately owned television channel in India when it emerged in 1992...
) cable television channel, provided by the main cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
operator in Singapore, StarHub
StarHub
StarHub Limited is a full-fledged telecommunications company providing a full range of services over mobile, internet and fixed platforms in Singapore...
, and the local Tamil language radio station (Oli 96.8FM), which is run by the state-owned MediaCorp
MediaCorp
Media Corporation of Singapore, better known as MediaCorp, is a group of commercial media companies in Singapore, with business interests in television and radio broadcasting, interactive media, and, to a lesser extent, print publishing and film-making....
broadcasting company.
Tamil movies are screened in some cinemas, particularly at the (Yishun 10
Yishun 10
GV Yishun is Asia's first multiplex, opened on 28 May 1992. It is operated by Golden Village, one of Singapore's leading cinema operators. As the name suggests, it has ten halls...
) branch of the Golden Village
Golden Village
Golden Village is a cinema operator based in Singapore which is a joint venture by Golden Harvest of Hong Kong and Village Roadshow of Australia. It operates nine multiplexes and cineplexes in the country including a largest cineplex at VivoCity. It joined hands to open a cinema at Great World...
cinema chain. The country also has a Tamil theatre scene in the form of groups like Agni Koothu and the Ravindran Drama Group. There is also a small Tamil literary scene. Two Tamil language writers and two Tamil language theatre practitioners have won Cultural Medallion
Cultural Medallion
The Cultural Medallion is a Singapore cultural award conferred to those who have achieved artistic excellence in dance, theatre, literature, music, photography, art and film....
s, the nation's highest arts award. Tamil is used in temples, mosques and churches catering to the community. Some business and non-profit groups, especially those in the Little India
Little India, Singapore
Little India is an ethnic neighbourhood found in Singapore that has Tamil cultural elements. Little India lies to east of the Singapore River—across from Chinatown, located west of the river—and north of Kampong Glam. Both areas are part of the urban planning area of Rochor...
neighbourhood, use Tamil on a daily basis.
Other Indian languages
Lacking official status, the use and visibility of the other Indian languages in Singapore depends on the size of the community using them, and the practical and commercial viability of offering media and other services in these languages.Since 1990, public school students were able to take Hindi or some other Indian languages as their second language in major examinations, whereas previously only official languages like Tamil were offered. Students of other non-Tamil Indian language communities can choose to offer Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi or Urdu as their Mother-Tongue at the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and the GCE ‘N’, ‘O’ and ‘A’ level examinations Mother-Tongue Language Policy. As with the Tamil community, the other Indian communities also support a number of community groups for the promotion of social and cultural activities catering to each community.
Influence on other local languages
Given the long period of contact between India and the region, as well as the multifarious contact over the centuries between BritainUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Malaya
Malay Peninsula
The Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a peninsula in Southeast Asia. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its terminus, is the southern-most point of the Asian mainland...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
(especially Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
), Indian influences have crept into a variety on non-Indian Singapore languages through a number of paths -
- Ancient Indian loan words in the Malay languageMalay languageMalay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
(during the 'Indianisation' of ancient Southeast Asia). There are a very large number of such words, but a few examples include 'bumi' (or 'earth', from the Sanskrit 'bhumi'), 'kapal' (or 'ship', from the Tamil 'kappal') and 'katil' (or 'bed', from the Tamil 'kattil'). Also, some Malay words that have entered into SinglishSinglishColloquial Singaporean English, also known as Singlish, is an English-based creole language spoken in Singapore.Singlish is commonly regarded with low prestige in Singapore. The Singaporean government and many Singaporeans alike heavily discourage the use of Singlish in favour of Standard English...
(and sometimes Singapore HokkienMin NanThe Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
and Mandarin), are terms which were originally Indian loan words. These include 'suka' (or 'happiness'), 'rotiRotiRoti is generally a South Asian bread made from stoneground wholemeal flour, traditionally known as atta flour, that originated and is consumed in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It is also consumed in parts of the Southern Caribbean, particularly in Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and...
' (or 'bread'), and 'sama' (or 'same'). In addition, there are words in the English that are derived from Malay, but which in turn are derived from Sanskrit originals. These include such words as camphorCamphorCamphor is a waxy, white or transparent solid with a strong, aromatic odor. It is a terpenoid with the chemical formula C10H16O. It is found in wood of the camphor laurel , a large evergreen tree found in Asia and also of Dryobalanops aromatica, a giant of the Bornean forests...
and mandarinMandarin (bureaucrat)A mandarin was a bureaucrat in imperial China, and also in the monarchist days of Vietnam where the system of Imperial examinations and scholar-bureaucrats was adopted under Chinese influence.-History and use of the term:...
.
- Ancient and colonial-era Indian loan words in Standard English. Examples include candyCandyCandy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added...
, cashCashIn common language cash refers to money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins.In bookkeeping and finance, cash refers to current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-immediately...
, shampooShampooShampoo is a hair care product used for the removal of oils, dirt, skin particles, dandruff, environmental pollutants and other contaminant particles that gradually build up in hair...
, bungalowBungalowA bungalow is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many of these definitions include being detached, low-rise , and the use of verandahs...
and pyjama. Some colonial-era Indian loan words entered into Malay and/or Chinese languages, in addition to English. Some of these may be considered archaic in Standard English today. These include congeeCongeeCongee is a type of rice porridge popular in many Asian countries. It can be eaten alone or served with a side dish. Names for congee are as varied as the style of its preparation...
, godown, amah, karang guni / gunny sack, coolieCoolieHistorically, a coolie was a manual labourer or slave from Asia, particularly China, India, and the Phillipines during the 19th century and early 20th century...
.
- The influence of Indian teachers of English in Singapore schools, who brought elements of Indian English pronunciation, syntax, etc into Singapore English. Dr Adam Brown, a professor of phonetics and liguistics, writes "It may surprise many readers to think that Singapore English is heavily influenced by Indian English. However, English had been spoken in India for at least a century before Raffles established Singapore for the East India Company in 1819, and Singapore was administered as part of India for most of the 19th century. Also, as Ho & Platt (1993) and Gupta (1994) note, many teachers in Singapore were of Indian origin. Between 1920 and 1940, for example, there were similar numbers of Indian and European teachers in English-medium schools in Singapore, and Indians have always been well represented in the teaching profession."