Standard Singaporean Mandarin
Encyclopedia
Standard Singaporean Mandarin is the standard form of Singaporean Mandarin
. It is used in all official Chinese media, including all television programs on Channel 8 and Channel U, various radio stations, as well as in Chinese lessons in all Singapore government schools. The written form of Chinese used in Singapore is also based on this standard. Standard Singaporean Mandarin is also the register of Mandarin used by the Chinese elites of Singapore and is easily distinguishable from the Colloquial Singaporean Mandarin spoken by the general populace.
In terms of phonology
, vocabulary
and grammar
, Standard Singaporean Mandarin is similar to Putonghua (Standard Chinese in the People's Republic of China). Minor discrepancies appear in different vocabulary usage.
in Singapore alongside Hokkien
(a southeastern Chinese language) for many decades after the Second World War. Before the standardisation of Singaporean Mandarin in the year 1979, Mandarin was largely used in its colloquial form which is based on the Beijing speech, with infusions from various southern Non-Mandarin Chinese languages such as Hokkien
, Teochew, Cantonese
, Hainanese as well as Hakka
. This colloquial form of Mandarin served as a bridge between speakers of various mutually unintelligible southern Chinese languages. Mandarin was also the language of instruction in the now defunct Chinese-medium schools and education system. The use of Mandarin language in the Chinese-medium schools led to the language being spoken mainly by the Chinese-educated or Chinese elites in Singapore.
After Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew
announced and kickstart the Speak Mandarin Campaign
in 1979, the Promote Mandarin Council started research on Mandarin standardisation based on case studies in Mainland China and Taiwan.
The term "rojak" (a Malay food used for describing "mixture") is most appropriate in describing colloquial Singaporean Mandarin. Colloquial Singaporean Mandarin is the equivalent of Singlish
in the Mandarin speaking world of Singapore. The word "Singdarin" has been used to name the Colloquial Singaporean Mandarin.
Standard Singaporean Mandarin also differs from colloquial Singaporean Mandarin in terms of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. This is because not all Singaporean Chinese speak Mandarin at home. Some could be speaking other Non-Mandarin Chinese languages or English most of the time and have less exposure to Standard Mandarin. All these factors have influenced the way in which colloquial Singaporean Mandarin is formed.
Colloquial Singaporean Mandarin uses a variety of Southern Chinese exclamatory particles, in lieu of standard Mandarin equivalents. An example is the loan exclamatory final particle 囉 (lor) from Cantonese
(analogous to Singlish usage), instead of the Mandarin exclamatory final particle 嘛 (ma):
Another example is the use of the Cantonese
expression "做咩" (zou me):
The exclamatory final particle 咧 (leh) from Hokkien
is used in colloquial Singaporean Mandarin:
Another phrase found in colloquial Mandarin is derived from the Hokkien
expression siáⁿ-mih lâi ê (啥物來的):
Standard Singaporean Mandarin uses pure Mandarin words. Colloquial Singaporean Mandarin on the hand uses loan words from other languages. The English loan word "then" is commonly used in place of Mandarin word 才 in colloquial Singaporean Mandarin. Again, a loan exclamatory final particle 囉 (lor) from Cantonese
is used instead of Mandarin exclamatory final particle 啊 (a). The English loanword then is also often used to replace the Mandarin word 然后 (ránhòu) in colloquial Singaporean Mandarin:
(vocabulary
) in Standard Singaporean Mandarin as compared to other forms of Standard Mandarin
. Standard Singaporean Mandarin has its own unique proprietary vocabulary
, which differs from Standard Mandarin used in Mainland China
and Taiwan
. This is due to a different political, cultural and linguistic environment in Singapore. The Dictionary of Contemporary Singaporean Mandarin Vocabulary 《时代新加坡特有词语词典》 edited by Wang Huidi (汪惠迪) listed 1560 uniquely local Singaporean Mandarin words, which are not used in Mainland China or Taiwan.
Ever since the 1980s, Standard Singaporean Mandarin has been inclining itself more towards Standard Mainland Mandarin
. As such, lexicon
similarity between Standard Singaporean Mandarin and Standard Mainland Mandarin
has reached almost 90%.
While the majority of vocabulary are shared by Standard Mandarin throughout East Asia, there are a few significant differences in choice of words. For instance, "pineapple" is 黄梨 (huánglí) in Singapore (from Hokkien
王梨 ông-lâi), but 菠蘿/菠萝 (bōluó) in Mainland China and 鳳梨 (fènglí) in Taiwan.
The examples below illustrate some differences in the lexicon used in Singapore, Mainland China and Taiwan:
Singaporean Mandarin
Singaporean Mandarin is a variety of Mandarin Chinese widely spoken in Singapore. It is one of the four official languages of Singapore along with English, Malay and Tamil....
. It is used in all official Chinese media, including all television programs on Channel 8 and Channel U, various radio stations, as well as in Chinese lessons in all Singapore government schools. The written form of Chinese used in Singapore is also based on this standard. Standard Singaporean Mandarin is also the register of Mandarin used by the Chinese elites of Singapore and is easily distinguishable from the Colloquial Singaporean Mandarin spoken by the general populace.
In terms of phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
, vocabulary
Vocabulary
A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
and grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
, Standard Singaporean Mandarin is similar to Putonghua (Standard Chinese in the People's Republic of China). Minor discrepancies appear in different vocabulary usage.
History
Mandarin (a northern Chinese language) has been used as a lingua francaLingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
in Singapore alongside Hokkien
Hokkien
Hokkien is a Hokkien word corresponding to Standard Chinese "Fujian". It may refer to:* Hokkien dialect, a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken in Southern Fujian , Taiwan, South-east Asia, and elsewhere....
(a southeastern Chinese language) for many decades after the Second World War. Before the standardisation of Singaporean Mandarin in the year 1979, Mandarin was largely used in its colloquial form which is based on the Beijing speech, with infusions from various southern Non-Mandarin Chinese languages such as Hokkien
Hokkien
Hokkien is a Hokkien word corresponding to Standard Chinese "Fujian". It may refer to:* Hokkien dialect, a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken in Southern Fujian , Taiwan, South-east Asia, and elsewhere....
, Teochew, Cantonese
Cantonese
Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...
, Hainanese as well as Hakka
Hakka
The Hakka , sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China....
. This colloquial form of Mandarin served as a bridge between speakers of various mutually unintelligible southern Chinese languages. Mandarin was also the language of instruction in the now defunct Chinese-medium schools and education system. The use of Mandarin language in the Chinese-medium schools led to the language being spoken mainly by the Chinese-educated or Chinese elites in Singapore.
After Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew, GCMG, CH is a Singaporean statesman. He was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, governing for three decades...
announced and kickstart the Speak Mandarin Campaign
Speak Mandarin Campaign
The Speak Mandarin Campaign is an initiative by the government of Singapore to encourage the Singaporean Chinese population to speak Mandarin, one of the four official languages of Singapore...
in 1979, the Promote Mandarin Council started research on Mandarin standardisation based on case studies in Mainland China and Taiwan.
Differences between standard and colloquial forms
Major differences between Standard Singaporean Mandarin and Colloquial Singaporean Mandarin lie in their linguistic features. Standard Singaporean Mandarin uses standard Mandarin vocabulary and grammar which are very similar to that of the Beijing standard (Putonghua), both spoken and written. Colloquial Singaporean Mandarin, though based on Standard Mandarin, is often mixed with loan words and syntax from other Chinese dialects (especially southern Chinese dialects), and to a lesser extent, Malay and English. This is due to the multilingual nature of Singaporean families and society. There are also often cases when Singaporeans (due to their poorer command of Mandarin) find it hard to find the Mandarin vocabulary for a certain idea, and thus have to use loan words from other languages to describe those ideas.The term "rojak" (a Malay food used for describing "mixture") is most appropriate in describing colloquial Singaporean Mandarin. Colloquial Singaporean Mandarin is the equivalent of Singlish
Singlish
Colloquial 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...
in the Mandarin speaking world of Singapore. The word "Singdarin" has been used to name the Colloquial Singaporean Mandarin.
Standard Singaporean Mandarin also differs from colloquial Singaporean Mandarin in terms of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. This is because not all Singaporean Chinese speak Mandarin at home. Some could be speaking other Non-Mandarin Chinese languages or English most of the time and have less exposure to Standard Mandarin. All these factors have influenced the way in which colloquial Singaporean Mandarin is formed.
Colloquial Singaporean Mandarin uses a variety of Southern Chinese exclamatory particles, in lieu of standard Mandarin equivalents. An example is the loan exclamatory final particle 囉 (lor) from Cantonese
Cantonese
Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...
(analogous to Singlish usage), instead of the Mandarin exclamatory final particle 嘛 (ma):
- ！(standard)
- ！(colloquial)
- "That's what I'm saying!"
Another example is the use of the Cantonese
Cantonese
Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...
expression "做咩" (zou me):
- ？ (standard)
- ？ (colloquial)
- "Why?" / "Doing what?"
The exclamatory final particle 咧 (leh) from Hokkien
Hokkien
Hokkien is a Hokkien word corresponding to Standard Chinese "Fujian". It may refer to:* Hokkien dialect, a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken in Southern Fujian , Taiwan, South-east Asia, and elsewhere....
is used in colloquial Singaporean Mandarin:
- ！ (standard)
- ！ (colloquial)
- "It's not like this!"
Another phrase found in colloquial Mandarin is derived from the Hokkien
Hokkien
Hokkien is a Hokkien word corresponding to Standard Chinese "Fujian". It may refer to:* Hokkien dialect, a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken in Southern Fujian , Taiwan, South-east Asia, and elsewhere....
expression siáⁿ-mih lâi ê (啥物來的):
- ？ (standard)
- ？ (colloquial)
- "What is this?"
Standard Singaporean Mandarin uses pure Mandarin words. Colloquial Singaporean Mandarin on the hand uses loan words from other languages. The English loan word "then" is commonly used in place of Mandarin word 才 in colloquial Singaporean Mandarin. Again, a loan exclamatory final particle 囉 (lor) from Cantonese
Cantonese
Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...
is used instead of Mandarin exclamatory final particle 啊 (a). The English loanword then is also often used to replace the Mandarin word 然后 (ránhòu) in colloquial Singaporean Mandarin:
- ！ (standard)
- then ！ (colloquial)
- "It is only due to the fact that I did not do my homework that I was scolded."
Differences between Standard Singaporean Mandarin and other forms of Standard Mandarin
Phonology differences
Minor differences occur between the phonology (tones) of Standard Singaporean Mandarin and other forms of Standard Mandarin.| Chinese character | Definition | Singapore | Mainland China | Taiwan | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 休息 | Take a rest | xiūxí | xiūxi | xiūxí | The character 息 is pronounced with the 2nd tone in Standard Singaporean Mandarin, similar to that in Taiwan. In Mainland China, 息 is pronounced as a light (neutral) tone instead. |
| 垃圾 | Rubbish | lājī | lājī | lèsè | The pronunciation for 垃圾 is the same in Singapore and Mainland China. But in Taiwan, it has maintained the older pronunciation before 1949, which was influenced by the Wu dialect. |
| 角色 | Role | juésè | juésè | jiǎosè/juésè | The pronunciation for 角色 is the same in Singapore and Mainland China. But in Taiwan, it has maintained the older pronunciation jiǎosè before 1949. However, both juésè and jiǎosè can be interchangeably used in the Chinese-speaking world. |
| 包括 | Include | bāokuò | bāokuò | bāokuā/bāokuò | The pronunciation for 包括 is the same in Singapore and Mainland China. But in Taiwan, the older pronunciation of "kuā" for 括 before 1949 continued to be used, alongside the modern pronunciation of "kuò". |
Lexicon differences
There are differences in the use of different lexiconLexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
(vocabulary
Vocabulary
A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
) in Standard Singaporean Mandarin as compared to other forms of Standard 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....
. Standard Singaporean Mandarin has its own unique proprietary vocabulary
Vocabulary
A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
, which differs from Standard Mandarin used in Mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
and Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. This is due to a different political, cultural and linguistic environment in Singapore. The Dictionary of Contemporary Singaporean Mandarin Vocabulary 《时代新加坡特有词语词典》 edited by Wang Huidi (汪惠迪) listed 1560 uniquely local Singaporean Mandarin words, which are not used in Mainland China or Taiwan.
Ever since the 1980s, Standard Singaporean Mandarin has been inclining itself more towards Standard Mainland 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....
. As such, lexicon
Lexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
similarity between Standard Singaporean Mandarin and Standard Mainland 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....
has reached almost 90%.
While the majority of vocabulary are shared by Standard Mandarin throughout East Asia, there are a few significant differences in choice of words. For instance, "pineapple" is 黄梨 (huánglí) in Singapore (from Hokkien
Hokkien
Hokkien is a Hokkien word corresponding to Standard Chinese "Fujian". It may refer to:* Hokkien dialect, a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken in Southern Fujian , Taiwan, South-east Asia, and elsewhere....
王梨 ông-lâi), but 菠蘿/菠萝 (bōluó) in Mainland China and 鳳梨 (fènglí) in Taiwan.
The examples below illustrate some differences in the lexicon used in Singapore, Mainland China and Taiwan:
- 我想吃快熟面。 (Singapore)
- 我想吃方便麵。/我想吃方便面。 (Mainland China)
- 我想吃速食麵。 (Taiwan)
- "I wish to eat instant noodle."
- 我要搭德士 。 (Singapore)
- 我要搭出租車。/我要搭出租车 。 (Mainland China)
- 我要搭計程車。 (Taiwan)
- "I want to take a taxi."
- 在部署突击行动时，最重要的是要确保公众以及有关单位内任何人士的安全。 (Singapore)
- 在部署突擊行動時，最重要的是要確保公眾以及有關單位內所有人士的安全。/在部署突击行动时，最重要的是要确保公众以及有关单位内所有人士的安全。 (Mainland China)
- 在部署突擊行動時，最重要的是要確保公衆及相關單位內所有人士的安全。 (Taiwan)
- "In deploying the raid, the most important thing is to ensure the safety of anyone in the public and associated units."