2012200427IGBab2001

CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

A theoretical background is provided in this chapter to support the analysis.

This chapter discusses some theories about Singlish, Discourse Particles of Singlish,

Style and Social Factors.

According to (Leimgruber, 2011),

“Singlish” but rather a more “cultivated”

dialect known as Standard Singapore English”. Selain Standar Singapore English

(SSE), Orang Singapore memiliki Colloquial Singapore English (CSE) vernakular,

yang sering disebut ' Singlish ' oleh penutur.

Colloquial Singapore English (CSE) adalah bahasa Inggris yang sangat

berbeda dari Standar Singapore English (SSE), dan Colloquial Singapore English

(CSE) ditetapkan untuk menggambarkan pengucapan dan tata bahasa. Singlish co-

exists with SSE in a relationship that has been termed ‘diglossia’ (Ferguson, 1959,

Richards 1983, Gupta 1989, 1994), yang pada dasarnya berarti bahwa Standar

Singapore English (SSE) dibatasi penggunaannya pada situasi yang ditandai dengan

tingkat tinggi formalitas, sedangkan Singlish digunakan dalam semua keadaan dan

situasi.

2.1

Singlish

English is the instruction language used by people in the world. According to

Chew (2007, pp. 73-93), Singlish is the English language world, because Singlish is

a combination of a variety of languages consisting of ethnic Chinese (77.3%),

Malays (14.1%), and India (7.3%). With the three ethnic groups, the English

language serves as a marker of identity, a different multi-ethnic Singapore. To his

supporters, Singlish is an important part of the local heritage and culture.

(Nordquist, 2007) states that, “Singlish is a Dialect of the English language

that is used in Singapore, a lingua franca influenced by Chinese and Malay”. Singlish

absorb various cultures, accents, and dialects are mixed into a language the pride of

Singapore. In the school education system in Singapore, English has become

compulsory for study, the goal is to be able to communicate with the other ethnic

groups. Citizen’s Singapore belonged to a fairly fluent in English. Therefore English

is positioned to be the national language, after Mandarin. Initially, Singlish growth in

working class who do not learn English through formal education, as a result

everyone is trying to catch up speaking English in their own way. And the result-

even the Singapore English is not perfect and diverse.

According to Wee (2010,

pp.313-326), Singapore English consists of two

basic forms in the English Language, they are Standard Singapore English (SSE) and

Singapore Colloquial English (CSE). SSE is often used by the people in Singapore

when the formal situation certainly use grammar is more polite and correct. CSE,

used by the people in Singapore during daily life and do not require the formal

grammar.

Example of SSE:

Singlish :

(1) How, Ma’am? Can wear or not?

English :

Do you like the dress, Ma’am? Does it fit you?

Singlish :

(2) Today got discount, Mr. You come tomorrow, no more

discount.

English :

Sorry, Mr. The discount is valid for today only.

Example of CSE:

Singlish :

(3) Cannot try. Dirty how?

English :

I'm sorry but we do not allow consumers to try these on for

hygiene Reasons.

Singlish :

(4) Sorry that size no more.

English :

I'm sorry about that. We have run out of that size.

(Wee, 2010, pp.313-326)

2.2

Characteristic Of Singlish

According to (Leimgruber, Jakob & Lavanya, 2011), Singapore English is a

typical form of pronunciation uttered by indigenous communities in the country

Singapore. Pronunciation produces different dialects of the English language to

another. Basically all the tribes of the people in each country have a style that is

educated diversity of results hereditary intentionally or unintentionally by his

ancestors.

Discourse Particle is a theory that explains the final sign that has a special

meaning to each of said words that are pronounced by the Singapore (Wong, 1994).

Discourse Particles in Singlish is very different from the discourse particles at other

English language. One of the main characteristics of discourse particles Singlish is to

create a single particle, have benefits and different meanings in each utterance end.

Singapore English uses about eight particles, mostly borrowed from Hokkien

or Cantonese, to indicate attitude to what is being said. They work rather like you

know and you see. According to Lim (2004, pp.117-126), the CSE particles typically

occur in sentence-final position and are syntactically optional in that their omission

does not affect the grammatically of the sentence.

Here are some examples from discourse particles (Lim, 2004, pp. 117-126):

2.2.1

Lah

indicates speaker’s mood/attitude and appeals to addressee to

accommodate the mood/attitude. Moods such as

persuasive, clarity, and

emphasis. Attitudes such as solidarity and hostility.

Example:

(5)

There's something here for everybody lah.

lah is used to highly general particle by appealing to the

addressee, is consistent with the impression that lah is a solidarity

marker.

2.2.2

Ma indicates information as obvious.

Example:

(6)

You page for me ma.

Ma is used to presents the suggestion as being a relatively

simple solution to as situation, and hence, one that should have been

obvious.

2.2.3

Wat

Wat indicates information as obvious and contradictory.

Example:

(7)

You can read now wat!

Wat is used to presents a piece of information as being

obvious.

The difference between ma

and wat

is that when wat

is used, the

obvious information also carries the force of a contradiction to something that

has previously been asserted. This force of contradiction is not present in the

case of ma.

2.2.4 Meh

Meh indicates skepticism.

Example:

(8)

This is a good movie meh?

Meh is used to express skepticism.

2.2.5

Leh

Leh marks a tentative suggestion or request.

Example:

(9)

I want to eat leh. I want to take my vitamin A.

Leh is used to marks an assertion or request as being tentative,

thus working as a pragmatic softener.

2.2.6

Lor

Lor indicates obviousness or a sense of resignation.

Example:

(10)

I think it's quite… It's the way I've been brought up lor.

Lor is used to indicate that piece of information should be

obvious to the addressee, and it also indicates a sense of resignation

(polysemous).

2.2.7

Hor

Hor asserts and elicits support for a proposition.

Example:

(11)

Remind me to tell Jim about the group discussion hor.

Hor is used to repair device, conveying the speaker’s

insistence that there be a response, preferably a supportive one, of

course.

2.2.8

Ah is question marker, wh-question, declarative and imperative.

Example:

(12)

Sorry I am late. You have eaten dinner ah?

Ah is used to mark a question which can either take the form

of a Wh-interrogative or a declarative.

There are three particles, ma, wat, and lor, that indicate a piece of information

as being obvious. However, there are differences between them. The particle ma

perhaps the most ’neutral’ in that other than indicating obviousness, it does little else.

The other two particles, wat

and lor, in addition to obviousness, also convey,

respectively, a challenge to some earlier proposition or a sense if resignation.

2.3

Factors That Influence Styles

People often use language in a way to send signals or their membership in

certain groups. Holmes (2000,

p.123) states that, "status, people, ethnicity, age,

gender, and type of a person's social network can become an important dimension of

identity in many societies". There are so many sources of variation in the speech,

which why no two people are exactly the same talk, because even a single vowel can

be pronounced in hundreds of different ways that most listeners are not careful and

do not realize it.

However, several features of the speech was distributed by the group, and to

be important because they distinguish one group from another. To better explain how

the speech reflects their group membership, there are three different sentences as

mentioned by Holmes (2000, p.223) are listed below,

(13)

From a friend

Where were you last night? I rang to see if you wanted to come to the

pictures.

(14)

In court from a lawyer

Could you tell the court where you were on the afternoon of

Wednesday the seventeenth of March?

(15)

From a teacher to his pupils in school on the day after Hallowe’en.

I know some of you went ‘trick-or-treating’ last night and so I thought

we might talk a bit today about how you got on. Did you go out last

night Jimmy?

The third narrative has one root point, which is trying to get the same

information from the receiver, but every request is quite different because the context

otherwise influenced by the speaker on the appropriate form of the question.

Initially, the language varies according to its use and users, according to

which is used and to whom, and according to who is using it. The speakers and the

context influence our choice of code or diversity (Holmes 2000, p.223), this feature

is also known as a style feature. There are several features that affect a person's style.

2.3.1

Addressee as an Influence on Style

Holmes (2008, p. 236) provides an example of the language used by

different people with different addressee.

(16)

Excuse me. Could I have a look at your photos too, Mrs Hall?

(17)

C’mon Tony, gizzalook, gizzalook.

According to Holmes (2008, p. 236), the first utterance in example 1

is addressed by a teenage boy with his mother when he was shown

photographs of the child ski holiday to an adult friend. Speech addressed to

his second when he was brought round photo holiday itself. the better you

know someone, the more casual and relaxed style of speech that you will use

to them. people use much more standard form for those who do not they

know the shape well, and the more vernacular to their friends. Relations of

speakers to the receivers are very important in determining the right style to

speak. And how well you know someone or how close you feel to their

relative social distance / solidarity -

is an important dimension of social

relations.

Many factors can contribute in determining the degree of solidarity or

social distance between people - relative age, social roles, gender, whether

people work together, or are part of the same family, and so on. These factors

may also be relevant with the relative social status. I will illustrate how the

age of the person addressed may influence a speaker's style by discussing

(Holmes, 2008, pp.236-237).

2.3.2

Age of Addressee

(Holmes, 2008, p.237) provides an example of the language used by

different people with different age.

(18)

Mrs N : Oooh, he’s walking already.

Mother : Oh, yes, he’s such a clever little fellow aren’t you?

Mrs N : Hullo coogieboo. Eeeee… loo, diddle diddle dur. Ohh

eechy, weechy poo poo. Ohh eechy, peachy poo poo. There

look at him laughing. Oh he’s a chirpy little fellow. Yeees.

Whoooo’s a chirpy little fellow eh? Yes. Ooooh, can he talk?

Can he talk eh, eh?

According to Holmes (2008, p.237), pronounced with a high tone and

sing - song intonation, there is little doubt about the appropriate recipient of

greeting as in example 2. Example of this comes, however, from the Monty

Python sketch in which these utterances addressed to the speaker's adult son,

who responded with "Yes, of course I can talk, I'm the Minister of Overseas

Development '. Humor depends on the audience's perception of the

inappropriateness of adult statusful handle it this way.

People usually talk differently to children and adults - although some

adjust their speaking style or 'accommodate' more than others. Speaking of

younger siblings, even children aged 3-year-olds have heard such singing-

songs intonation and 'baby -

speak' the words like a doggie, that they no

longer use themselves. When speaking or writing age of 6 years as opposed

to 30 years, most people choose a simple vocabulary and grammatical

constructions (Holmes, 2008, p.237).

2.4

Social Factors

According to Holmes (2000, p.1), much information can be obtained by

examining people in using language to interact with others, about how language

works. In different social contexts, people may have used different language. How

you speak, to whom you speak, when and where you can talk shows social

relationships between speakers. Through their language, they signal their social

identity.

Example:

(19)

Ray: Hi, Mum.

Mum: Hi, You’re late.

Ray: Yeah, that bastard Sootbucket kept us in again.

Mum: Mona’s here.

Ray: Oh sorry. Where is she?

(Holmes, 2000, p.1)

From the last sentence spoken by Ray, it can be concluded that Ray does not want

her grandmother to hear Ray talk

like that to his teacher. Considerations appear to

whom they speak and where they talk. The way people feel also

matters, so that the

same message may be expressed in a different way, depends on how people feel at

the time.

The next example shows the same message but the delivery is different,

depending on who is talking.

Example:

(20)

Ray: Good afternoon, sir.

Principal: What are you doing here at this time?

Ray: Mr. Milton kept us in, sir.

(Holmes, 2000, p.1)

The way Ray responds to the Principal’s question reflects his

awareness of social

factors. This affects the selection of the proper way to speak with the principal, given

the relationship between teachers and students and formalities involved in the

relationship.

The relationship between language and context that is used is the main

concern in this topic. It can be seen from a conversation between Ray and his mother

how language can have various functions. A single utterance of Ray,

(21)

Yeah, that bastard Sootbucket kept us in again

not only tells his mother why he is late, but also, from his choice of words, tells her

how he feels about the teacher. We can also look at the relationship between Ray and

his mother or grandmother, Ray uses the word 'bastard' in front of his mother, but not

in front of his grandmother. Ray’s relationship with his mother is an intimate and

friendly one, rather than a formal and respectful one.

Social factors always affect people in the way they use language. The

Settings (home, office, school) usually is a relevant factor. The purpose of the

interaction is important. In some cases, even the topic, can determined the choice of

language. Some of the factors that people should consider the delivery of messages

to the other participants effectively, as stated by Holmes (2000, p.1) are:

1. The participants – who is speaking and

who are they speaking to?

2. The setting or social context of the interaction – where they are speaking?

3. The topic – what is being talked about?

4. The function – why are they speaking?

Although Holmes (2000, p.8) states that, not all factors are relevant in a particular

context, they can be grouped in a useful way. Language option will generally reflect

the influence of one or more components listed above.

In addition to these components, Holmes (2000,

p.9) gives a more detailed

explanation of the social factors into the larger scope of the social dimension.