The sound of an identity: A look into the Singaporean accent

This is the voice of a Singaporean.

Listen to enough of them, and they reveal...

… an accent that sounds unmistakably Singaporean.

icture this: You’re halfway across the world in a crowded cafe. Around you is the predictable bustle of glasses clinking and chairs scraping the floor. People are talking loudly, but the languages and accents are foreign to you.

Then one voice catches your ear.

You may not catch the entire sentence. You hear no Singlish – no “lah” or “shiok”. But there is something in the way the words are spoken and emphasised, how the pitch rises and falls, a recognisable cadence that gives the speech a distinctive melody.

As if picking up a familiar tune, you instinctively know: It’s the Singaporean accent.

An accent is a combination of features, including how we pronounce consonants and vowels, where we place stress, how we intonate and the unique rhythm of our speech, explains Tan Ying Ying, an associate professor of linguistics and multilingual studies at the School of Humanities in Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

While different communities of people in Singapore have slightly different accents, says Tan, there is a fairly standard set of shared features that sounds Singaporean.

It begins with how we pronounce certain sounds.

The way one speaks is influenced by articulators, which are parts of the body in the mouth, throat and nose that move or shape airflow to create speech sounds.

Consonants are pronounced by blocking or restricting airflow with various articulators, like the lips, tongue or teeth. When pronouncing vowels, air flows out through the mouth freely, while articulators like the lips shape each sound.

Let’s take a look at how vowels and consonants are pronounced in the word “keep” .

Some of these subtle differences in how people produce some consonants and vowels are the building blocks of what makes up an accent.

So what do these differences look like?

We used the National Speech Corpus, developed by the Infocomm Media Development Authority, and listened to more than 800 recordings of Singaporeans saying the same sentence...

... to analyse how Singaporeans pronounce consonants , such as “t”, “d” and “r”, and consonant sounds , such as “th”. Here is what we found.

We found that the “th” sound was pronounced differently, depending on where it appeared in a word.

The “r” sound in “figure” was dropped by the majority of the respondents.

Most respondents also dropped the final consonants of words. However, there were two main exceptions.

Using the pronunciation data from all the recordings, this visualisation shows how an average Singaporean would pronounce this sentence.

While the sentence we looked at shows various features of the Singaporean accent, it is far from exhaustive. Tan believes it may not be possible to pin down all the features that make up an accent.

For instance, vowels are a big part of the Singaporean accent’s sound system.

“Vowels often capture the accent of speakers,” says Christina Low, who holds a PhD in linguistics from NTU. “A difference in vowel sounds can show that you’re from a specific region or country.”

Let’s take a look at how the vowel in the word “dance” is said in different accents.

Another important component of an accent is prosody – the stress, intonation and rhythm of speech.

Adam Chong, an associate professor of phonology and language processing at the University of Oxford, explains that people often describe the Singaporean accent as having a staccato rhythm, with a bit of a sing-song quality.

We looked at the recordings to see how intonation and rhythm play a part in one sounding Singaporean.

Here is Shannon, a woman in her 20s, saying the same sentence.

Intonation , which refers to the rise and fall of one's voice’s pitch when speaking, can explain the sing-song quality of the Singaporean accent.

To visualise this, we extracted pitch data from Shannon’s recording and mapped it to the height of each word, just like how you would on a music sheet.

Tan describes intonation in the Singaporean accent, especially among the Chinese, as a melody with note-by-note level tones, rather than a smooth tune. Such a regular alternation of low-high tones across a sentence can also result in the accent sounding rhythmic, explains Chong.

Word duration is another factor that can contribute to the rhythm of our accent. To account for that, we measured the timing of each word...

… and represented each word’s duration through its width.

Most words tend to be similar in duration, but those at the end of a phrase or sentence are often stretched slightly longer.

Now, with the pitch and duration data from all the recordings, here is how an average Singaporean would pronounce this sentence.

Our findings draw from just 800 audio recordings, but there are more than three million Singaporeans in the country.

While we can identify broad features of speech that make the Singaporean accent unique, based on the data available, identifying every distinct feature remains a complex – perhaps impossible – task.

What does your Singaporean accent look like?

An accent is more than just how we speak – it reveals where we came from and how we got here.

English was introduced to South-east Asia with the arrival of the British in the late 1700s, reaching Singapore in 1819. But for much of the 19th century, Malay and Malay-based contact languages remained the region’s lingua franca, or common language.

That early history matters because the people who first learnt and spoke English in Singapore helped shape the way the language would eventually sound.

We know from research that the earliest population of learners (of English) is really crucial in shaping the features of the English spoken in a particular region.

Rebecca Starr, associate professor in the English, linguistics and theatre studies department at the National University of Singapore.

The people who first taught English in Singapore included teachers from British India, Eurasians and Westerners from different countries. The early learners were primarily speakers of Malay-based contact languages like Baba Malay and Kristang and, a little later, speakers of Chinese dialects, says Rebecca Starr, an associate professor of the National University of Singapore’s English, linguistics and theatre Studies department.

“After English-medium schools had been established, you started to have teachers who were educated locally teaching in schools. So, the language backgrounds of early students in these schools accounts for why Malay – as well as Chinese dialects – has a huge impact on the Singaporean accent,” Starr adds.

Some of those influences can still be heard in the way Singaporeans speak English today.

But tracing the origins of an accent is rarely straightforward.

Chong says: “The Singaporean accent doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Especially in these kinds of contact situations, it can be hard to tell what exactly contributed to how the language has evolved.”

Accents, like languages, never stop evolving.

“Academically, we can derive rules and find patterns in language. But if we really think about the way we use it, the fluidity is always there,” says Tan.

“Language is alive, and it doesn’t evolve just because it has to; it evolves because people are making it so,” she adds.

That evolution continues as Singapore becomes more globally connected and Singaporeans become increasingly mobile.

Exposure to other cultures and ways of speaking can, often subconsciously, prompt speakers to adopt new speech patterns – whether for practical reasons, such as being better understood abroad, or social reasons, such as fitting in.

Academics have already observed some changes among younger Singaporeans. For instance, Chong says, some are becoming more rhotic – meaning that they pronounce the “r” sound in words where it appears in the spelling.

For example, instead of pronouncing “car” as “kah”, a more rhotic speaker would pronounce the “r” at the end, as in “kahr”. The same can be seen in words such as “figure”, where the final “r” is pronounced by rhotic speakers.

One possible reason is increased exposure to American English.

“In general, rhoticity is associated with American English. People could be influenced by things they watch on Netflix or any other American media they consume. They may think that Americans are more trendy, modern and fun. So, they might adopt some of their speech features, like rhoticity,” says Tan.

But not all academics agree. Starr argues that reduced exposure to British English – which, like Singapore English, is non-rhotic – rather than increased exposure to American English, may be contributing to the change.

Low says her research in language variation and change shows that the Singaporean accent is increasingly localised.

It indicates that we have arrived at an accent of our own.

Christina Low, instructor in the Master of Arts in Linguistics programme at Nanyang Technological University

“If you compare younger and older speakers, the younger speakers’ vowels tend to be less intense and deliberate. There is less effort in trying to approximate the vowels of an external variety such as British or American English,” she says.

Why does an accent shift? Because of what we perceive as socially valuable.

“Prestige is not random. It is driven by societal norms or what society or communities of speakers believe will allow them to associate more with what is considered to be valuable,” says Tan.

Prestige has traditionally been closely tied to institutional power – financial, educational or political. But today, social media also has a say in who gets to wield that influence.

“With influencers, for instance, the power is slightly different. It’s a kind of widespread media power – the power of the masses and the cool,” Tan says. “They may not be royalty or politicians, but they have soft power and it can change what people view as valuable.”

For example, content creators with large followings, as well as media personalities, may encourage audiences to pick up features associated with American English – particularly when an American-sounding accent is perceived as more aspirational or fashionable.

One such feature is flapping, a characteristic of many American English varieties in which the “t” or “d” sound between vowels may be pronounced as a quick tap, causing the consonants in words such as “writer” and “rider” to sound alike.

The Speak Good English Movement in Singapore is one example of how language policy can influence those perceptions. Launched in 2000, it was intended to address concerns that Singlish was becoming too prevalent and could undermine Singapore’s ambitions as a first-world economy.

Posters that were used during the 2019 campaign of the Speak Good English Movement. PHOTO: SPEAK GOOD ENGLISH MOVEMENT

Mugs with tips on speaking good English were used to serve hot drinks at food and beverage outlets as part of the Speak Good English Movement campaign in 2013. ST PHOTO: NURIA LING

A “Get It Right” sticky note from the Speak Good English Movement in 2010. PHOTO: SPEAK GOOD ENGLISH MOVEMENT

“Policies have been put in place to try to raise English standards, but at the same time, the messaging that comes through runs contrary to that, and that is ‘we’re never going to be good enough’,” says Tan.

She sees this as part of a uniquely Singaporean tension, where remnants of a post-colonial mindset can persist in the way some Singaporeans view English – as a language that does not quite belong to them.

But she argues that it is time to reconsider that idea.

She says: “Colonialism is an old word, and we are so far removed from it now. And if we start thinking about the language that we acquire, and what we grow up with, and what has been nativised in this particular land, then this is what is ours.”

The sounds that mark the Singaporean accent today may not be the same ones that define it a generation from now.

Some linguists posit that Singaporeans will sound more homogenised; others think they will sound more diverse. In either case, the widespread use of the Singaporean accent signals that Singaporeans are more comfortable and confident about the way they sound and speak than they were in the past.

“I think there are many possible ways the accent can shift. But my guess is that the younger generation is pretty proud of the fact that they are Singaporeans, and there isn’t an external standard to follow,” says Low.

A local content creator and actress, Caitanya Tan, who has created several viral videos on the Singaporean accent, thinks that Singaporeans need to be even more confident in the way they speak.

She says: “When I started creating these videos, it was because I didn’t understand why I shouldn’t be proud to be Singaporean. If we don’t stand up for ourselves, then who is going to stand up for us?”

In the same vein, NTU’s Tan Ying Ying believes that Singaporeans should embrace how they sound.

“This accent is ours,” she says. “It has evolved over time, and with different communities of speakers coming together.”

Tan Ying Ying, associate professor of linguistics and multilingual studies at the School of Humanities in Nanyang Technological University

这是新加坡人的声音。

只要多听听他们的说法，就会发现……

……一口地道的新加坡口音。

想象一下：你身处地球另一端，坐在一家拥挤的咖啡馆里。周围是熟悉的喧闹声：杯子碰撞，椅子摩擦地面。人们大声交谈，但你听不懂他们的语言和口音。

这时，一个声音引起了你的注意。

你可能无法听清整句话。你听不到新加坡式英语——没有“lah”或“shiok”。但说话的方式和重音，音调的起伏，以及可辨识的节奏，都赋予了这段话独特的旋律。

就像听到一首熟悉的曲子，你本能地知道：这是新加坡口音。

南洋理工大学（NTU）人文学院语言学和多语言研究副教授谭莹莹解释说，口音是多种特征的组合，包括我们如何发音辅音和元音、重音的位置、语调以及我们说话的独特节奏。

Tan表示，虽然新加坡不同族群的人们口音略有不同，但新加坡人的口音有一些相当标准的共同特征。

这一切都始于我们如何发某些音。

说话方式受发音器官的影响，发音器官是口腔、咽喉和鼻腔中移动或塑造气流以产生语音的身体部位。

辅音的发音是通过嘴唇、舌头或牙齿等不同的发音器官阻挡或限制气流来实现的。而元音的发音则不同，气流可以自由地从口腔流出，嘴唇等发音器官则负责塑造每个音节的形状。

让我们来看看单词“keep”中元音和辅音的发音。

人们在发音某些辅音和元音时的一些细微差别，构成了口音的基础。

那么，这些差异具体体现在哪些方面呢？

我们使用了新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局开发的国家语音语料库，并聆听了800多段新加坡人说同一句话的录音……

……分析新加坡人如何发辅音，例如“t”、“d”和“r”，以及辅音音素，例如“th”。以下是我们的发现。

我们发现，“th”音的发音会根据它在单词中出现的位置而有所不同。

大多数受访者省略了“figure”中的“r”音。

大多数受访者也省略了单词的最后一个辅音。然而，有两个主要的例外。

利用所有录音的发音数据，该可视化图表展示了新加坡普通人会如何发音这句话。

我们分析的句子虽然展现了新加坡口音的多种特征，但这远非全部。谭认为，或许不可能完全概括构成一种口音的所有特征。

例如，元音是新加坡口音语音系统的重要组成部分。

“元音往往能反映说话者的口音，”拥有南洋理工大学语言学博士学位的克里斯蒂娜·洛说。“元音发音的差异可以表明你来自哪个特定的地区或国家。”

让我们来看看“dance”这个词中的元音在不同口音中是如何发音的。

口音的另一个重要组成部分是韵律——说话的重音、语调和节奏。

牛津大学语音学和语言处理副教授亚当·钟解释说，人们经常把新加坡口音描述为断断续续的节奏，带有一点唱歌般的特质。

我们查看了录音，以了解语调和节奏如何在新加坡口音的形成中发挥作用。

这是香农，一位二十多岁的女性，说的也是同样的话。

语调是指说话时声音音高的升降，它可以解释新加坡口音的抑扬顿挫。

为了将这一点可视化，我们从香农的录音中提取了音高数据，并将其映射到每个单词的高度，就像在乐谱上一样。

谭教授将新加坡口音，尤其是华人口音的语调描述为一种逐音符音高变化的旋律，而非流畅的曲调。钟教授解释说，这种句子中高低音的规律性交替也会使口音听起来富有节奏感。

单词时长是影响我们口音节奏的另一个因素。为了解释这一点，我们测量了每个单词的时长……

……并通过单词的宽度来表示每个单词的持续时间。

大多数单词的时长都比较接近，但短语或句子末尾的单词通常会稍微拉长一些。

现在，根据所有录音的音调和时长数据，以下是新加坡普通人会如何发音这句话。

我们的研究结果仅基于 800 段录音，但新加坡有超过 300 万人口。

虽然我们可以根据现有数据识别出新加坡口音的独特之处，但要识别出每一个独特的特征仍然是一项复杂的——或许是不可能的——任务。

你的新加坡口音是什么样的？

口音不仅仅是我们说话的方式——它揭示了我们来自哪里，以及我们如何走到今天。

英语随着英国人在 18 世纪末的到来传入东南亚，并于 1819 年传入新加坡。但在 19 世纪的大部分时间里，马来语和以马来语为基础的接触语言仍然是该地区的通用语。

这段早期历史很重要，因为最早在新加坡学习和使用英语的人们帮助塑造了英语最终的发音方式。

研究表明，最早一批学习英语的人群对于塑造特定地区英语的特点至关重要。

丽贝卡·斯塔尔，新加坡国立大学英语、语言学和戏剧研究系副教授。

新加坡国立大学英语、语言学和戏剧研究系副教授丽贝卡·斯塔尔表示，最早在新加坡教授英语的人包括来自英属印度的教师、欧亚混血儿和来自不同国家的西方人。早期的学习者主要讲以马来语为基础的接触语言，例如峇峇马来语和克里斯坦语，稍晚一些时候则讲汉语方言。

“英语学校建立之后，开始有本地受过教育的教师在学校任教。因此，这些学校早期学生的语言背景解释了为什么马来语——以及汉语方言——对新加坡口音产生了巨大影响，”斯塔尔补充道。

如今新加坡人说英语的方式中，仍然可以听出一些当时的某些影响。

但追溯一种口音的起源很少是一帆风顺的。

Chong表示：“新加坡口音并非孤立存在。尤其是在这种语言接触情境中，很难说清楚究竟是什么因素促成了语言的演变。”

口音和语言一样，从未停止演变。

“从学术角度来看，我们可以推导出语言的规则和模式。但如果我们真正思考一下我们使用语言的方式，就会发现语言的灵活性始终存在，”谭说道。

她补充说：“语言是有生命的，它的发展并非仅仅因为必须如此；它的发展是因为人们赋予了它意义。”

随着新加坡与全球联系日益紧密，新加坡人的流动性也越来越强，这种演变仍在继续。

接触其他文化和说话方式，往往会在潜意识里促使说话者采用新的说话方式——无论是出于实际原因（例如在国外更容易被理解），还是出于社会原因（例如融入群体）。

学者们已经观察到新加坡年轻人的一些变化。例如，Chong指出，有些人开始更多地使用卷舌音——也就是说，他们会在单词拼写中出现“r”音的地方发出该音。

例如，与其将“car”发音为“kah”，更擅长卷舌音的人会把词尾的“r”发音为“kahr”。同样的情况也出现在“figure”这样的词中，擅长卷舌音的人会把词尾的“r”发音出来。

其中一个可能的原因是接触美式英语的机会增多。

“一般来说，卷舌音与美式英语联系在一起。人们可能会受到他们在Netflix或其他美国媒体上观看的内容的影响。他们可能认为美国人更时尚、更现代、更有趣。因此，他们可能会采纳一些美国人的语言特征，比如卷舌音，”谭说道。

但并非所有学者都认同这一观点。斯塔尔认为，导致这种变化的原因可能是接触英式英语（与新加坡英语一样，都是非卷舌音）的机会减少，而不是接触美式英语的机会增加。

Low表示，她对语言变异和变化的研究表明，新加坡口音越来越本土化。

这表明我们已经形成了自己的口音。

克里斯蒂娜·洛，南洋理工大学语言学硕士课程讲师

“如果你比较一下年轻说话者和年长说话者，你会发现年轻说话者的元音往往不那么强烈和刻意。他们不太会费力去模仿外部语言变体（例如英式英语或美式英语）的元音，”她说。

为什么口音会发生变化？因为我们认为某些东西具有社会价值。

“声望并非偶然。它是由社会规范驱动的，或者说是由社会或群体认为能够让他们与被认为有价值的事物联系起来的事物所驱动的，”谭说道。

传统上，声望与机构权力——金融、教育或政治权力——密切相关。但如今，社交媒体也对谁能行使这种影响力产生影响。

“例如，网红的力量就略有不同。这是一种广泛的媒体力量——大众和潮流的力量，”谭说道。“他们或许不是皇室成员或政客，但他们拥有软实力，可以改变人们对价值的看法。”

例如，拥有大量粉丝的内容创作者以及媒体名人可能会鼓励观众学习与美式英语相关的特征——尤其是在美式口音被认为更具抱负或更时尚的情况下。

其中一项特点是拍音，这是许多美式英语变体的特征，其中元音之间的“t”或“d”音可以发成快速的敲击声，导致“writer”和“rider”等单词中的辅音听起来很相似。

新加坡的“讲好英语运动”就是一个语言政策如何影响人们认知的例子。该运动于2000年发起，旨在解决人们对新加坡式英语（Singlish）日益盛行，可能损害新加坡跻身世界一流经济体之列的担忧。

这是2019年“讲好英语运动”宣传活动中使用的海报。图片来源：讲好英语运动

2013年，作为“讲好英语运动”的一部分，餐饮店使用印有讲解英语技巧的马克杯来盛装热饮。照片由《海峡时报》努里亚·林拍摄。

这是2010年“说好英语运动”推出的一张“说对”便签。图片来源：说好英语运动

“政府已经制定了一些政策来提高英语水平，但与此同时，传达的信息却与此背道而驰，那就是‘我们永远都不够好’，”谭说道。

她认为这是新加坡特有的紧张局势的一部分，后殖民时代的思维残余仍然体现在一些新加坡人看待英语的方式上——英语是一种不完全属于他们的语言。

但她认为现在是时候重新考虑这个想法了。

她说：“殖民主义是一个古老的词，我们现在已经远离它了。如果我们开始思考我们所习得的语言，我们从小接触的东西，以及这片土地上已经本土化的事物，那么这些才是真正属于我们的。”

如今新加坡口音的标志性发音，或许与下一代人所熟悉的新加坡口音有所不同。

一些语言学家认为新加坡人的口音会更加趋于同质化；另一些语言学家则认为他们的口音会更加多样化。无论如何，新加坡口音的广泛使用都表明，新加坡人比过去更加自信，也更加自在地表达自己的声音。

“我认为口音变化的方式有很多种。但我猜想，年轻一代对自己是新加坡人感到非常自豪，而且也没有外部标准可以遵循，”Low说道。

新加坡本土内容创作者兼演员 Caitanya Tan 制作了多部关于新加坡口音的爆款视频，她认为新加坡人需要对自己的说话方式更有自信。

她说：“我开始制作这些视频，是因为我不明白为什么我不应该为自己是新加坡人而感到自豪。如果我们不为自己挺身而出，那么谁会为我们挺身而出呢？”

同样，南洋理工大学的陈莹莹认为，新加坡人应该接受自己的口音。

“这是我们自己的口音，”她说。“它随着时间的推移而演变，也是不同语言群体融合的结果。”

谭莹莹，南洋理工大学人文学院语言学与多语言研究副教授