Intriguing Singapore English

What's Singapore English?

If you hear the locals uttering a language that seems to contain many English words and yet does not sound like English, that's probably Singlish - our very own colloquial brand of English in Singapore. Spoken by the locals during informal interactions to strike a common sense of understanding and identity as fellow Singaporeans, Singlish is characterised by a staccato feel, severe elimination of English articles and verbs and an interesting inclusion of particles such as ah, loh, lah, leh, etc originating from the local dialects. You will be intrigued if I tell you that linguists from the academic community believe that Singlish, just like English, is a beautiful language that has its very own special grammar, structure, and unique intonation pattern to indicate emphasis of meanings! In defense of Singlish, they have argued against the elimination of the language, a common proposal especially during the Speak Good English Campaign, and believe that the adoption of Singlish will not thwart the efforts of young children trying to pick up proper English.