Standardising the Chinese language in Singapore: issues of policy and practice. Issue 4 (21st April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Shang, Guowen; Zhao, Shouhui
• Is Part Of: Journal of multilingual and multicultural development. Volume 38:Issue 4(2017)
• Page Start: 315
• Page End: 329
• Publication Date: 2017-04-21
• Subjects: Chinese language -- standardisation -- norms -- Huayu -- Singapore; Multilingualism -- Periodicals; Multiculturalism -- Periodicals; 404.2
• DOI: 10.1080/01434632.2016.1201091
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0143-4632

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The selection of standards and norms constitutes the first and most important step for language standardisation. In this paper, we examine the standard establishment for Huayu (or Singapore Mandarin), a new Chinese variety that has emerged in Singapore as a result of centralised planning and inter-linguistic contact. Huayu is the officially designated mother tongue of the Chinese community and a second language in school education in Singapore. The overall linguistic features of Huayu largely conform to the norms practiced in mainland China, though this localised variety has developed a number of distinctive phonological, lexical and grammatical features. Singapore's government takes a Tacit Compliance Approach to the Mandarin norms, that is, exonormative standards are followed in an implicit manner. This pragmatic approach has engendered some confusion and dilemmas for Chinese language (CL) education in Singapore. Given the fact that Huayu is approaching a stage of nativisation, we propose the adoption of an explicit endonormative standard to cater to the pressing needs in CL teaching, learning and assessment.