Einladung zum Vortrag von
Dr. Jakob Leimgruber
Albert Ludwigs Universität Freiburg

The management of multilingualism in a city-state
Zeit: Montag, 29.03.2010, 16.00 – 18.00 Uhr 
Ort: Mittelweg 177, 20148 Hamburg  4. Stock, Raum 4039

The management of multilingualism in a city-state

Singapore is unique among the world’s remaining city-states, not only in its fierce economic, political, and military independence, but also in its rich linguistic diversity. This diversity is reflected in the nation’s four official languages (English, Mandarin, Malay, Tamil), which are much more than simply a remnant of colonial times or the main languages of its majority ethnic groups. At the advent of self-government in 1959 and full independence in 1965, much thought went into language policies — policies that are constantly adapted to the perceived needs of the country.
In this talk I shall explore the background of the current linguistic diversity in Singapore, as well as the various policies that have been proposed and implemented over the years. These include the legislation with regards to official and national languages, the choice of the language of instruction in schools, and the related policies with respect to ethnic group management. The interplay between language and ethnicity are particularly important, in particular the planners’ endowment of Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil (the so-called ‘mother tongues’) with the task of upholding cultural values, with English being reserved, technically, for economic advancement.
These policies, and their real-life manifestations, such as the Speak Mandarin Campaign and the Speak Good English Movement, have had mixed results. The existence of Singlish, seen by planners as an obstacle to Standard English proficiency, has acquired a certain amount of local prestige, arguably as the only really Singaporean language (Alsagoff 2007), and seems, at the moment at least, to be here to stay. Mandarin, on the other hand, has gained considerable ground, and has, in a single generation, eclipsed other varieties of Chinese as the intra-ethnic lingua franca. I conclude with thoughts on how the emphasis on English and Mandarin has affected Malay and Tamil.
Zeit: Montag, 29.03.2010, 16.00 – 18.00 Uhr 
Ort: Mittelweg 177, 20148 Hamburg  4. Stock, Raum 4039
Prof. Dr. Peter Siemund, Coordinator
Prof. Dr. Ingrid Gogolin, Vice Coordinator