Singapore’s Speak Mandarin
Campaign
Language ideological debates and
the imagining of the nation
SINGAPORE
• Three major ethnic groups:
1-Chinese – 77.5 %
2-Malays – 14.2 %
3-Indians – 7.1%
Building a Nation:
Independence 1965
• People’s action party (PAP):
Attempted to reduce the linguistic diversity
and to homogenize the Chinese community.
PAP’s Action
• Bilingual education:
All students in Malay-Tamil and Mandarin
medium schools would learn English as a
second language.
All those in English medium schools would
learn the language associated with their ethnicity
as a second language.
English-knowing bilingualism:
MALAY-TAMIL
AND MANDARIN
ENGLISH
(MOTHER TONGUE)
NATIONAL LEVEL
INDIVIDUAL LEVEL
COMMUNITY LEVEL
IDENTITY
ETHNICITY
CULTURE
The speak Mandarin campaign:
• Three key official arguments:
1-Educational argument
2-Cultural argument
3-Communicative argument
The Campaign
• National Campaigns:
To direct and influence public awareness of certain
issues, to encourage people to behave in
specific desired ways, to control the spread of
certain ‘undesirable’ practices or values, as an
instrument for policy implementation, to
consolidate mass support, and ultimately to
psychologically build up the citizenry for the task
of nation-building.
The Crystallization of Language
Meanings
S.M.C aims to make Mandarin the mothertongue for all Chinese Singaporeans.
A race = A language = A culture
Heterogeneous community
• Unable to speak to one another.
• Common tongue should be Mandarin.
• Risk of having English as the common
language of Chinese Singaporeans.
Language and values
• With greater use of English, there is a fear
that people will loose some aspects of
their identity
• Chinese Singaporeans who do not know
Chinese – either Mandarin or dialect run
the risk of losing the collective wisdom of
the Chinese civilization
A sense of history
• Singapore’s history is short.
• If we know Mandarin, we can identify with
a 5000 year old civilization
• Although the official language of the
congress was English, the moment
someone spoke in Mandarin, the
atmosphere changed.
Mandarin vs dialects
• Speak more Mandarin and less dialect.
• Many campaigns were held to promote the
use of Mandarin.
Mandarin vs English
• The increasing use of English among
Singaporeans were considered to be a
problem.
• Deculturalised.
• Mandarin is more than a language.
Conclusion
• Since 1991, dialects no longer appear.
• The linguistic diversity characterizing the
Chinese community has thus been
homogenized.
• The Speak Mandarin Campaign has been
the catalyst of this journey, capturing the
debates within and over language
meanings in the imagining of Singapore.