Talking my language: ‘Singh Song!’
‘Singh Song!’
Start the lesson by looking at the title of the poem, with its double pun.
Having a sing-song voice is a characteristic of speakers who are influenced by another language and
have carried the ‘tune’ of that language over into English. They speak English words, but the tune is
close to that of another language.
Examples include: Welsh speakers of English, influenced by the mellifluous intonation of the Welsh
language; Italian speakers of English; Indian and Pakistani speakers of English. Nagra himself hints
that the ‘sing song’ is influenced by Punjabi – and slips in the pun on Singh, a common Sikh name.
The other pun is in the word ‘song’ – which can refer to singing, and a poem. In this case it does
both.
Spelling and grammar
The first thing that strikes you when reading ‘Singh Song!’ is the use of unorthodox spelling and
grammar. Ask the students to mark where the text diverges from orthodoxy, noting spelling that
indicates a distinct pronunciation, omission of words, inclusion of Punjabi words, etc.
Idiolect and dialect
Give students these two definitions from Wikipedia (or simplified versions if you prefer):
idiolect
A variety of a language unique to an individual. It is manifested by patterns of vocabulary or
idiom selection (the individual's lexicon), grammar, or pronunciations that are unique to the
individual. Every individual's language production is in some sense unique.
dialect
A variety of a language (specifically, often a spoken variety) that is characteristic of a particular
area, community or group, often with relatively minor differences in vocabulary, style, spelling
and pronunciation.
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Ask students to work out the main difference between the two.

Everyone has an idiolect, it’s as distinct as a fingerprint. We like certain words. We use certain
expressions. We pronounce things in our own characteristic way. No two people are identical.

A dialect, however, is a variety of the language spoken by a group of people; it is not unique to an
individual. Even if someone’s language is ‘posh’, they could be said to speaking a posh dialect.
Some dialects are well established – Yorkshire, Bristolian, Cockney, Geordie, Scouse,
Glaswegian, regional varieties from Cornwall, Norfolk, Cumberland Wales, Ireland, Birmingham –
in fact you can find regional ‘dialects’ of English wherever you go in the country.
Record your idiolect
You are now going to ask students to record their own idiolect. They should do this by modifying
spelling to show the special way they pronounce things, and by recording any unorthodox grammar
carefully.
To start with, show them an example, such as writing ‘breff’ rather than ‘breath’ if you make an ‘f’
sound rather than a ‘th’ sound at the end of the word.
Ask students to write about a recent incident that they witnessed, or that involved them – so that what
they are recording is personal too.
If students talk with a very orthodox accent and think that they therefore can’t do this task, ask them
to make a recording of themselves speaking informally and then work through it carefully, trying to
catch the distinctive ‘sayings’ that make their speech unique. For instance, they might say ‘house’ as
‘hice’, or there may be some features of the dialect spoken in the area – in Derbyshire some people
pronounce ‘right’ and ‘night’ as ‘rate’ and ‘nate’. They may realise they’re using a glottal stop,
skipping the ‘t’ sound in a word, saying ‘bo-ull’ instead of ‘bottle’, or pronouncing the ‘t’ as a ‘k’, ‘lickle’
instead of ‘little’.
For inspiration on spelling possibilities (and a giggle) visit one of the dialect translation sites – but
remember that you are trying to copy Nagra’s poem and record pronunciation, not just regional
dialect.
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whoohoo.co.uk
This translates your text automatically into dialect. The choice is:

Ali G Translator

Cockney Rhyming Slang Translator

Irish Translator

Scouse Translator

Yorkshire Chicken Run Translator

Brummie Translator

Geordie Translator

Scottie Translator

Jolly Well Spoken Translator
rinkworks.com/dialect
This American site specialises in ‘comic’ dialect translations, again using an automatic translating
program. You can choose from:

Redneck

Jive

Cockney

Elmer Fudd

Swedish Chef

Moron

Pig Latin

Hacker
geordie.org.uk
This site translates your text automatically into Geordie. Just type into the box provided. Note the use
of spelling to convey pronunciation.
yorkshire-dialect.org
This site has examples of verse written in Yorkshire dialect.
http://www.yorkshiredialect.com
A serious site about Yorkshire dialect.
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