Coaxing Yarns out of Disjointed Sentences: from Instrumentality to Identity and Culture in Singapore Standard English

The Singapore government (the People's Action Party) stresses the importance of standard English through the education system, the press, and also the Speak Good English Movement (SGEM, launched in 2000). In this paper, I focus on the press and the SGEM to discuss two official approaches to the promotion of Singapore Standard English. One approach has involved emphasizing an SSE that is instrumental in ensuring Singapore’s growth in the global economy. The other approach involves allowing SSE to serve identity and cultural functions. My paper argues that Singapore's language policy is shifting beyond the economic instrumentality of the nation-building period; at the same time, a more culturally adaptable SSE has emerged in a citizen-led SGEM event and some autobiographical narratives published in the press