Discourses of linguistic instrumentalism and identity : the evolution of the speak good English movement in Singapore

The inaugural launch of Singapore’s Speak Good English Movement on 29th April 2000 marked the start of governmental efforts to eradicate all use of Singlish in the nation-state – despite its growing stature as a marker of Singaporean identity – in favour of Standard Singapore English – which the political elite has considered crucial for the country’s continued economic prosperity. The motivation behind this language planning objective can be traced to the state’s conception of English as the international language of trade and commerce, with a primary function in the Singapore context of connecting the republic’s population with the rest of the global economy – thus explaining the state’s preoccupation in ensuring all English spoken in Singapore is of a globally intelligible, standard variety. However, recent events suggest that the government’s critical view of Singlish may be changing. Consequently, this paper seeks to investigate whether this has really been the case, by conducting a discourse analysis on key speeches delivered across the annual launches of the Speak Good English Movement from 2000-2015