107 replies to this topic

[General_Zhaoyun]

Many overseas chinese community in Singapore (Singaporean chinese) speak a variant of english language known as "Singlish", which is only understood by the Singaporean. Although Singapore government tries to discourage the use of Singlish, "Singlish" is very much spoken among the community in Singapore. Most foreigners will have problem understanding this language.

Singlish is a mixed form of "English language" with many Hokkien words, Malay words etc, coupled with some chinese grammatical structure. It aroses simply because English wasn't the native language of many Singaporeans (whether it's chinese, malay, Indian) and the locals adapted the language for their own use.
In a multi-lingual and multi-cultural society such as Singapore, it is common for languages to be mixed and inter-used. In fact, colloqually, Singaporeans speak a rather mixed non-pure languages that might consist of Singlish, Mandarin, Hokkien, Malay etc.

The best site for getting to know about "Singlish" is http://www.talkingcock.com/

I'll just give some examples of Singlish which exhibited some chinese grammatical influence:

E.g.
1. Singlish: "Eh, you good or not?" OR "how?"
Derivation from chinese: 你好不好？ Or 怎样，好吗？

The above means "how're you?" or "Are you fine?" in proper english. It was derived from direct chinese character by character translation and exhibited some chinese grammatical structure.

2. Singlish: "Eh", "leh", "loh", "lah"

These are chinese particles （助词） such as 啦 ， 喽, 哦

3. Wah Lau - 我老 （literally "my oldie"), Kayboh - 鸡婆 (literally "chicken women")

Wah Lau is a Hokkien term that means "my god", while Kayboy is a hokkien term that means "busy body".

e.g. "Wah lau eh, why you so kayboh"?
(My god, why are you busy body?)

E.g. of Singlish with malay words:

1. Alamak
- means "my god", "oh dear" (e.g. alamak, I forgot to bring my wallet..)

2. Botak
- means "bald" (e.g. that botak guy..)

3. Kena
- Malay term which denotes that something has happened. Closest English approximation is "to get". (e.g. he kana hit by someone today..)

I'm just wondering if you have any Singlish terminology and usage you can contribute. Please try to give some explanation of what it means and its grammatic/term origin (for e.g. from hokkien/malay) etc.

[xng]

3. [b]Wah Lau - 我老 （literally "my oldie"),

Wah Lau is a Hokkien term that means "my god"

Actually, the original version is 'Gua lan' which is a vulgar hokkien word. (meaning 'my dick')

Somehow because of wide usage, it has been transformed slightly, and the people lost its original meaning.

Do taiwanese has Gua lau ? If not, my assumption is correct, that it should be Gua lan.

I still hear some singaporeans saying Gua Lan.

[sg_han]

shouldnt it be wa lan

[General_Zhaoyun]

Actually, the original version is 'Gua lan' which is a vulgar hokkien word. (meaning 'my dick')

Somehow because of wide usage, it has been transformed slightly, and the people lost its original meaning.

Do taiwanese has Gua lau ? If not, my assumption is correct, that it should be Gua lan.

I still hear some singaporeans saying Gua Lan.

I've never heard of Taiwanese having "Gua Lan". But in Singlish, there is a vulgar hokkien term called "Guai Lan" (strange dick), which literally describe someone who is malicious or an irritant, often someone who manages to stir up trouble over trifling matters.

shouldnt it be wa lan

"Wa Lao" and "Wa Lan" can be used interchangeably. "Wa Lan" literally is more vulgar and means "my dick" (Hokkien)

[liuzg150181]

Actually, the original version is 'Gua lan' which is a vulgar hokkien word. (meaning 'my dick')

Somehow because of wide usage, it has been transformed slightly, and the people lost its original meaning.

Do taiwanese has Gua lau ? If not, my assumption is correct, that it should be Gua lan.

I still hear some singaporeans saying Gua Lan.

I had chatting with a Taiwanese internet friend using MSN msger, he observed that Taiwanese 'Hokkien' dialect(which they call 'Min Nan hua'閩南話) is rather different from Singapore counterpart. After i told him that we Singaporeans call it 'Hokkien huay'(福建話) he posited that it might due to the fact that Taiwanese derived their 'Hokkien' dialect exclusively from the Fujian province(thus 'Min'-Fujian,and 'nan'-south), whereas Singapore 'Hokkien' is perhaps a conglomeration of both Northen & southern dialects.

[sg_han]

zhaoyun i was directing it at xng lol...cause he said gua lan and i haven heard of it before despite being here for the last 18 yrs....

and yes...i think you have already corrected him...it should be guai lan

I had chatting with a Taiwanese internet friend using MSN msger, he observed that Taiwanese 'Hokkien' dialect(which they call 'Min Nan hua'閩南話) is rather different from Singapore counterpart. After i told him that we Singaporeans call it 'Hokkien huay'(福建話) he posited that it might due to the fact that Taiwanese derived their 'Hokkien' dialect exclusively from the Fujian province(thus 'Min'-Fujian,and 'nan'-south), whereas Singapore 'Hokkien' is perhaps a conglomeration of both Northen & southern dialects.

and in addition , malay

[xng]

shouldnt it be wa lan

Different minnan dialects use different sound for 'me'. Some use "gua" , some use "wa".

The two sounds are very close.

It is just like the distinction between Li and Ni for taiwanese 'you' or cantonese 'nei' and 'lei'.

Edited by xng, 12 August 2006 - 10:15 AM.

[xng]

zhaoyun i was directing it at xng lol...cause he said gua lan and i haven heard of it before despite being here for the last 18 yrs....

and yes...i think you have already corrected him...it should be guai lan
and in addition , malay

"Guai Lan" and "Gua lan" have different meanings.

Edited by xng, 12 August 2006 - 10:15 AM.

[xng]

"Wa Lao" and "Wa Lan" can be used interchangeably. "Wa Lan" literally is more vulgar and means "my dick" (Hokkien)

It used to be only spoken by men but nowadays, the girls also speak them.

When I asked them "Do you know what is the real meaning ?", they said it is because everybody speaks it.

[liuzg150181]

"Guai Lan" and "Gua lan" have different meanings.

Gua is the correct pronounciation for "me" and not "wa" which is a mispronounciation for minnan. or rather another dialect of min bei.

To make things more complicated,i was told by my father that my paternal grandfather,who came from Fujian province in China to Singapore,knew how to speak in a western Fujian dialect known as 'nong nian hua',anyone knows anything about it?

[sg_han]

To make things more complicated,i was told by my father that my paternal grandfather,who came from Fujian province in China to Singapore,knew how to speak in a western Fujian dialect known as 'nong nian hua',anyone knows anything about it?

nope nv heard of i

[General_Zhaoyun]

In Taiwanese, 我 is pronounced as "Wa", while 我们 is pronounced as "Wun" or "Lan". Probably it's more influenced by Minbei dialect.

In Taiwanese, 你 is pronounced as "Li", while 你们 is pronounced as "Lin".

I notice in Singapore Hokkien, 我 is often used by adding a 人 to form 我人 (wa lang) to mean "I". And if it's 我们人, it's pronounced as "Wun Lang". Very rarely does "Wa" or "Wun" exist separately in Singapore Hokkien.

In Singaporea Hokkien, 你 is prononced as "le"

[sg_han]

It used to be only spoken by men but nowadays, the girls also speak them.

When I asked them "Do you know what is the real meaning ?", they said it is because everybody speaks it.

yup agreed xng=)...singaporeans are followers....haha....we can also see it from our food culture...the logner the queue the better the food haha

[General_Zhaoyun]

To make things more complicated,i was told by my father that my paternal grandfather,who came from Fujian province in China to Singapore,knew how to speak in a western Fujian dialect known as 'nong nian hua',anyone knows anything about it?

There are many dialects in Fujian province. The Hokkien dialect that's spoken in Singapore are actually Minnan dialect which is spoken in Southern Fujian area, predominantly from Xiamen area. Other than Minan, there are also Minbei dialects such as Putian hua, Fuchow Hua etc.

I wonder why there are no Tamil words in Singlish..

[sg_han]

ya hokkiens in singapore are mainly from zhangzhou and quanzhou...my one was from quanzhou