Lionel Wee - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Lionel Wee

International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2008

Language Policy, 2007

Much language planning and policy is formulated around notions such as ethnicity and nation and t... more Much language planning and policy is formulated around notions such as ethnicity and nation and thus does not fit easily with the multilingual dynamics typical of late modern societies that are increasingly characterized by a culture of consumerism and class. Taking its point of departure in a critical analysis of contemporary language politics in Singapore, this paper suggests an alternative approach that takes the notion of sociolinguistic consumption as central, and explores how this may account for everyday language choice among multilingual Singaporean adolescents. The paper concludes by elaborating on the implications of such a framework for the teaching and learning of languages.

Linguistics and Education, 2005

This paper investigates English language literacy practices among teenagers, focusing initially o... more This paper investigates English language literacy practices among teenagers, focusing initially on three young Singaporean students who are struggling to do well in English. By employing a conceptual framework that builds on a recent treatment of style as identity construction and drawing on interview data that recount the students' practices of English literacy, we show how adolescent literacy seen as style is deeply influenced by, among other factors, the anticipated reactions of peers, and how these practices impact on language education. The latter part of our paper compares the experiences of our three students with those of a fourth, one who is much more confident and comfortable with his level of English language proficiency (adolescents, identity, language education, literacy, style, teenagers).

Sociolinguistic Studies, 2007

Journal of Pragmatics, 2002

Colloquial Singapore English contains a number of pragmatic particles. This paper focuses on the ... more Colloquial Singapore English contains a number of pragmatic particles. This paper focuses on the particle lor. Previous analyses have suggested either that it marks a piece of information as being obvious, or that it indicates that an utterance has the pragmatic force of a 'weak' suggestion. In this paper, I show that examples of the latter are better analysed with lor as expressing a sense of resignation. I then show how, by adopting a grammaticalization-based approach, the resignation sense of lor can be related to its use as a marker of 'obviousness'. #

World Englishes, 2003

The discourse marker you know has been widely noted and analyzed in different varieties of Englis... more The discourse marker you know has been widely noted and analyzed in different varieties of English. However, it is less widely recognized that Colloquial Singapore English (CSE), in addition to the marker you know, has also developed the particle know. This paper provides data showing that know has distributional and collocational properties that distinguish it from you know, even though their discoursepragmatic functions are similar. The differences between you know and know indicate that the latter has become a member of a linguistic category, referred to in this paper as the discourse particle. This category is exemplified by more familiar forms such as lah, lor, and meh. The paper suggests that the mechanism by which know has joined the other particles is that of analogical change, made possible because (1) CSE already contains a rich inventory of such particles, and (2) it is a pro-drop language. The first feature motivates the extraction of a category where members are monosyllabic, occur in clause-final position, and perform discourse-pragmatic functions. You know possesses two of the three characteristics, but is excluded because it is not monosyllabic. However, the pro-drop feature allows the monosyllabic know to emerge and join the category of discourse particle.

World Englishes, 1998

This paper investigates the syntax and semantics of one word, until, in Standard British English ... more This paper investigates the syntax and semantics of one word, until, in Standard British English and Singapore English. We show that while until is used in similar fashion in both varieties of English, it has uses in Singapore English which are not available in Standard British English. After having analyzed the syntax and semantics of one particle in Chinese, namely dao, we show the parallel between until in Singapore English and dao in Chinese, and argue that the additional meanings of until in Singapore English are due to the substrate influence of Chinese. It has been extensively documented in the literature that substrate influence is structural in character. Our finding is significant in this respect. The function words of English, as exemplified in the conjunction/preposition until, may undergo change under the influence of the linguistic substratum.

Journal of Sociolinguistics, 2006

As an ethnically and linguistically diverse society, Singapore has had to grapple with the proble... more As an ethnically and linguistically diverse society, Singapore has had to grapple with the problem of how to manage this diversity across a range of contexts, thus making it a particularly interesting case study for language ideologies. This paper examines three particular cases taken from the history of Singapore's language policy. In the first situation, the policy remains largely unchanged, varying only in its lexical and textual realizations; in the second, performances in the service of a set of ideologies give rise to potentially serious problems; and in the third, the material consequences of implementing the ideologies lead to changes in the ideologies themselves. By drawing on recent theoretical developments in the study of language ideologies, this paper shows how attention to the sitedness of language ideologies can help provide greater specification and appreciation of the interactional processes by which the ideologies are instantiated.

World Englishes, 1999

Singapore English has two passive or passive-like constructions which exhibit substrate influence... more Singapore English has two passive or passive-like constructions which exhibit substrate influence from Malay and Chinese. They are the kena passive and the give passive. Of the two constructions, the Malay-derived kena passive is more widely used among Singaporeans regardless of ethnic origin. By contrast, the Chinese-derived give passive is much rarer. In this paper, we present an analysis of the two passives, and show that while the substrate languages contribute to the grammar of Singapore English, the continued prestige of standard English exerts normative pressure and mitigates the effect of substrate influence ± the winner of the competing substrate forms is closer in structure to what may be called the`standard' or`prestige' form.

Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 2003

... Consequently, under the Malaysian bumiputra policy, which is a form of affirma-tive action, o... more ... Consequently, under the Malaysian bumiputra policy, which is a form of affirma-tive action, only ... the Government thus also avoids the thorny question of what the mother tongue of this ... 5. The &#x27;Nantah generation&#x27; refers to the Chinese-educated elites, who were graduates from the ...

Discourse & Society, 2001

... Wee: Divorce before marriage in the Singapore-Malaysia relationship 543 sequences (if A occur... more ... Wee: Divorce before marriage in the Singapore-Malaysia relationship 543 sequences (if A occurs before ... Among them were a series of 12 talks broadcast by Lee Kuan Yew (1961) over ... As for the merger period itself, Ong and Govindasamy-Ong (1996) reproduce in Downloaded ...