China Daily Global Edition (USA)
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SINGAPORE — Kevin Martens Wong reels off sentences in Kristang, which is among several minority languages in Singapore enjoying a new lease of life after a decadeslong drive to encourage the use of English and Mandarin.
“Teng bong, ozi nus prendeh sorti-sorti di tempu,” the linguist told his students in the 500-year-old mishmash of Portuguese and Malay — a greeting, and information that the class would be about the weather.
A former British colonial trading post that has long been a melting pot of different cultures, Singapore has an ethnically diverse population whose ancestors mostly came from across Asia, principally China, India and the Malay archipelago.
On independence in 1965, Singaporeans spoke an array of tongues. English was common, but many used Chinese dialects, such as Hokkien, as well as Tamil from India, Malay and a smattering of more obscure languages.
Non-Chinese tongues, such as Kristang — spoken by descendants of Portuguese colonizers who arrived in what is now Malaysia in the 16th century and married locals — also faded.
Young Singaporeans’ desire to revitalize the languages is a “form of root-tracing” while for the older generation it’s due to a sense of nostalgia, said associate professor Tan Ying Ying, head of linguistics at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
“In Singapore, while there is no such formal system in place, the sense that these languages need to be ‘saved’ is felt by the communities of speakers themselves.”