The Passive in Singapore English

Abstract

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.

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