Singapore English

Singapore English is a special way of speaking English that is used in Singapore. It has two main forms: Singapore Standard English, which is very similar to British English, and Singapore Colloquial English, also known as Singlish. Singlish is the casual way many people in Singapore talk to each other every day.

In Singapore, many people speak English at home, especially those of Chinese and Indian descent. Others speak different languages like Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese, or Malay. But English is the main language used in schools, from preschool to university, and in many families.

Even though people in Singapore may speak different languages, English helps everyone communicate. It is understood and used by most people in the country, whether they are writing, speaking, or reading.

Classification of Singapore English

Singapore English has two main types: Singapore Standard English and Singapore Colloquial English, also called Singlish. Singapore Standard English is very similar to British English, but speakers might show they are from Singapore through small differences in how they say words.

People in Singapore often change how they speak based on who they are talking to and what they want to say. Those with more education or who use English more often usually speak Standard Singapore English, while others may use Singlish more often. This helps them fit the situation they are in.

Standard Singapore English

Standard Singapore English, also called Singapore Standard English, is the main form of English used in Singapore. It is very similar to British English and is used in formal places like schools, offices, and when talking to bosses or teachers. English helps people of different backgrounds in Singapore understand each other.

The use of English in Singapore began when the British set up a trading post there in 1819. It became important for government and business. Today, English is the main language in schools and helps Singapore connect with the world. There is also a movement called the Speak Good English Movement, started in 2000, to encourage people to use Standard English instead of Singlish, which is more casual. This movement uses fun videos to make learning English rules easier and more enjoyable.

Overview of Singaporean accents

See also: Singlish § Phonology

Singaporean English accents are mainly based on the sounds of standard Southern British English, which is common in many Commonwealth countries except Canada. Like these dialects, the vowels in words like "LOT" and "PALM" are different in Singapore English. The word "plant" is usually pronounced with the "PALM" vowel, not the "TRAP" vowel. Singaporean and Malaysian English accents share similarities in how they sound, including how vowels are said and the way sentences are spoken.

As English is used more in everyday life in Singapore, a standard Singaporean accent has developed. This accent has features mainly from changes and conventions within the country. Today, many Singaporeans' accents show a mix of local features and standard English, as English has been officially used in the country for many decades. Accents can vary a lot depending on a person's age, upbringing, and the language they or their family speak at home. Chinese, Malay, and Indian Singaporeans each have their own distinct accents, which may be more or less noticeable depending on the speaker.

Rhoticity

See also: Rhoticity in English

Speech example

Lawrence Wong speaking on The Daily Ketchup Podcast, recorded c. January 2025. Wong's accent is non-rhotic, which is characteristic of Singapore English.

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Speech example

Kumar, a Singaporean comedian and performer of Tamil descent, speaking on The Daily Ketchup Podcast, recorded c. July 2024.

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Singapore English is mostly non-rhotic, like Australian and Nigerian accents, meaning most speakers do not say the "r" sound at the end of words like "far". However, studies show that younger speakers and women among Chinese and Indian Singaporeans are more likely to say the final "r" sound, especially in certain words and when reading rather than speaking casually.

Rhoticity is generally uncommon, and even when used, it is not always consistent. For example, in phrases like "my brother is" and "my sister is," the "r" sound at the end of "brother" and "sister" is often not pronounced. In a 2018 study, the "r" sound was dropped at the end of syllables more than 90% of the time in conversation, and linking "r" was used less than 20% of the time. Cases of intrusive "r" (like saying "draw-ring" instead of "drawing") were very rare.

Vowels

High vowels

• Singapore English accents have tighter pronunciations of the KIT vowel, making it sound closer to the FLEECE vowel. In some cases, these vowels might sound almost the same, but studies show that most people still keep a difference in how long and how they say the vowel. Similarly, the FOOT and GOOSE vowels often sound similar, which might lead to them merging.

• While past research described the /uː/ vowel as a back vowel [u], newer studies suggest that younger speakers often use a more fronted vowel [u̟] or a centralised vowel [ü].

• There is a trend toward saying FACE and GOAT vowels as single sounds, especially among Malay speakers. Studies show that Chinese Singaporeans tend to keep these vowels as two sounds more often.

DRESS–TRAP merger

• The vowels in DRESS /ɛ/ and TRAP /æ/ are usually not distinguished [ɛ] in everyday speech, so words like "kettle" and "cattle," "better" and "batter," and "wreck" and "rack" sound the same. Any difference is less likely in words ending with stop consonants, like "met" and "mat," though "bed" [e] and "bad" [ɛ] are usually kept different. Some studies suggest that /æ/ tends to be less central in vowel space, and Malays are more likely than Indian and Chinese speakers to merge DRESS and TRAP in daily speech. Research by Low (2025) suggests that a vowel shift is happening, and the DRESS–TRAP merger is becoming more common.

Next–text split

• For almost all speakers, "next" and "text" do not rhyme because of a vowel split affecting the DRESS lexical set. The word "next" is said with a raised vowel [e], which is different from the low-mid vowel [ɛ] in "text." The raised vowel [e] also appears in words like "leg," "dead," and "head" (and their related words). Other words like "fed" and "neck" do not use this vowel. For many speakers, it sounds like the vowel in FACE, so "dead" rhymes with "made," but not with "fed." Speakers with the full DRESS–TRAP merger will say "lag" [ɛ] differently from "leg" [e], but "lad" [ɛ] and "led" [ɛ] will sound the same. Besides "next," "leg," "dead," and "head," the raised vowel is also used in "egg," "bed," and "red," making "red" [e] and "read" [ɛ] (as in "I've read the book") sound different. The next–text split happens along with the DRESS–TRAP merger, especially among younger Singaporeans.

Low back vowels

• The LOT vowel is a rounded, low back vowel [ɒ̝˖]. The vowel in THOUGHT/COURT may be longer and closer to [ɔː] and this is more common before voiced consonants and in open syllables. Studies by Deterding (2007a:14–17) show that speakers use a higher and further back allophone of the THOUGHT vowel [ɔː] in words not ending with consonants, like "more" and "saw." The THOUGHT vowel is often the same as LOT for many speakers, leading to identical pronunciations for "cot" and "caught" [ɒ̝˖], though newer research suggests that older English-educated speakers might still tell them apart.

Low central vowels

• For most speakers, STRUT /ʌ/ and PALM /ɑ/ have similar or almost identical vowel sounds, around [ɐ~ä]. Sometimes, or in some situations, a length difference is kept.

• Due to its history from older Received Pronunciation, the TRAP–BATH split seems somewhat old-fashioned in Singapore. Generally, words from the BATH lexical set, like "ask," "last," and "half," are said with the broad /ɑ/ vowel—the "a" in "father"—so "ant" and "aunt" do not sound the same. The broad /ɑ/ is also used in words like "plastic" and "elastic," while in contemporary Southern English accents a flat /æ/ would be expected.

• The flat /æ/ or TRAP vowel is sometimes used in words ending in "-sp," like "gasp" and "clasp," and rarely in "dance" and "can’t." In words like "sample," "command," and "demand," whether the broad or flat "a" is used can vary between speakers.

Diphthongs

• Deterding (2007b:26) notes that, while POOR, "tour," and "sure" are always said with the diphthong [-ʊə] or [-wəː], most speakers use the [ɔː] vowel in CURE, "endure," and "security" [-jɔː], though [-jʊə] and [-jəː] are also common.

• Words like "fire" [ˈfaɪ.ə] and "hour" [ˈaʊ.ə] are usually split into two syllables.

Vowel length

As in most types of English, free vowels are shorter when there is a final consonant following them (i.e., in closed syllables), so "bee" [iː] has a long vowel while "beat" [i] has a relatively shorter one.

Variation in unstressed vowels

Some words ending in "-a," like "koala" and "umbrella," can end with /-ə/ or /-ɑ/ [ä] in casual speech, while words ending in "-er" can only end in /-ə/.

Consonants

Pronunciation of ⟨th⟩

_Th_-stopping is common at the start of syllables, making "tree" and "three" sound the same; similarly, "then" can be said as [dɛn], instead of [ðɛn]. This is more common in informal speech. Dental fricatives may undergo _th_-fronting at the end of words, so "teeth" sounds like "teef," and "breathe" like "breve." The word "maths" [mɛts] is an exception, as [t] is more commonly heard in this word. For some Tamil bilinguals, word-final "th" sounds are sometimes said as stops.

Stop consonants

Stop consonants in Singapore English are usually not released at the end of words, and voiceless stops can be aspirated or unaspirated at the beginning—how strongly a stop is aspirated depends on its place of articulation, the speaker's heritage or home language, and the level of formality of the conversation. Generally, speakers with strong Malay or Tamil accents are less likely to aspirate initial stops, while Chinese Singaporeans are more likely to use aspiration.

Final /p, t, k/ may show some glottal reinforcement, and final /t, k/ are also likely to be replaced by a glottal stop [ʔ] in fast speech. Glottalisation is more common in Malay-accented English. While it is not usual to weaken [t] and [d] into alveolar taps [ɾ] in words like "little" and "ladder," doing so may show a higher level of sociolinguistic prestige. [T]-flapping has been noted more often in compound numbers (e.g., in "forty-five") and across word boundaries (e.g., "get up").

Pronunciation of final "l"

See also: L-vocalization § Modern English

Final "l" sounds, as in "mail" and "railway," are said in three main ways in Singapore English—vocalised, clear, and dark "l"s—with each type strongly linked to race, language skill, education, and social class in Singapore's sociolinguistic environment.

• L-vocalisation is common among Chinese Singaporeans and is strongly linked to the older and middle-aged Chinese group.
• The use of clear "l"s [l] at the end of words is often seen as a feature of the Malay accent and is most common among Malay Singaporeans. Clear "l"s also often appear in the speech of many Indian Singaporeans.
• Dark "l"s [ɫ] are not tied to any specific ethnic accent or identity and are more likely to be seen as a "pan-Singaporean" feature, perhaps showing a higher level of English skill.

Vocalised "l"s are said as high back vowels [ɤ~ö] with different levels of rounding, e.g. "mail" [meö]. For speakers who vocalise their "l"s, the "l" sound can be dropped completely after back vowels, diphthongs with back vowels (CHOICE, MOUTH), and sometimes mid central vowels (NURSE, COMMA), so "mole" sounds like "mow" [moː], and "tool" like "too" [tuː]. "Wall" and "war" [wɔː] become the same sound. Also, the PRICE diphthong /aɪ/ is monophthongised into [äː] before a vocalised "l," so "Nile" and "now" sound similar.

Final consonant cluster reduction

Some final consonant clusters tend to be reduced in casual speech, so "list" [lɪs] drops its final /t/ and "ask" [äs] loses the /k/, but speakers are not always consistent. For example, the clusters /-nt, -nd/, as in "environment" and "end," are both reduced to /-n/, while the sequences /-mp, -kt, -ft/, as in "jump," "act," and "lift," drop their last consonants.

The sequence /-ld/, as in "old," is also often reduced to /-l/. Since those who vocalise their "l"s tend to drop them completely after mid central and back vowels, "old" may be further reduced to /oʊ/, with both the "l" and "d" dropped, e.g., "old show" becomes [ˈoʊ ˈʃoʊ] (see § Pronunciation of final "l"). This does not apply to the past tense ending -ed_.

Pronunciation of r

The most common and main way to say the "r" sound in Singapore English is the postalveolar approximant [ɹ̠], the same way found in most native types of English worldwide. The alveolar tap [ɾ] or trill [r] is another way to say "r" among Malay and Indian Singaporeans and older speakers generally. Among Tamil Singaporeans, the trilled version is very rare compared to the approximant and tapped "r." A rare and new way to say "r," showing [R]-labialisation and described as a labiodental approximant [ʋ], has also been noted.

Terminal devoicing and other irregularities

Some devoicing of final obstruents has been noted in Singapore English, though it is not always seen. The effect is that the "s" in "scissors" might be devoiced, saying [ˈsɪzəs]. Devoicing rarely happens between vowels, so "is it?" [ɪz ɪt] keeps the [z]. Newer studies question the idea that devoicing causes confusion and argue that the underlying voicing can still be understood from things like the length of the consonant and the length of the vowel before it—e.g., "pig" [pɪˑʔ] might have a slightly longer vowel than "pick" [pɪʔ].

On the other hand, there is a tendency to voice coronal fricatives between vowels in some words like "December" → "De[z]ember" /dɪˈzɛmbə/ and "pressure" → "pre[zh]ure" /ˈpɹɛʒə/, and even across word boundaries, so "this is" becomes "thi[z] is," though this tendency seems to be random regarding which words are affected.

Lexical incidence

Words generally follow the pronunciation rules of Southern British English accents, so "figure" is said as FIG‑ər, and the words "new" /njuː/ and "due" /djuː/ do not show yod-dropping. However, there are some exceptions—for example, "want" /wʌnt/ and "what" /wʌt/ both use the open central STRUT vowel, which is like North American English but unlike Southern England and Australia, where /ɒ/ would be expected.

Stress and intonation

Singapore English has a special way of saying words where the pitch is slightly higher at the end of a word with stress. One analysis shows that the last syllable of a stressed word or phonological word has a higher pitch, while words with no stress (e.g. "my house") and unstressed first syllables (e.g. "again") have a lower pitch. All other stressed syllables that are not the last (e.g. "writer") have a middle-level pitch, or a similar pitch between low and high. There is also a tendency for pitch to be stronger at the start of a sentence and weaker toward the end, and for pitch to drop or stay the same at the end of statements. For example, in the phrase "I don’t remember" [aɪ˨ ˈdon˦ ɹɪ˨ˈmɛm˧.bə˦], pitch starts low in "I," then goes up in "don’t." The word "remember" is said with a less strong low–mid–high pitch pattern.

Tone assignment only happens within the phonological word. "Cranberry" has a high–mid–high pitch pattern [ˈkɹɛn˦ˌbɛ˧.ɹi˦], since "cran" and "berry" are separate words. Similarly, in "brainstorm" [ˈbɹeɪn˦ˌstɔːm˦], "brain" and "storm" both have high pitch. Prefixes with stress are their own phonological words, so the "re" in "reenact" [ˈɹi˦.ɛn˨ˌɛkt˦] is high-pitched. In words where the prefix is not stressed or less important, like "unfortunate" [an˨ˈfɔ˧.tʃə˧.nət˦] and "nonsense" [ˈnɔn˧.səns˦], the prefix is not a separate unit with stress and is not given high pitch.

One other way to describe the intonation system says that high pitch is linked to the right end of an accentual phrase, and low pitch to the left end; an accentual phrase can be a content word with zero or any number of unstressed function words before it. For example, in a sentence like "I joined the call," where "I joined" is one accentual phrase, "joined" can be said with rising pitch starting from the low pitch in "I," instead of always high pitch. In this model, phonological words (e.g. "cran" and "berry" in "cranberry") and stressed prefixes are separate accentual phrases. Other intonational types have also been noted. For example, flat pitch patterns can sometimes cover whole words and accentual phrases where rising patterns would usually be expected.

A wider pitch range is linked to introducing a topic near the start of a sentence. Elsewhere in the sentence, pitch differences are less noticeable, so low, middle, and high tones may sound about the same. The end of a sentence is marked by a small drop or leveling out in pitch. Yes-no questions rise in pitch, like in many other types of English. Rising pitch is also often used when there is non-final information at the end of a sentence, sometimes to show a non-final item in a list.

Timing

Unstressed first syllables are often said with shorter time and lower strength. There is also a tendency to lengthen or drag out the last syllable in a sentence.

Singapore English tends toward syllable timing, unlike British English, which is considered stress-timed.

Spelling and vocabulary

Singapore English was heavily influenced by British English, especially in the past. Some older Singaporeans still use phrases that might sound old-fashioned in Britain today. For example, people in Singapore often use the word scold, while in Britain, people usually say tell off. However, most of the words used in Singapore English are similar to those used in Southern England and other Commonwealth nations, with a few exceptions. Standard Singapore English uses British spelling, like colour instead of color.

Some words in Singapore English are unique to the country, such as compound words like void deck. Other words have different meanings than in regular English—for example, keep often means “put away” or “put something back,” not “hold on to something”.

Slang and colloquialisms

Singaporean English has some special phrases not used elsewhere, such as close one eye, which means to ignore something, and spoil the market, which means to set a very high standard that is hard to match.

Loanwords from local languages

Words from Hokkien and Malay are often used in casual speech, especially in Singlish. Some of these words, like kaya (a type of coconut jam), describe local ideas and are used without italics. Other borrowed words are mostly used in informal settings.

Foreign dialects of English in Singapore

Further information: Eurasians in Singapore

In Singapore, you can hear many different kinds of English from around the world. People often hear American and British accents on TV and the radio because Singapore shows many foreign programs.

Singapore Colloquial English / Singlish

Main article: Singlish

Singlish is a fun, casual way of speaking English that many people in Singapore use with friends and family. It mixes in words from Malay, Mandarin, and Hokkien, making it unique. Some of these words can be impolite, so it’s not used in serious or formal situations.

Even though some leaders have said Singlish isn’t the best way to speak, many people love it. It’s been used in popular movies like Army Daze, Mee Pok Man, and Talking Cock the Movie, as well as in funny TV shows such as Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd. Others believe Singlish helps people feel closer and shows what makes Singapore special. The government encourages people to learn proper English but also says they’re not against Singlish.

English language trends in Singapore

In 2010, people in Singapore who spoke English were grouped into five types: those who didn’t know English at all, those who saw it as a foreign language and rarely used it, those who learned it in school but used another language more, those who used English as their main language, and those who grew up speaking English at home.

By 2015, English had become the most common language spoken in Singaporean homes. With more people moving to Singapore, especially from China, more people now see English as a foreign language. Recently, English use has been growing, while Mandarin remains stable, and other Chinese languages are being used less. Malay is also being used less over time.

Other official languages in Singapore

English is the main language used in Singapore and is one of its four official languages. The other official languages are Malay, Chinese, and Tamil. Malay is considered the national language because of the country’s history. All important signs, laws, and documents are written in English, though sometimes they also include the other languages. In schools, English is used to teach most subjects, except for lessons about the other official languages and their literature.