Validity of Robert Phillipson’s Linguistic Imperialism in Singapore after Independence (1965)
Linguistic Imperialism has been described as “the process by which the dominance of English is asserted and maintained by the establishment and continuous reconstitution of structural and cultural inequalities between English and other languages” (Phillipson, 1992). In Robert Phillipson’s book Linguistic Imperialism, he raised several reasons for English being one of the most dominant languages to date. These include the subtractive view, where one gains proficiency in the imperial language at the expense of other languages; the structural view, where English speakers receive more resources than non-English speakers resulting in inequality across communities speaking different languages; and lastly, the linguicism view, where the promotion of English was based solely on British and American interests (Philipson, 2018). Linguistic Imperialism emphasizes the influence of imperialism in promoting the spread of English and challenges other factors that contribute to English as a world language. These arguments remain hotly debated amongst linguistic scholars even in today’s globalized world.
This essay examines and evaluates Philipson’s core arguments, and further discusses the validity of linguistic imperialism in Singapore’s context after 1965. It argues that while Philipson’s view was valid in the past, the extent to which it applies to modern Singapore had grown weaker over the years. For modern Singapore, pragmatism on the Singapore Government’s part made English one of the official languages as it served economic advantage and as a means for different ethnic groups to communicate with each other. Over time, the influence of colonization has since faded, and English was no longer a symbol of the elite class. It was universalized among Singaporeans and eventually blended with other local languages to become a new colloquial variant — Singlish, spoken by locals on a daily basis. Therefore, Philipson’s arguments on Linguistic Imperialism can no longer fully explain why Singapore speaks English in the modern day.
The Evolution of English in Singapore
The structural influence of Linguistic Imperialism points out that there are structural and cultural inequalities between English and the other local languages in many regions, resulting in English speakers receiving more material resources than others. Upon further examination, this influence grew weaker over the years in Singapore as the historical background on the use of English evolved over time.
When English was first introduced to Singapore by British Colonialists, it was an unintentional tool that served to segregate the colonizers in power against the common laborers. Only local elites who could afford English education were invited to share power with British Colonialists (Louis, 2007). English was indeed a structural way to maintain an unequal allocation of power amongst different social classes, and its historical usage in the governance of Singapore during its colonial times was motivated by the political interest of the British as described by Philipson.
However, the aforementioned unequal allocation of power was temporarily destabilized when the British lost Singapore during World War II. Between 1942 to 1945, Singapore was forced to adopt Japanese as the dominant language. It is crucial to point out that despite the Occupation, Japanese was never formally ratified as an official language of Singapore. The Japanese military government of that time foresaw that it would alienate the citizens too much, making it difficult to keep their authority (Akashi & Yoshimura, 2008). This further illustrates how critical English was to Singapore’s function since it had been ingrained into its cultural, social, and political fabric due to British influence. It enforces the view that the structural and historical reasons for linguistic imperialism in Singapore are valid during its colonial times.
After the Independence of Singapore in 1965, the state-defined multilingualism was ratified. However, the government emphasis on English as there was a need to forge a new national identity for an independent Singapore. English also remained the main language for legislation and commerce, due to its present use in government which was formed by the British Colonists. With English being the actual dominant language, it has become a language that is widely used outside of the elite class through compulsory education and policies. English eventually transformed into a communication tool between different ethnic groups as it was much easier to communicate in a common language as compared to their mother tongues (Smith & Rafiqzad, 1979).
Furthermore, with English being one of the most spoken languages in the world, it was widely used as an instrument for gaining access to the global market (Zhang, 2005). Both characteristics in English allow people to break out of their social circle and jump into a high social standing. With the advent of the Internet and its vast repository of English resources, it would be a stark generalization to view the choice of contributing more resources in English to be part of a larger agenda for just Western powers alone. Besides that, improvements in translation technology have given the average person with an Internet connection knowledge of not just English, but any dominant language in the world, be it Mandarin, Russian, or even Japanese.
Despite the fact that English came to be the dominant language in Singapore due to its colonial history, it is no longer a structural barrier between classes in modern Singapore. English is not only a unifying tool among different ethnic groups and used by the masses in daily life, but also an instrument for locals to gain access to the global market.
Multilingualism and the Dominance of English
English coexists with other local languages like Malay, Chinese, and Tamil in Singapore. The use of English has not fully replaced or displaced other languages in Singapore as opposed to what Phillipson argued. Based on the recent 2020 Singapore Census Survey (Department of Statistics, 2020), over 73.4% of households are at least bilingual. This shows that English is able to coexist with other local languages as multilingualism is part of Singapore’s cultural identity. The spread of English does not necessarily come at the cost of other languages. It was shown by Broham (2022) after analyzing over 7,000 languages, the 2 key factors which significantly cause languages to become extinct are the effects of population movement and access to high levels of education. This shows that Phillipson’s theory does not account for external factors which contribute to the spread of English and the related decline in other local languages.
Specific to Singapore, factors such as religion (Vaish, 2010) and language policies and government campaigns (Rani, 2001) contribute heavily to the languages we see today. The four official languages, English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil were used to create a national identity (Francesco, 2014) first for Singaporeans, and with the pragmatic choice of using English to further gain a competitive economic advantage in an ever-globalizing world (Bisong, 2010). These choices were made outside the direct influence of British or American interests, thus further minimizing the effect of linguistic imperialism on Singapore’s usage of English.
Concurrently, due to language policies like “Speak Good Mandarin” banning broadcasting dialects like Teochew, Hokkien, and Cantonese on radio and the promotion of official languages over dialects like Javanese and Boyanese (Wee, 2010), younger Singaporeans gradually become less able to communicate in their respective native dialects. This was a separate effect from the spread of English. The decline in dialects was not due to the spread of English, but due to language policies that ensured only official languages in Singapore were widely used.
Therefore, although Phillipson pointed out the decline in the use of local dialects, English would not be fully able to replace or displace other languages as argued by Phillipson solely on its own. In Singapore, it took the efforts of the government as well as external factors such as the effects of Western globalization for English to cause other local languages to be extinct.
Language Pragmatism and Linguistic Imperialism in Singapore
The pragmatism in selecting English to be the dominant language for education in Singapore is not entirely unaffected by linguistic imperialism. The desire and preference for being articulate in a dominant language stem from deep-rooted beliefs in trying to be diplomatic towards global powers, where now emerges linguistic pragmatism on the selection of Mandarin as an official language (Tan, 2005). Singapore’s pragmatism for economic progress would leave no room for any semblance of poor usage of the dominant trade language. The government’s language policies campaigns from “Speak Good Mandarin” to “Speak Good English” shows this clearly: Singaporeans must prioritize speaking the global lingua franca as fluently as possible (Sim, 2015). The consequences of these are such that minority languages that appear to serve little economic benefit would be shunned in preference of those which do.
It seems unclear as to which factor had a greater extent in eradicating dialects in Singapore. By 2020 (Department of Statistics, 2020), English had risen in popularity as the most frequently spoken language at home, a more than 10% increase to about 48% of use in Singaporean households. This individual preference could be seen as part of Philipson’s argument of hegemony (Philipson, 1997), but Davies (1997) argues that it can also be seen as the individual’s choice to have a stronger preference for English due to its apparent utility, despite embracing multilingualism.
Hence, it can be conceded that Singapore’s pragmatic multilingualism was shaped by biases born from the remnants of linguistic imperialism which was ingrained into the political system inherited from colonial times. Multiple factors contribute to the dominance of English today, and none of these factors on their own could fully explain the whole picture. Only when taken together, could the spread and continued usage of English be understood in Singapore’s context.
Conclusion
Philipson’s theory will continue to be debated as we enter an increasingly globalized world, where lingua franca like English continue to spread further and further, especially in the information age. Linguistic imperialism, as he defines it, cannot fully justify why Singapore adopts English as the main dominant language of commerce and education. Furthermore, government policies had led to both individual & societal preferences in picking up English as the primary language of communication. While Singapore’s pragmatism in selecting English might be indeed biased due to linguistic imperialism, the theory alone cannot fully explain its continued usage and its changing role throughout Singapore’s history. Factors such as a need for a unifying national identity, using English as a tool to communicate across ethnicities, and as a way to increase one’s social standing contribute to its widespread use in Singapore. Taken together, linguistic imperialism is not the main reason why Singaporeans still speak English today and the validity of Phillipson’s argument should remain contested.
