SINGAPORE'S BILINGUAL POLICY: THE IDEOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE SINGAPORE MALAY IDENTITY IN THE GLOBALIZED WORLD

Abstract

This ethnographically-informed and multi-sited study investigates the relationship between Singapore?s bilingual policy and ethnic identity construction by studying how official discourse conditions the interactional practices of bilingual Malays in their everyday construction of Malayness. Focusing on subjectivity, it entails a language ideological analysis of official statements about the Malay language and language policy that triangulates the discourse analysis of data from participant observations and interviews. As participants increasingly align their aspirations with the cosmopolitan and neoliberal ideals of the state, the truncated English repertoire of some participants only serves to accentuate their peripheral position. And as they negotiate their Malayness, the positioning strategies of the English-dominant participants potentially invite disapproval from the Malay community. The mismatch between their expectations and linguistic competence gives rise to linguistic anxiety with social implications in terms of how their linguistic capital and discursive strategies eventually positions them in society.