Language and Neighbourliness in a Multilingual Urban Society

Abstract

Given the ethnic & linguistic diversity in an Ur environment such as Singapore, to what extent is lang a factor that affects the development, maintenance, or limitation of neighborliness & neighborhood networks, especially in new housing estates. Personal interviews were conducted with a sample (N = 790) drawn from 3 Ur communities: a traditional Ur community, an established public housing community, & a newly developed public housing community. From the survey data, comparisons are made with regard to the lang repertorie, lang attitude, & lang choice of Rs from various communities for different functions & neighborhood interactions. In addition, intensive studies of 13 cases have been made for a qualitative analysis of the development & maintenance of neighborliness in relation to lang variables. Certain unique sociolinguistic characteristics within Singapore society are pointed to as contributing to the nature of the relationship between lang & neighborliness.