BROADCASTING STYLE AND SOCIAL MEANING: THE ENREGISTERMENT OF A ‘PRESENTER STYLE’ IN SINGAPORE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE MEDIA

Abstract

This thesis investigates the enregisterment of a distinct media presenter style in English-language media in Singapore. The accents of Singaporean presenters have received little academic attention outside of their use as evidence for the Americanisation of Singapore English (Tan & Gupta 1992; Poedjosoedarmo 2000; Tan 2016). Where the ‘media influence as Americanisation’ argument proves unconvincing, and the speech styles of presenters are shown to be a hybrid accent rather than an imitation of US English, I turn to a third wave variation approach to elucidate the processes of enregisterment of the presenter style, providing alternative explanations for how ongoing sociolinguistic change may be understood. From a thematic analysis of focus group participants’ evaluations of media presenters’ stylistic practices, I suggest how the enregistered features of the presenter style have come to take on particular social meanings that are recruited in the construction of a ‘charismatic media professional’ persona. It is from the vantage point of this persona that a more critical account of the interface between media and language – and the relationship between stylistic practice and linguistic change – is proposed.