LIKE THAT NIA: AN ANALYSIS OF NIA IN COLLOQUIAL SINGAPORE ENGLISH

Abstract

Through corpus analysis and a language survey, this thesis investigates the functions and variation in the use of nia and nya in Colloquial Singapore English (CSE) to trace their origin and development as well as analyse speakers’ perceptions of the prevalence of these terms and how likely they are to use them. CSE nia is generally clause-final with the meaning ‘only’ while nya is a Malay term with an intensifier function; statistical analyses reveal that usage of these two items varies by age, ethnicity, and language background. Similarities between CSE nia and forms in related languages (e.g. Hokkien, Malay) in addition to CSE’s status as a creole suggest that nia could be a contribution from CSE’s substrates during creole formation or transferred from languages currently spoken in the community. I posit that CSE nia originated from an early Hokkien term that underwent grammaticalization before being transferred into CSE.