Negation in Colloquial Singapore English

Abstract

The grammatical features of the negation subsystem of Colloquial Singapore English (CSE) differ significantly from that of Standard varieties of English (StdE). The various negative particles in CSE function similarly to StdE in some cases, but in other cases function more like the Mandarin negative particles mei and bu. This study looks at a few selected items that express negation ? never, didn?t, haven?t, don?t (or doesn?t), and don?t have ? analyzing their individual and interrelated roles within the CSE negation subsystem. In view of Singapore?s contact situation, this study postulates that the unique patterns arose as a result of contact with the Chinese substrates. In particular, there will be a detailed investigation of the functions of CSE never, which this paper hypothesizes to be the tool employed by CSE speakers for the multifunctional roles of Mandarin mei, and which they generally prefer to use, where possible, and where the grammatical rules of never in the lexifier do not restrict its use.