Linguistic accommodation
An interesting commentary by Assoc Prof Tang Ying Ying of NTU on TikTok CEO's use of American features in his speech at the US Congress. In her commentary, Prof Tang makes reference to linguistic accommodation, a linguistic phenomenon where the speaker assimilates to the speech patterns of his/her speech partners for specific reasons. In this instance, the CEO accommodated to the American accent to close the gap between him and the US lawmakers and make himself more acceptable to them, or that's what he thought. Worth a read, I think.
I'm with Prof Tang with regards to her observation that there seems to be a preference for the American accent over the British accent. It's like as if you have arrived if you speak English with the post-vocalic 'r' typical of the American accent. But historically, Singaporeans grew up with the Singapore version of the British accent having been colonised by the British for more than a century. It's only in the last 2 decades or so that the younger generation gradually turn to the American accent as they become more exposed to the American culture thanks to American produced children's programme, the digital and social media and through direct contact with Americans when young Singaporeans study abroad in American universities and brought the American accent back with them. These days, you can hear more and more radio DJs assimilating to the American accent.
Linguistic accommodation is also not uncommon among Malay speakers, especially when speaking with Indonesians. But it is interesting that Indonesians rarely accommodate to our accent. This is something to ponder. Is it because we can accommodate but they are not able to like Prof Tang suggested, or are there other reasons? It is also important that while we accommodate by speaking the others' accent, we should not lose our own accent and our own identity. The SB practised here tends to do that. Because the young rarely speak Malay at home and they are exposed to the language only in school, the only accent they can carry is the hybrid SB. While they can be identified as Singapore Malays when they speak with the hybrid accent, they are removed from their historical and cultural roots. We can already be identified as Singapore Malays if we speak with the Johor-Riau accent because years of political separation has allowed our accent in Singapore to gradually evolve that people can distinguish us from the Malays in Malaysia, in Riau and elsewhere. I remember queueing at Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur some 20 years back to buy tickets. The moment I opened my mouth, the cashier knew I was from Singapore. We don't need SB to make us any more different.
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