Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-qxdb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T02:34:52.761Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The discursive construction of new citizen identities in Singapore

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 February 2022

Raymund Vitorio Open the ORCID record for Raymund Vitorio [Opens in a new window]
Raymund Vitorio*
Affiliation:
De La Salle University, Philippines
*
Address for correspondence: Raymund Vitorio Department of English and Applied Linguistics Br. Andrew Gonzalez FSC College of Education De La Salle University 1501 Br. Andrew Gonzalez Hall 2401 Taft Avenue Manila, Philippines raymund.vitorio@dlsu.edu.ph
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article investigates how new citizens reconfigure dominant indexes of citizenship to claim status as legitimate new citizens of Singapore. New citizens are expected to resolve a tension that underpins public discourses in Singapore society: while the statal narrative of multiculturalism countenances new citizens to have perceivable markers of difference, everyday discourses expect new citizens to assimilate into the ‘Singapore core’—a term used in Singapore that denotes a homogeneous understanding of what it means to be Singaporean. By adopting a metapragmatic approach, this article identifies three common indexes of citizenship that new citizens negotiate to resolve this contradiction: language, loyalty, and legacy. By reconfiguring common markers of citizenship in Singapore, new citizens are able to discursively construct a type of citizenship that they can legitimately claim and contribute to. This expands common understandings of the notion of citizenship in Singapore society. (Citizenship, language ideologies, multiculturalism, metapragmatics, Singapore)*

Type
Article
Information
Language in Society , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , June 2023 , pp. 387 - 408
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

I am deeply indebted to my research participants, without whom this study would not have been possible. I would like to thank the editors and two anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments. I am indebted to Joseph Sung-Yul Park and Ben Rampton for their encouragement, close reading, and insightful comments during the conduct of this study. Finally, I thank Lionel Wee, Melanie Cooke, Mie Hiramoto, Rebecca Starr, Aileen Salonga, Johannes Højgaard Nielsen, and Gene Flores for their invaluable contribution throughout the research.

References

REFERENCES

Agha, Asif (2007). Language and social relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bennett, Sam (2018). Constructions of migrant integration in British public discourse: Becoming British. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Bishop, Sarah (2017). Model citizens: The making of an American throughout the naturalization process. Communication, Culture & Critique 10:479–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, Jan (2001). Investigating narrative inequality: African asylum seekers’ stories in Belgium. Discourse & Society 12:413–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, Jan, & Varis, Piia (2015). Enoughness, accent and light communities: Essays on contemporary identities. Tilburg Papers in Culture Studies 139:1–72.Google Scholar
Byrne, Bridget (2012). A local welcome? Narrations of citizenship and nation in UK citizenship ceremonies. Citizenship Studies 16:531–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chong, Terrence (2014). Stepping stone Singapore: The cultural politics of anti-immigrant anxieties. In Yap, Mui Teng, Koh, Gillian, & Soon, Debbie (eds.), Migration and integration in Singapore: Policies and practice, 192–213. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Cooke, Melanie, & Peutrell, Rob (2019). Brokering Britain, educating citizens: Exploring ESOL and citizenship. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
D'Aoust, Anne-Marie (2013). In the name of love: Marriage, migration, governmentality, and technologies of love. International Political Sociology 7:258–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Fina, Anna (2003). Identity in narrative: A study of immigrant discourse. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Extra, Guus; Massimiliano Spotti; & Van Avermaet, Piet (2009). Language testing, migration and citizenship: Cross-national perspectives on integration regimes. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Fairclough, Norman; Pardoe, Simon; & Szerszynski, Bronislaw (2006). Critical discourse analysis and citizenship. In Hausendorf, Heiko & Bora, Alfons (eds.), Analysing citizenship talk: Social positioning in political and legal decision-making processes, 98–123. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fortier, Anne-Marie (2013). What's the big deal? Naturalisation and the politics of desire. Citizenship Studies 17:697–711.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gal, Susan (2016). Sociolinguistic differentiation. In Nikolas Coupland (ed.), Sociolinguistics: Theoretical debates, 113–36. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, Michael, & Lian, Kwen Fee (1995). The politics of nation building and citizenship in Singapore. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hogan-Brun, Gabrielle; Mar-Molinero, Clare; & Stevenson, Patrick (2009). Discourses on language and integration: Critical perspectives on language testing regimes in Europe. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (n.d.). Becoming a Singapore citizen. Online: https://www.ica.gov.sg/reside/citizenship/apply; accessed December 31, 2021.Google Scholar
Jaffe, Alexandra (2016). Indexicality, stance and fields in sociolinguistics. In Coupland, Nikolas (ed.), Sociolinguistics: Theoretical debates, 86–112. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Carol (2010). The politics of affective citizenship: From Blair to Obama. Citizenship Studies 14:495–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnstone, Barbara, & Kiesling, Scott (2008). Indexicality and experience: Exploring the meanings of /aw/-monophthongization in Pittsburgh. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12:5–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khan, Kamran (2019). Becoming a citizen: Linguistic trials and negotiations in the UK. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Kheng, Catherine Chua Siew (2015). Singlish strikes back in Singapore. In Tupas, Ruanni (ed.), Unequal Englishes: The politics of Englishes today, 185–200. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KhosraviNik, Majid; Krzyżanowski, Michal; & Wodak, Ruth (2012). Dynamics of representation in discourse: Immigrants in the British press. In Messer, Michi, Schroeder, Renee, & Wodak, Ruth (eds.), Migrations: Interdisciplinary perspectives, 283–95. Vienna: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kluver, Randolph, & Weber, Ian (2003). Patriotism and the limits of globalization: Renegotiating citizenship in Singapore. Journal of Communication Inquiry 27:371–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leong, Chan-Hoong, & Yang, Wai Wai (2014). Social markers of integration: What matters most to Singaporeans? In Yap, Mui Teng, Koh, Gillian, & Soon, Debbie (eds.), Migration and integration in Singapore: Policies and practice, 192–213. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lim, Lisa; Stroud, Christopher; & Wee, Lionel (2018). The multilingual citizen: Towards a politics of language for agency and change. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lim, Selina (2014). Images of the new citizen and permanent resident in Singapore's mainstream news media. In Yap, Mui Teng, Koh, Gillian, & Soon, Debbie (eds.), Migration and integration in Singapore: Policies and practice, 192–213. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Merolli, Jessica (2016). Manufacturing desire and producing (non-)citizens: Integration exams in Canada, the UK and Netherlands. Citizenship Studies 20:957–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milani, Tommaso (2017). Language and citizenship: Broadening the agenda. In Tommaso Milani (ed.), Language and citizenship: Broadening the agenda, 113–36. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller-Idriss, Cynthia (2006). Everyday understandings of citizenship in Germany. Citizenship Studies 10:541–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Culture, Community, and Youth (n.d.). National Integration Council. Online: https://www.mccy.gov.sg/sector/initiatives/national-integration-council; accessed December 31, 2021.Google Scholar
Monforte, Pierre; Bassel, Leah; & Khan, Kamran (2019). Deserving citizenship? Exploring migrants’ experiences of the ‘citizenship test’ process in the United Kingdom. The British Journal of Sociology 70:24–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Montsion, Jean Michel (2012). When talent meets mobility: Un/desirability in Singapore's new citizenship project. Citizenship Studies 16:469–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Population and Talent Division (2013). A sustainable population for a dynamic Singapore: Population white paper. Online: https://www.strategygroup.gov.sg/media-centre/population-white-paper-a-sustainable-population-for-a-dynamic-singapore; accessed December 31, 2021.Google Scholar
Ortiga, Yasmin (2015). Multiculturalism on its head: Unexpected boundaries and new migration in Singapore. Journal of International Migration and Integration 16:947–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rampton, Ben (2007). Neo-Hymesian linguistic ethnography in the United Kingdom. Journal of Sociolinguistics 11:584–607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubdy, Rani (2001). Creative destruction: Singapore's Speak Good English Movement. World Englishes 20:341–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silverstein, Michael (1993). Metapragmatic discourse and metapragmatic function. In John Lucy (ed.), Reflexive language: Reported speech and metapragmatics, 33–58. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stroud, Christopher (2015). Linguistic citizenship as utopia. Multilingual Margins: A Journal of Multilingualism from the Periphery 2:22–37.Google Scholar
Talmy, Steven (2010). The interview as collaborative achievement: Interaction, identity, and ideology in a speech event. Applied Linguistics 32:25–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wee, Lionel (2002). When English is not a mother tongue: Linguistic ownership and the Eurasian community in Singapore. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 23:282–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wee, Lionel (2005). Intra-language discrimination and linguistic human rights: The case of Singlish. Applied Linguistics 26:48–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar