In Singapore, where significant proportions of the population are native speakers of Mandarin, Malay or Tamil, how does everyone communicate, lah? By opting for an official lingua franca, that’s how. At independence in 1965, the government made English the official language of administration, education and business.
In time, elements of the other languages infiltrated the official one, and English morphed into Singlish.
With a rich vocabulary freely borrowing words from the other languages, and simplified grammar, Singlish initially appears impenetrable, but within a few days your ear will become more attuned, and you will understand that kopi means coffee, teh is tea, chop-chop means fast, auntie means middle-aged woman, alamak is an exclamation of surprise, and lah … lah is the most distinctive Singlish word of all: an all-purpose attachment at the end of sentences.
“It’s hot, lah.” “Drink, lah.” “Love Singapore, lah.”
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