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Welcome
to Radio Cantonese!! We thank you for showing interest in
our program. On today's program, we will be dealing with the
topic of Cantonese in Singapore. The purpose of our program
is to introduce the Cantonese language, explore its usage
in Singapore and provide you with a comprehensive profile
of this Chinese dialect in Singapore.
The reason
behind embarking on such a study is to decipher the factors
that have resulted in the environment in which Cantonese is
used in Singapore. There are many domains and situations in
which Cantonese is or is not used and we seek to establish
reasons for this. Also, while Cantonese is the third largest
Chinese dialect group in Singapore, it is not used in a wide
variety of functions. In this program, we reveal our findings
on why this is so.
The program
is divided into six segments, starting with the introduction.
In the second part of the program, we will be tracing back
the origins of Cantonese in Singapore under the history segment.
This is where we will discover together, the origins of Cantonese,
it's linguistic affiliations and the community in Singapore
which uses the Cantonese language.
Following
the history segment, we will be moving on to provide you with
a comprehensive understanding of Cantonese as a language.
In the section on Phonology and Orthography, we will be educating
you on the linguistic sketch of Cantonese, the orthography
of the language, which deals with the written form of the
language, and also the phonology of Cantonese which makes
it sound different from the other Chinese dialects.
In the
second half of the program, we will be moving into another
aspect of the Cantonese language dealing with sociolinguistics.
Specifically, we will be addressing the issue of government
language planning and policy and its impact on Singapore.
In this section, we will investigate the Singapore government's
role in shaping the way Singapore society uses language, and
its effect on Cantonese.
After
addressing the issue of government language planning and policy
and its impact, we will be moving to the ground level to conduct
a case study on the effect of the government language policy.
Specifically, we will be looking at the Family unit and how
the dynamics of Cantonese usage has changed as a result of
language policy.
Finally,
at the end of the program, we will summarise our findings
and conclude with our predictions on the continued use of
Cantonese in Singapore and its survivability, given the present
circumstances.
We hope
that you will find this site useful in helping you discover
everything you have ever wanted to know about the Cantonese
language and its profile in Singapore. We thank you for joining
us today!
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The
Team
To end
off this introduction, we would like to introduce you to the
panel that was involved in the production of this program.
The members of this project include:
1. The
Executive Producer: Eugene
Chua. He was in charge of the concept and design
of this program and oversaw the running of this website. He
also contributed to the sections on Government policy as well
as the sections on Practical Phonology and Conclusion.
2. The
Historian: Eugene
Koh. He was the man who dug up information
on the history of cantonese and analysed our findings on Cantonese,
contributing to the conclusion of this study.
3. The
Roving Reporter: Esther
Leng. She was
our reporter on the ground who covered aspects of the impact
of government language policy and conducted an in-depth investigation
of how language policy affected the family unit. Don't forget
to check out that report under the case study section!
4. The
Project Writer: Audrey
Tan. She was our writer for the section on Phonology,
contributing to the analysis of Cantonese phonology.
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