“Singlish Has Grammar Too!”: Colonial Recursivity in the Construction of Multilingualism in Singapore

ABSTRACT Stakeholders often conceptualize Singlish as emblematic of the hybrid Singaporean condition, deploying it as a subversive linguistic symbol against an English‐speaking leadership. This discourse analysis of a state‐sponsored panel discussion on English/Singlish coexistence in Singapore examines how pro‐Singlish activists challenge antiquated characterizations of Singlish as a deficient English creole to endorse it as its own separate language. However, even as supporters assert Singlish's autonomy, they fall back on neoliberal tropes to divide Singlish speakers based on their perceived ability to “codeswitch” between Singlish and English. In that process, they rearticulate longstanding distinctions of English supremacy, rebuilding internal linguistic hierarchies that reposition Singlish in an opposing, co‐constitutive relationship with English. I argue that this metapragmatic push to legitimize Singlish triggers a fractal recursion that ironically enables a form of contemporary postcolonialism, ultimately perpetuating a persistent imagining of Singlish as both “mixed” and inferior relative to English's elevated status in the nation‐state.