Research On Singapore Chinese Words And Expressions

This thesis researched on the Singapore Chinese words and expressions based on the comparisons between Singapore Chinese words and expressions and China standard spoken Chinese words and expressions. It is divided into three major parts: Background Information and Research, Core Research and Applied Research.The thesis comprises 10 Chapters and approximately 170,000 wordsChapter 1: INTRODUCTION. Mainly elaborated on the origin and significance of this research; definition and positioning of the Singapore Chinese language; research scope; research methodology and sources of language materials; etc.We believed that the ethnic Chinese in Singapore relied on China Chinese standard spoken Chinese as the core standard for its language. It inherited the China standard spoken Chinese and possessed the same prominent language status. This thesis took the most recent of the Singapore's Chinese language and the China's Chinese standard spoken Chinese language materials as the research basis to carry out a comprehensive and systematically research on the Singapore Chinese words and expressions. Using the practical language we can demonstrate the differences, research into the words structure, principles and meaning to look into possible new approaches to teach the Chinese language.Chapter 2: SUMMARY. Reorganized former researches on Singapore Chinese words which included mainly four aspects: its characteristics, the unique words, comparisons with the China Chinese standard spoken Chinese words and the expressions standard research.Looking at the past research systems, the comparisons were incomplete and the concepts were unclear. For the research on individual words and expressions, it did not follow up with changes in the words and expressions development. At the same time, it lacked the comprehensive research into the standards and coordination and related words and expressions for use in teaching.Chapters 3 & 4: Background information and material researchChapter 3: RESEARCH ON SINGAPORE'S SOCIETY AND LANGUAGE. Main focused is on the research for changes and development in Singapore Chinese words and expressions that relates to Singapore society and language. For more than 100 years, Singapore has been a multi-racial society with Chinese being the major ethnic group. After independence in 1965, the English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil languages became the four official languages. In the 70's, English language overtook the Malay language to become the country's administrative language. Similarly in the education scene, the 4-language model: Chinese, English, Chinese, Malay, has ended up using English as the main teaching medium language and first language and the other languages than became the mother tongues and compulsory second languages for the respective ethnic groups. The Singapore Government has placed much importance in the Chinese teaching. Since the 90's there were 3 significant revamps in the Chinese education programme. In order to help students to learn better Chinese, to make Chinese language become the common language amongst the Chinese social group and to strengthen the Singapore Chinese cohesiveness, the Singapore Government started the "Speak Mandarin Campaign" from 1979 which 10 years to encourage the usage of Mandarin at home instead of dialects. However the English language - being the administration language and high international acceptance - took a rapid growth as a home-speaking language. Over at the mass media, English newspapers and Chinese television programmes were both just as popular. The Chinese broadcasting station is slightly more popular than the English stations, but the English movies are still much preferred.Chapter 4: RESEARCH ON COMPARISON OF VOCABULARY IN SINGAPORE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS TEXTBOOKS WITH HSK VOCABULARY LIST. When comparing the difference, we discovered there were 53.43% vocabularies in the Singapore Secondary and Primary Schools textbooks that were found in the HSK Vocabulary List, and 53.43% vocabularies in the HSK Vocabulary List found in the Singapore Secondary and Primary Schools textbook. Therefore we analyzed the vocabularies that are common and unique to HSK and the textbooks to provide research materials for teaching purposes. Also through a system of comparison and analysis with the new Chinese vocabularies we were able to give a more complete research materials and basis in the following chapters.Chapters 5 & 6 are the core of this thesis's research.Chapter 5: RESEARCH INTO SINGAPORE UNIQUE VOCABULARIES. The formation and definition of "unique words" and "Singapore unique words". "Singapore unique words and expressions" reflect and express objects and concepts in Singapore's society, largely within the country's usage. It is made up of 2 parts: (1) words and expressions that reflect unique objects or concept in Singapore; (2) words and expressions that are representative or frequently used. Comparing these words with China standard words, the differences can be classified as "Singapore-China antonym language of the same form" and "Singapore-China synonymy word of different form". Hence the buildup of 3 main words comparison systems: Unique words in Singapore, "Singapore-China antonym language of the same form" and "Singapore-China synonymy word of different form".In this chapter we analyzed the written by Wang Huidi in 1999. We discovered that 17% of the words in this dictionary were already not in used in LianHe Zaobao from 1/1/2006 to 31/12/2007. 10% of the words have be included in the 5^th edition of the and blended into China standard words. Using Wang Huidi's dictionary, we further researched the "Singapore-China antonym language of the same form" and "Singapore-China synonymy word of different form" to confirm the Singapore unique words were transformed from English words and that this trend will certainly continue.Chapter 6: RESEARCH ON SINGAPORE-CHINA ANTONYM LANGUAGE OF THE SAME FORM. To research into 3 main areas: (1) words of the same form with complete antonym (2) words of the same form with partial antonym (3) words of the same form with different tone. We further quantified and analyzed the ratio to find out the reasons and sources of influence: English translation, dialect, incomplete learning process. We believed the formation of SINGAPORE-CHINA ANTONYM LANGUAGE OF THE SAME FORM is due to the influences from: word structure and word quality, infusing dialects into Chinese language, shifting words and translation from English language, temporal break in communication between Singapore and China, insufficient words and expression and learning opportunities, lack of standard oral Chinese, and lack of standards and systems in Chinese language.Chapter 7: RESEARCH ON SINGAPORE-CHINA SYNONYMY WORD OF DIFFERENT FORM. To research into 3 main areas: (1) words of complete synonymy in words quality (2) words of partial synonymy in words quality (3) unmatched china words. Also we classified the words into nouns, verbs, adjectives and fixed short phrases to confirm which of these categories has the biggest proportions and the sources of influence. With increased correspondences between Singapore and china, we felt the "Singapore-China synonymy word of different form" will increased mainly due to influence from English and words formation.Chapters 8 & 9 are the applications of this research thesis.Chapter 8: RESEARCH ON STANDARDS AND COORDINATION ON SINGAPORE CHINESE WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS. Language Standards refer to its organsation and set rules usage in a country/area. Language coordination refer to the mutual understandings and communications amongst different geographical areas. We felt that language standards and coordination are closely related as the standards formed the basis of coordination and coordination sets the continuous changes in standards. Singapore Chinese and China Chinese have different coordination methods and their standardization process is also their coordination process.To confirm Singapore Chinese language positioning, its language system, to improve coordination with China standards and ensure effective learning, there is more to be done in the standardization and coordination process. The principles should be: (1) seeks common ground while maintaining difference; (2) ensure equal and win-win status; (3) confirm principle yet allow diversification; (4) consensus and progress; (5) firm rules yet flexible: (6)keeping pace with changes. These principles on standards and coordination of the Chinese language can be used to explore the following 7 areas: set up a professional Chinese language standards and systems research organization; set up a data bank to track changes in Chinese language; research the differences between Singapore and China Chinese language; compile ; mass media to place importance in standardization of words and expressions; use of standardized Chinese words and expressions in school's education; promote Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK).Chapter 9: RESEARCH ON TEACHING OF CHINESE WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS IN SINGAPORE. Through educational targets in Chinese language teaching and Chinese language being a home-used language, the students and parents have accepted the Chinese language as the mother tongue for Chinese ethnic's students and their 1^st language. But in the positioning of Chinese language in teaching it is considered 2^nd language, hence we felt that the Chinese language should be positioned as a mother tongue and as a 1^st language in 2^nd language teaching.Through the result of Singapore secondary school students' enrolment in HSK exam and from the analysis of HSK vocabularies, the teaching of word quality as the basis of Chinese language teaching is more complete than the present single word teaching method.We use "what to teach", "when to teach", "how to teach" to research into the existing problems of Singapore Chinese language teaching which includes: (1)Reaching of unrelated words in social life; (2) teaching of words that are too difficult and low in use frequency; (3)uninteresting teaching methods. Our recommended revamp in teaching the Chinese words and expressions will include: (1)formation of "live" word bank use for teaching, curriculum writing and for compiling a ; (2) research and categorize on words usage frequency and coverage and students' ability to learn and use of words; (3) emphasis on word quality and use of technology in teaching to make teaching interesting, collaborate with the mass media to conduct classes on Chinese words and expressions to make learning more interesting and effective.Chapter 10: CONCLUSION. Conclude the entire thesis and confirm future research topics and directions.