新加坡華人語言使用與族群認同之探究

新加坡是多元族群的國家，各族群間通用語言是以英語為主，其中，華人族群佔的比例為最大宗。因此，新加坡華人跟華語之間的關係，在華語方面的語言能力、態度、學習與選擇；以及新加坡華人對自己族群身分的認同，族群態度、知覺與行為等議題，皆為本研究想要探討的內容。故本研究之研究目的為：一、分析新加坡華人的語言使用情形；二、分析新加坡華人的族群認同情形。本研究之方法為以訪談大綱進行半結構式的深度訪談法。訪談對象為18位新加坡華人，並將訪談對象分為四個不同階段的年齡層(青少年、大學生、青職、年長)進行語言使用與族群認同情形的分析。因著新加坡雙語教育政策的影響，英語變成實際的官方行政工作語言，並且是各族群的共同語；而華語則是華族內部的共通語，無法與英語平起平坐。英語在社會、學校、工作上的實用性與使用性都比華語高，甚至在學校教育制度下，主要教學語言為英語，華語只是一門學科。研究發現，新加坡雖然是英語為主的社會，不過在語言使用方面，年長的訪談對象在生活中比較會選擇使用華語；另外，在不同年齡層中，都有從小到大以華語為家庭常用語的訪談對象，因著在家裡就有說華語的環境，所以比其他新加坡華人多了一個使用華語的機會與場合─家庭。在華語的聽說讀寫能力方面，不同年齡層都在華語的聽和說方面相對比較強，而讀和寫的能力則因為不常也沒有機會使用顯得比較弱。華語在新加坡的使用沒有英語來得普遍，青少年、大學生與青職階段在生活中主要使用英語更甚於華語，尤其在工作方面還是以英語為主。研究結果也發現，因著中國崛起，影響許多新加坡華人更加重視華語的學習，尤其在使用華語進行溝通方面。在族群認同方面，訪談對象大多都認為「身為華人要學習華語」，研究發現族群認同會因為語言的使用與語言強弱而受到影響，進而導致族群認同的強弱。雖然新加坡華人以英語為主，但這並不必然表示他們不認同華人族群身分或華語。最後，研究也發現基督徒群體家庭性的凝聚力強烈，因為信仰關係而影響到新加坡華人對使用華語的意願與使用機會，以及族群認同方面的影響。

關鍵字

新加坡華人；華語；語言使用；族群認同

並列摘要

Singapore is a multi-ethnic country where Chinese are the most populous among all other ethnic groups, and English is the common language used across ethnicities. This serves as the motivation of this study, which is to explore the relationship between Singaporean Chinese and Mandarin; including their competencies, attitudes, learning and choices. This paper also explores Singaporean Chinese’s sense of ethnic identity as well as attitudes, perceptions and behavior towards their ethnicity. The purpose of this research is to analyze: 1) the usage of Mandarin by Singaporean Chinese, and 2) analyze how Singaporean Chinese identify with their ethnicity. For the purpose of this study, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted. Participants comprised 18 Singaporean Chinese participants of four different age groups (youths, university students, young working adults, and seniors). Due to the influence of Singapore’s bilingual education policy, English has become the actual official administrative working language and is a common language of all ethnic groups. Mandarin is a common language within the Chinese and cannot be equalized with English. English is more practical and usable than Mandarin in society, schools, and work. Even under the school education system, the main language of instruction is English, and Mandarin is just a subject. The study found that although Singapore is an English-dominated society, older interviewees will choose to use Mandarin in their language use. In addition, in different age groups, there are interviewees who use Mandarin as their common language from small to large. Because they have a Chinese-speaking environment at home, they have one more opportunity and occasion to use Mandarin than other Singaporean Chinese. In terms of listening, speaking, reading and writing of Mandarin, all age groups are relatively strong in terms of listening and speaking in Mandarin, and the ability to read and write is relatively weak because of infrequent and no chance to use. The use of Mandarin in Singapore is less common than in English. Youth, undergraduates and young people use English in their daily lives rather than Mandarin, especially in their work. Another conclusion of this study is that the rise of China has influenced many Singaporean Chinese to pay more attention to learn Mandarin, especially for the purpose of communication. This study also finds that although English is the main language used among Singaporean Chinese, most participants still identify with their ethnicity (“As Chinese, one should learn Mandarin”); and how strongly they identify with their ethnicity is affected by their usage and competency of Mandarin. Finally, this study also finds that Christianity – where families tend to be more cohesive - also influences the degree to which Singaporean Chinese identify with their ethnicity as well as their opportunities to use Mandarin.