Publisher's Synopsis
This book examines the development of the English language in Singapore and Malaysia. It looks into how English in these two countries has evolved due to the influences of the many local cultures and languages like Malay, Tamil and the various Chinese dialects. The authors describe how Singapore and Malaysian English (SME) has formulated its own grammar, vocabulary and rules of acceptable usage. The book gives a spirited argument on whether this new strain of English should be classified a new variety or simply poor English. This book is the result of the research that went into the production of the Times-Chambers Essential English Dictionary 2nd Edition, which is believed to be the first dictionary to incorporate approximately 1000 SME words into its lexicon.
