Standard Singlish
How should Singlish be perceived in our society today? Is it an incorrect form of English? Or a unique language that is deserving of greater respect?
Standard Singlish challenges viewers to reconsider the status of Singlish by introducing a new Singlish typographical system together with a set of educational materials that reimagine a future where Singlish is formalised.
2024
Bachelor’s Thesis Project
Speculative, Graphic Design
Core77 Design Awards 2025
Speculative Category
Student Winner
Pre-order Here
Despite being
the common language that unites the diverse groups of people within the country, Singlish holds a contentious position within the Singaporean society.
The project aims to challenge this view by designing a new Singlish typographical system.
By transforming a primarily verbal language into something that can be written, the project attempts to prompt a reconsideration of Singlish’s legitimacy and status.
What if Singlish had its own orthography?
The current writing system for Singlish, the basic Latin script as used in English, fails to capture the nuances and tones of the language. For instance, the written phrase “can lah” could mean many things. Is it a neutral “can lah,” a persuasive “can lah” or an impatient “can lah?” The lack of tones reflected in the basic Latin script creates problems when reading Singlish text.
While alternative systems such as the tone number system and Hanyu Pinyin exist, the former is too unintuitive for everyday use while the latter is inappropriate since Singlish contains other linguistic influences besides Mandarin.
A Tone-based Script?
To address this gap, I developed a tone-based system specifically for Singlish. Designed to be simple yet effective, the system employs minimal yet effective diacritics: a dot placed below denotes a low tone, no dot indicates a mid tone, and a dot above represents a high tone. Prolongation, or dragging, is marked with an underline.
Singlish Educational Materials
With a Singlish typographical system established, I then focused on finding the right medium to convey the message of my project.
Given that my system is limited to discourse particles, I decided to create a set of primary school materials. This includes a PSLE Singlish assessment book and a set of 13 flash cards.
Pre-order Books Here
Snippets of the assessment book can be viewed below.
Singlish Script
Reactions
Reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/SGExams/s/sGOLMRJXkr
https://www.reddit.com/r/SGExams/s/o4Xtg9z230
KiasuParents
https://forum.kiasuparents.com/topic/105054/psle-singlish-book/2?_=1726419150590
View the links above to see the reactions.