Parallels for Colloquial Singapore English got
Chinese you
As mentioned in the previous section, Colloquial Singapore English got shares with Standard English got the lexical meanings of ‘to receive or obtain’, ‘to become’, and the grammatical function of a passive. On top of that, Colloquial Singapore English go? has the other semantic functions of possessive, existential, emphasis, and realis modality marker. Syntactically, Colloquial Singapore English got appears in the syntactic frames of [subject + got + NP]S and [subject + got + VP]S. All of the expanded semantic functions of Colloquial Singapore English got and its syntactic frames correspond to Chinese Щ you ‘have’. In what follows, each of the equivalent semantic function of you will be described in greater detail.
(44) ш —ЯШ
wo you yl zhl mao
1SG POSS oue CL cat
‘I have a cat.’
Like possessive got, Chinese you can also be used to indicate possession of something or someone. In Example (44), the speaker uses you to indicate that he or she owns a cat. Additionally, Chinese you also appears in the same syntactic frame as possessive got, [subject + уди + NP]S, where wo T is the subject and yl zhl mao 'a cat' is the noun phrase.
(45) £ ± W — * ^
zhu5 shang you yl ben shu
table top EXST one CL book
‘There is a book on the table.’
Existential уди is used to locate the existence of something or someone in a particular place. In Example (45), the speaker uses you to indicate that there is a book on the table. The syntactic frame for existential yon is the same as possessive you, i.e. [subject + you + NP]S. In this example, zhuo shang 'table-top' is the subject and yl ben shu 'a book' is the noun phrase.
(46) Ш Щ tt № Й
wo you bi ta gao
1SG EMP COM 3SG tall
T AM taller than him.’
Additionally, Chinese you can also be used to indicate emphasis. In Example (46), you is used by the speaker to emphasize that he or she is indeed taller than some other person. Like Colloquial Singapore English got, Chinese you can also appear in all kinds of comparative sentences to provide emphasis.
The temporal location and aspectual related meanings of Colloquial Singapore Mandarin уди as illustrated by Examples (47) and (48) has been described as affirming the existence of a state or event (Han 2017), and this is in line with Nomoto and Lee’s (2008) description of Colloquial Singapore English got as a realis modality marker.
(47) № ^ £ ФИ
Ta you qu Zhongguo
3SG REA go China
‘He has been to China/Не is going to China.’
Identical to Colloquial Singapore English got, Chinese you can be used to locate a situation in time. In Example (47), the situation of going to China can either be located in the past or in the present, thereby indicating someone as having been to a location or is heading to the location at speech time. The syntactic frame for this usage ofyou is [subject+you + VP]S. In this example, ta ‘he’ is the subject and qi) Zhonggud "go to China’ is the verb phrase.
Additionally, Chinese vow is also compatible with habitual aspect (see Example (48a)), completive aspect (see Example (48b)), or experiential aspect (see Example (48c)). The syntactic frames for these aspectual meanings of you are the same as temporal location vow, i.e. [subject + you + VP]S.
(48a) & *Г ЭТ
wo you da lanqiu
1SG REA hit basketball
T play basketball regularly.’
Example (48a) illustrates how Chinese you is compatible with habitual aspect. In this example, you da lanqiu ‘play basketball regularly’ indicates the habit or regular occurrence of playing basketball by the speaker. The subject here is wo T and the verb phrase is da lanqiu ‘play basketball’.
(48b) Ш W M
ta jlntian you kan dianshi
3SG today REA see television
‘He watched television today.’
Example (48b) illustrates how Chinese you is compatible with completive aspect. In this example, you kan dianshi ‘watched television’ indicates the completion of the action of watching television by the referent of id ‘he’. The subject here is ta ‘he’ and the verb phrase is kan dianshi ‘watch television’.
(48c) № Щ '£ а Ш
ta you chi guo Indian
3SG REA eat EXP durian
‘He ate durians before.’
Example (48c) illustrates how Chinese you is compatible with experiential aspect. In this example, you chi guo litilidn indicates the fact that the subject has prior experience of eating durian. The subject here is td ‘he’ and the verb phrase is cln guo litilidn ‘ate durian before’.
To facilitate the previous discussion of Chinese you, it has been talked about broadly as if there are no differences between the different varieties of Chinese. In fact, the use of Standard Mandarin you is very different from its use in Southern varieties of Chinese, so much so that they are even pronounced differently. For example, the counterpart of Mandarin you in Southern Min is и and in Cantonese, it is yauh. Semantically, only the semantic functions of existence and possession are shared among all Chinese varieties. The functions of emphasis and realis modality marker are only present in Southern varieties like Southern Min and Cantonese, both of which are present in the language ecology of Singapore. Although both Southern Min and Cantonese are in the language ecology of Singapore, many younger Singaporeans can no longer speak these varieties. Furthermore, even though these colloquial functions of Mandarin you are attested in Colloquial Singapore Mandarin (Han 2017), the extent to which younger Singaporeans use such functions depends to a large extent on the individual proficiency level and his or her attitude toward Colloquial Singapore Mandarin. In short, the use of Colloquial Singapore English got may not be motivated by parallel constructions in the Chinese language, since the use of you for the functions of emphasis and realis modality marker may not even be part of younger speakers' Chinese language repertoire. As we shall see in the next section, none of the younger Chinese speakers used got as a realis modality marker during the entire duration of their sociolinguistic interviews.
Malay ada
Of all the expanded functions of Colloquial Singapore English got, Malay ada shares with it the two semantic functions of possession and existence.
- (49) Dia ada dua abang
- 3SG POSS two brother
‘He has two brothers.’
Like possessive got, Malay ada can also be used to indicate possession of something or someone. In Example (49), the speaker uses ada to indicate that he has two brothers. Additionally, Malay ada also appears in the same syntactic frame as possessive got, [subject + ada + NP]S, where dia ‘he’ is the subject and dua abang 'two brothers’ is the noun phrase.
(50) Sekolah ada dua ratus budak-sekolah
school EXST two hundred boy-school
'The school has two hundred schoolboys.’
Existential ada is used to locate the existence of something or someone in a particular place. In Example (50), the speaker uses ada to indicate that there are two hundred schoolboys in the school. The syntactic frame for existential ada is the same as possessive ada, i.e. [subject + ada + NP]S. In this example, sekolah ‘school’ is the subject and dua ratus budak-sekolah ‘two hundred schoolboys’ is the noun phrase.
It is important to note that Malay ada does not have the semantic functions of emphasis or realis modality marker and this is reflected in Malay speakers’ use of Colloquial Singapore English got, which will be discussed in the next section.
Tamil iruk
In the Tamil language, the word iruk is similar to the English be verb and it can mean ‘there is’ or ‘there are' according to different linguistic contexts. Like Colloquial Singapore English got, the word iruk can be used to express the dual semantic functions of possession and existence.
(51) u<5g;j Qffljeirerfi
avan-itam pattu velli iruk-kira-tu
3SG-LOC ten silver be-PRS-PNG
‘There is ten dollars on him.’
Like possessive got, Tamil iruk can also be used to indicate possession of something or someone. In Example (51), the speaker uses iruk to indicate that he has ten dollars. Syntactically, however, Tamil iruk appears at the end of the sentence as Tamil is an SOV language. This is in contrast to the pre-predicate position of Colloquial Singapore English got. In other words, Tamil iruk appears in the following syntactic frame, [subject + NP + iruk, which is different from possessive got. In Example (51), avan-itam ‘on him’ is the subject and pattu velli 'ten dollars’ is the noun phrase.
(52) <5jf5 anta раШ-yil irunuru manavarkal iruk-kirar-kal that school-LOC two hundred students be-PRS-PNG ‘There are two hundred students in that school.’ Similarly, Tamil iruk can be used to locate the existence of something or someone in a particular place. In Example (52), the speaker uses iruk to indicate that there are two hundred students in the school. The syntactic frame for existential iruk is the same as possessive iruk, i.e. [subject + NP + iruk]s. In this example, antapalli- yil ‘in that school’ is the subject and irunuru manavarkal ‘two hundred students’ is the noun phrase. Like Malay ada, Tamil iruk does not have the other semantic functions of emphasis and realis modality marker, and this is also reflected in the way in which Tamil speakers use got. This suggests that crosslinguistic associations between words do occur at a semantic level (see Wasserscheidt 2015), since Tamil iruk does not share the same syntactic frame as Colloquial Singapore English got.
