"A poet must take as his material his own language as it is actually spoken around him. The music of poetry, then, will be a music latent in the common speech of his time." - T S Eliot That would mean Singlish to you and me.
yes that's a thorny one isn't it: that how far should one - one being a non-white non-anglo saxon person - go, in localising/re-colonising the English language in writing in general & in penning serious English-language literature in particular?
personally i've never been comfortable with works that are too localised, as i believe whatever one writes should be understandable to a 'global reader', especially in this age of Internet.
but i think writers are still having it relatively good. my true sympathy goes to Asian actors/actresses who have perform in English & verbally to say the lines out loud.
the speech almost always come out sounding in varying degrees of salah-ness, regardless of whatever accent they adopt, be it Oxbridge, American, mid-Atlantic, Singlish/Chinglish/Malayish/Hongklish.
i often try very hard not to cringe but alas seldom succeed in doing so. :(
Dear Cringing Anon: It's not a thorny issue for me actually. As you know I love Singlish - it's flexible, it's musical, it resonates with humanity and poetry of daily life. what is huckleberry finn but 'localised' and yet, it's universally understood, and lauded as a classic. language is communication and i seriously doubt that singlish is so hard to understand - even if you were french. I think there is a lot of snobbishness involved the singlish debate. alas, a sad sad colonial hangover/ hang up.
"A poet must take as his material his own language as it is actually spoken around him. The music of poetry, then, will be a music latent in the common speech of his time." - T S Eliot
yes that's a thorny one isn't it: that how far should one - one being a non-white non-anglo saxon person - go, in localising/re-colonising the English language in writing in general & in penning serious English-language literature in particular?
ReplyDeletepersonally i've never been comfortable with works that are too localised, as i believe whatever one writes should be understandable to a 'global reader', especially in this age of Internet.
but i think writers are still having it relatively good. my true sympathy goes to Asian actors/actresses who have perform in English & verbally to say the lines out loud.
the speech almost always come out sounding in varying degrees of salah-ness, regardless of whatever accent they adopt, be it Oxbridge, American, mid-Atlantic, Singlish/Chinglish/Malayish/Hongklish.
i often try very hard not to cringe but alas seldom succeed in doing so. :(
sorry should have been 'comes out sounding'. my bad.
ReplyDeleteDear Cringing Anon: It's not a thorny issue for me actually. As you know I love Singlish - it's flexible, it's musical, it resonates with humanity and poetry of daily life.
ReplyDeletewhat is huckleberry finn but 'localised' and yet, it's universally understood, and lauded as a classic. language is communication and i seriously doubt that singlish is so hard to understand - even if you were french.
I think there is a lot of snobbishness involved the singlish debate. alas, a sad sad colonial hangover/ hang up.