On the afternoon of November 22nd, 2019, Professor Bao Zhiming from National University of Singapore was invited to give a lecture entitled “Reconstructing Linguistic Ecology: Formal and Informal Sources” at the School of Foreign Languages of Southeast University. After the lecture, he had an in-depth discussion with participants including teachers and graduate students in first grade.
Professor Bao Zhiming is a Provost's Chair Professor of Linguistics in the Department of English Language and Literature, National University of Singapore. He is engaged in two main areas of research: formal linguistics and contact linguistics. Currently, his research focuses on the linguistics of aging, especially the linguistic markers of dementia.
Professor Bao reviewed the appearance and evolution of Singlish based on formal and informal sources. At the end of his lecture, he concluded that Singapore thrives on maritime trade, and on globalization and multiculturalism. Besides success, there is also angst of multilingualism/multiculturalism in Singapore:
1.Is Singlish good enough?
2.Standard English is distant geographically and emotionally.
3.Language shift creates disconnect with heritage.
Participants have benefited a lot from the lecture which provides new ideas for their research direction in future.
Reported by Ni Fucheng
Photographed by Guo Fengping
