Useless but loved: the intricacies of Tamil maintenance and shift in Singapore

Abstract

The Tamils of Singapore have been the subject of language shift discussions for years where much of the narrative has been focused on a tale of Tamil abandonment in favour of English. A closer look at census data however reveals that the rate at which Tamil use has declined is relatively lower compared to that of Malays who have been hailed as guardians of their language for the longest time. This may be an indication of some level of maintenance by Tamils despite the shift - something that the existing literature has largely ignored. This study employed a mixed methods approach to investigate the language situation of young Tamilians in Singapore. Data on language use, attitudes and core values were collected through a questionnaire from 71 Tamil Singaporeans aged 18 to 27 and semi-structured interviews were conducted with five young Tamilians to gain additional insight. The findings of the present study challenges previous scholarly works that predicted an impending death for Tamil as a spoken language in Singapore; it was found that certain segments of the community, such as those belonging to the lower income bracket have been maintaining the language at a high level for a long time and still continue to do so. This coupled with the generally positive attitudes towards Tamil suggests that the future of Tamil may not be quite as bleak.