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The languages of Singapore are English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil, with the lingua franca between Singaporeans being English, the de facto main language. Singaporeans often speak Singlish among themselves, an English creole arising from centuries of contact between Singapore's internationalised society and its legacy of being a British colony.
Malay is also the ceremonial national language and used in the national anthem of Singapore, [25] in citations for Singapore orders and decorations and military foot drill commands, mottos of several organisations, and is the variety taught in Singapore's language education system.
Malay (/ m ə ˈ l eɪ / mə-LAY; [9] Malay: Bahasa Melayu, Jawi: بهاس ملايو) is an Austronesian language that is an official language of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and that is also spoken in East Timor and parts of Thailand.
The Malay language is one of the most prominent languages of the world, especially of the Austronesian family. Variants and dialects of Malay are used as an official language in Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. The language is also spoken in southern Thailand, Cocos Islands, Christmas Island, Sri Lanka.
Singapore is a racially and linguistically diverse city-state, with four official languages: English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay and Tamil. [4] During British colonial rule (1819-1942), [5] a variety of school systems were in place and most schools taught exclusively in one of the above four languages.
When Singapore separated from Malaysia in 1965, Malay became the national language of the new republic and one of the four official languages. The emergence of these newly independent states paved the way for a broader and widespread use of Malay (or Indonesian) in government administration and education.
Singapore's language planning is known as exogenous planning, whereby a foreign language takes on the role as the main language of communication against the indigenous languages in the country. The education system aims to create a workforce that is bi-literate in English and Chinese/Malay/Tamil.
Malaysian Malay (Malay: Bahasa Melayu Malaysia), also known as Standard Malay (Bahasa Melayu piawai), Bahasa Malaysia (lit. ' Malaysian language '), or simply Malay, is a standardized form of the Malay language used in Malaysia and also used in Brunei and Singapore (as opposed to the variety used in Indonesia, which is referred to as the "Indonesian" language).