2024 RI Prelim ELL Paper 2

©Raffles Institution 2024 1 Raffles Institution 2024 Year 6 Preliminary Examinations General Certificate of Education Advanced Level Higher 2 English Language and Linguistics Paper 2 9508/2 28 August 2024 3 hours Additional Materials: Answer Booklet IPA Chart (attached) READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST  Write your full name, CT class, subject code (9508/2), and the subject tutor’s name on the answer booklet.  Use the back pages of the booklet for your planning.  Write in dark blue or black ink on both sides of the writing paper.  Do not use staples, paper clips, highlighters, glue, or correction fluid/tape. Answer THREE questions: you must answer at least one question from Section A and at least one question from Section B. All questions carry equal marks. You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers. This question paper consists of 10 printed pages, including this page.

©Raffles Institution 2024 2 Section A: Language Variation and Change Answer at least one question from this section. Answers should demonstrate awareness of wider geographical/historical/social perspectives (as appropriate) in relation to English Language. Examples may be drawn from written or spoken English, or from both. Do not repeat material in your answers to different questions on this Paper. 1 Read Texts A(i) and A(ii), and then answer the question below. Discuss in detail some of the concerns with the state of English today. You should include a range of exampl es/ideas from Texts A(i) and A(ii) and your wider studies of English language, with detailed reference to lexis, grammar, syntax and discourse as appropriate. [25] Text A(i) is an extract of an article published by The Guardian online on the impact of English on other languages. Of course, English in particular, supercharged by business, pop culture and the internet after centuries of colonial expansion, is the real empire of our time – far more fluid and influential than any political entity. Many English speakers go their entire lives without encountering anything significant they can’t do or get in their language. Whatever the power dynamics of any given conversation, English is pure linguistic privilege, the reserve currency of communication. The push to learn it is an event of planetary significance, swelling a linguistic community of going on half a billion native English speakers worldwide, plus another 1 or 2 billion who know it as a second language. These numbers are growing every day. Many people think the world, or at least their corner of it, is growing ever more diverse, but monolinguals are increasingly in charge. The monolingual mindset, bone-deep in almost every anglophone American, blocks any real urgency about other languages. A multilingual childhood, only now widely recognised as an inestimable cognitive advantage, can add a whole dimension to someone’s understanding of the world, with a sense of linguistic and cultural perspective. But to do it right, especially for monolingual parents, can require serious effort and resources. 5 10 15

©Raffles Institution 2024 3 Text A(ii) are some comments posted in response to the BBC article ‘Is txt ruining the English language?’. Languages are invented for people to communicate. It is always better when a language is convenient to use, and is effective in delivering one's thought. Another key factor is that costs involved in communication cannot be too high. It is inevitable for us to "speak" in this way via a machine, to save time... We'd better invent better machines which can translate abbreviated words that we key in back to real words to the recipient. Steve, Hong Kong Surely as time is going on our language is getting shorter and shorter thanks to technology. Eventually we won't need to write anything down and we will just speak into microphones and it will be written/stored for us. We are all just gonna end up speaking a slang form of our language. John Jackson, UK We should ban shorthand for secretaries and journalists as well as text messaging for school children. That would stop everyone intruding on the English language. After all there are no slang words, foreign words or dialects used in this country at all at the moment. Richard Stokoe, London 5 10 15

©Raffles Institution 2024 4 2 Read Texts B(i) and B(ii), and then answer the question below. Discuss in detail how attitudes towards Singapore Colloquial English have changed over the years. You should include a range of exampl es/ideas from Texts B(i) and B(ii) and your wider studies of English language, with detailed reference to lexis, grammar, syntax and discourse as appropriate. [25] Text B(i) is part of Channel News Asia’s coverage on the role of Singlish in Singapore. Back in 1974, the authorities banned Dick Lee’s classic tune, Fried Rice Paradise, by reason of “improper use of English”. “Those were the actual words they gave me,” the singer -songwriter said in CNA’s two -parter, Singlish: Why We Talk Like That? “It seemed like I committed a crime or something.” Today, with Singlish used in anything from Phua Chu Kang’s COVID-19 vaccine rap to Word-leh! — the local version of the viral word game Wordle — it may be hard to imagine that it was once considered a threat to Singapore. A study being conducted at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has even found that the Singlish vocabulary is as integral as that of English to the way Singaporeans make sense of the world. “They form important concepts for Singaporeans. They coexist with other languages that Singaporeans may know,” said NUS assistant professor of psychology Cynthia Siew, who is doing the research. 5 10

©Raffles Institution 2024 5 Text B(ii) is an extract of an online article published by TODAY. Some academics and linguists criticise the official concern over, and dogmatic reaction against, Singlish as linguistically naive. They assert that any campaign against Singlish only sets back efforts to cultivate linguistic confidence and, ultimately, national pride in the local variety of English. The recent inclusion of 19 Singlish words and phrases into the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) in its March 2016 update was argued as evidence that the government’s ostracisation of Singlish was untenable. Although we need not be apologetic about Singlish, it would be hasty and foolhardy to regard Singlish words such as “blur”, “sotong”, “sabo” and the derogatory “Chinese helicopter” as having acquired international currency. The inclusion of Singlish words and phrases in the OED does not automatically legitimise the usage of those words as part of Standard English. As OED’s world English editor, Dr Danica Salazar, said of the latest inclusion of Singlish words: “The word gets into the OED because people use it. We wouldn’t have put in the word ‘ang moh’ if we didn’t find evidence of people using the word.” Even if Singlish is a uniquely Singaporean identity marker, an expression of our multicultural identity, the reality is that Singlish will never become Standard English known, understood and used globally. It may be of interest when linguists seek to study “exotic” variants of the Engl