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Negotiating social meanings in a plural society: social perceptions of variants of /l/ in Singapore English

This study illustrates how differential speech features that emerged from language contact and acquisition in a linguistically and culturally pluralistic society can accrue diverse social-indexical meanings over time. The social perceptions towards three variants of coda /l/ in Singapore English, namely dark-l, the variant associated with prescriptive norms, and clear-l and vocalised-l, which are variants that arose through language contact, were examined. The findings revealed that the meanings of the local variants are equally diverse, but have evolved differently; vocalised-l is an emerging local standard, whereas clear-l remained largely stigmatised. The diverse meanings are also shown to be connected by social factors within a larger network of interrelated signs, and that their interpretations are dependent on the hearer’s experiences, such that we are observing different parts of the sociolinguistic reality. Restricted experiences with the social world and regulation of social perception were also shown to potentially contribute to accent-based prejudices.