Singapore Tamil Youth Conference 2018 Toolkit Toolkit 2018 Final | Page 8

Communication in Spoken Tamil
Minority language status and language preservation
Those seeking to preserve a particular language
often assume that they would receive
unrestricted systemic and societal support for
its revitalisation. However, they often overlook
that to properly upkeep a language in society,
one needs to evoke a passion for the language
which involves creating deep emotions towards
the medium to prevent it from being
abandoned (Dauenhauer and Dauenhauer
1998).
The effects of a lack of shift towards a
dominant language are often seen as
stemming from the presence of supportive
infrastructure such as an ethnic-language
mass media.
• Despite the presence of a very strong
ethnic-language Tamil mass media in
Singapore, the number of youths
who seem to be benefitting
linguistically from these mediums
seems to be declining.
• According to a survey conducted by
YJC in 2011 on Tamil Language and
mass
media
communication
technology, only 33.9% of students
read the Tamil Murasu (the Tamil
National Daily) and barely 50% of
students listened to Oli 96.8FM, the
Tamil radio station.
• However, perhaps, due to the
availability of multiple channels over
24 hours a day and the variety of
programmes offered, the numbers
are more encouraging for students
watching Tamil Television, which
stands at 66.1%
Language learning is a social activity that is
acquired in social interactions (Vygotsky, 1978).
• Singapore
Tamils
have
few
opportunities to congregate and use
the language outside their homes as
there are no longer any ethnic
enclaves except Little India (Kadakara,
2011).
• This
drastically
reduces
the
opportunities that are available for
Spoken Tamil acquisition, leading to a
decline in the usage of Spoken Tamil
amongst the general population.
For language groups that are huge in
numbers, there are naturally more avenues
to encourage people to speak in their
mother tongue and maintain its status in
society. As a result, in such a case, a shift
away from one’s mother tongue towards a
more dominant language is either slow or
does not occur at all.
• Given that the Tamil Population in
Survey on Tamil Language and Mass Media
Communication Technology
Watches Tamil TV
Listens to Oli968
Singapore is in the minority, the shift
towards a more dominant language,
English, would be significantly faster and
the effects of such a shift would be felt
on a much larger scale.
Reads Tamil Murasu
0
20
40
Percentage of Students
5
60
80