The Pragmatics of Kéyĭ (“Can”) in Singapore Mandarin

Abstract

The object of study in this chapter is the pragmatics of the non-Standard Singapore Mandarin equivalent of the English can (可以; kéyĭ). This chapter describes some of the speech acts it is associated with and represents some of these speech norms in the form of cultural scripts formulated using the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM). It is hoped that the cultural scripts will facilitate a better understanding of the cultural values underlying the use of this word. This chapter also contrasts some of these speech norms with their English counterparts to highlight their culture specificity and further examines examples from standard Mandarin to explain their cultural significance. This chapter additionally shows that speech acts are often culture specific, and speech acts specific to one language (in this case, English) cannot adequately describe speech acts specific to another (Singapore Mandarin, in this case). The proposed solution is NSM, a metalanguage that comprises semantic primes and universal combinations of the primes, which is also what the previous chapter advocates for the study of speech acts. As this chapter tries to show, NSM can clearly explain Singapore Mandarin speech acts associated with the word kéyĭ and, in doing so, clarify the language-specific use of the Singapore Mandarin semantic equivalent of the English can.

A number of authentic examples are studied and they suggest that the relationship between Singapore Mandarin speakers is often marked by (among other things) social obligations. These obligations have to do with priority given to what one is able to do over what one wants to do. Speakers tend to de-emphasize what one (either the speaker or someone else) wants to do and, in doing so, go against some of Grice’s maxims and Brown and Levinson’s politeness principles. Singapore Mandarin culture, which has a strong presence in Singaporean society, may thus be considered “collectivist,” which means that personal autonomy is not a high-ranking value and may not be something that people, at least among the older generations, are generally familiar with.

It is also noted that some of the Singapore Mandarin ways of speaking associated with kéyĭ have found their way into Singapore English, used also by non-Mandarin speakers, including native English speakers who have lived in Singapore for a substantial period of time. This observation seems to suggest that the speech norms in question are a Singaporean feature rather than merely a feature of Singapore Mandarin. This chapter has implications for cross-cultural communication, cultural adaptation, and language pedagogy in the cultural context of Singapore.