LING6060: Tamil is one of the 4 main languages in Singapore being taught as a Mother Tongue in most government schools and used in official government: Bilingualism and Biliteracy Research Paper, UoN, Singapore

Purpose

Tamil is one of the 4 main languages in Singapore, being taught as a Mother Tongue in most government schools and used in official government notices and letters as well. The purpose of this research is to examine the prevalence of the Tamil language and its orthography in Little India (Singapore).

This study will be replicated from Shang & Guo’s (2016) study on the linguistic landscape of shop names and its correlation to Singapore’s multiculturalism. The main difference in the research paper would be that it is limited to the ethnic enclave of Little India. This is to streamline the focus on the Tamil language and its visibility in that specific area.

Data Collection

The data collection would consist of pictures of signages around Little India. There would be approximately 20-30 pictures for data analysis of Tamil orthography in a bilingual or multilingual context.

Methodology and Coding

Data collected will be specifically analyzed for 5 aspects including

• Number of languages present

The analysis will be done by sorting the images into groups and then comparing them. The coding will be done similarly to the original study with the exception of analyzing Chinese characters as Tamil orthography does not allow for this distinction.