consonants in Singlish, hence taken [ˈtekən], never *[ˈtekn̩]. Glottal stop insertion: A glottal stop [ʔ] may be inserted at the beginning of words starting with Singlish (a portmanteau of Singapore and English), formally known as Colloquial Singaporean English, is a contact language based on English originating in Singapore. It linguistically resembles a creole, but its status as a creole is academically disputed. Singlish arose out of contact between speakers of different languages, mainly comprising different English varieties, different Malay varieties Pronunciation… S… According to David Bloom, English in Singapore cannot be described with a creole continuum, because the oldest variety of English spoken was a standard form. According to Ansaldo, ideas from creolisation may be used to describe how different languages played a role in the formation of English in Singapore, but should not be treated to narrowly describe Singlish as being a creole. Ansaldo also writes that the labelling of Singlish as a creole or a "new variety of English" does not have linguistic implications, and instead has more sociohistorical and political implications. In 2015, Tan Siew Imm agreed with the classification, citing the increasing body of research of English in Singapore, and an increased acceptability of "high variety" usage in official contexts except news and scripted dialogue, despite attempts to discourage linguistic features local to Singapore. Bao Zhiming writes that while Schneider's dynamic model provides a new perspective of New Englishes, it ignores pidgins and creoles despite being well known in contact linguistics, saying that New Englishes are distinct from English-lexified pidgins and creoles. Glottal stop insertion: A glottal stop [ʔ] may be inserted at the beginning of words starting with a vowel, as in German. As a result, final consonants do not experience liaison, i.e. run onto the next word. For example, "ran out of eggs" is realised as [ɹɛn ʔau̯t ʔɔf ʔeks] for some speakers (compare General American [ɹɛən‿aʊɾ‿əv‿ɛɡz]), with glottal stops in lieu of null onsets. This contributes to what linguists have described as the 'staccato effect' of Singapore English. Glottal replacement: Though uncommon in modern speakers, a glottal stop [ʔ] may replace final stop consonants (except /p, b/), especially in fast-paced speech: Goodwood Park becomes Gu'-wu' Pa' [ˈɡuʔ ˈwuʔ ˈpaʔ], exist is realised as [ɛʔˈzist], and there may be a glottal stop at the end of words like back and out. Final-obstruent devoicing: Word-finally, the distinction between voiced and voiceless sounds, i.e. – , – , etc., is sometimes not maintained. As a result, cease = seize /sis/ and race = raise /res/ for some speakers. Cluster reduction: Final consonant clusters may simplify, especially in fast speech. It has been claimed that the tones assigned to the bulk of English vocabulary, with noticeable word- and phrase-final prominence, derive from the prosody of Bazaar Malay, rather than from the explicitly tonal substrate languages of Sinitic origin. This has been cited as an example of Peranakan influence functioning as a founder effect within the linguistic ecology of the language's emergence. === Prosody === One of the most prominent and noticeable features of Singlish is its unique intonation pattern, which is quite unlike non-creole varieties of English. For example: Singlish is syllable-timed compared to most varieties of English, which are usually stress-timed. These patterns are well-established in Singapore English and do not apply to loanwords from Chinese with lexical tone. There is a tendency to use a rise-fall tone to indicate special emphasis. A rise-fall tone can occur quite often on the final word of an utterance, for example on the word cycle in "I will try to go to the park to cycle" without carrying any of the suggestive meaning associated with a rise-fall tone in British English. In fact, a rise-fall tone may be found on as many as 21 per cent of declaratives, and this use of the tone can convey a sense of strong approval or disapproval. There is a lack of the de-accenting that is found in most dialects of English (e.g. Overall, the differences between the different ethnic communities in Singapore are most evident in the patterns of intonation. For example, Malay Singaporeans often have the main pitch excursion later in an utterance, unlike ethnically Chinese and Indian Singaporeans. == Grammar == Singlish grammar is the set of structural rules Singlish follows, including the structure of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. Some features of Singlish grammar include topic-prominence, where sentences begin with a known referent of the conversation, omission of the word be, reduplication of words, and discourse particles such as ah, lah, and what.