Group 1

1. Muhammad Royhan (J1A021023)

2. Arif Imam Said (J1A021027)

3. Muhammad Driandra (J1A021035)

The Use of Language Mixing Among Asian Diaspora in The Heartsick Diaspora by Elaine
Chiew

The Heartsick Diaspora is a collection of short stories written by Elaine Chiew that was
first published in 2019. It mainly focuses on Asian diaspora, especially the Malaysian and
Singaporean Chinese diaspora set in London, New York, and Singapore. This story explores an
ethnic writers group who are still bound by their native culture and create tendencies and
influences in the use of language. Therefore, the authors are intrigued in analyzing the use of
language mixing among Asian diaspora, specifically the use of Malaysian English and
Singaporean English, in this particular story.

The ethnic writers group lives in an area of ​London called Bayswater. The group's de
facto leader is Kevan, he has an eccentric style of writing for he likes to write at strange places
e.g. on a bus. This can be proven by,

“Our ethnic writers group that used to meet weekly at a Caffè Nero in Bayswater… Kevan is our
de facto leader and he has also eccentric because he has us writing in strange places e.g. on a bus.
(Chiew, 2019;126)”

Besides Kevan, the group also consists of Miranda. She is Malaysian Chinese and she is writing
about an old woman with urinary incontinence. This can be proven by, “She's Malaysian Chinese
and she's writing about a woman with urinary incontinence. (Chiew, 2019;127)”. Another
diaspora character is a Singaporean Character named Phoebe and also the main character named
Chandra who was referred as "I" In this short story.

Miranda, Phoebe and Chandra come from the same region, which is Southeast Asia. They have
lived in London for some time, however, when they are communicating with each other during
daily life or when they are writing they are still using varieties of English Language. Those
varieties are Malaysian English and Singaporean English. This can be proven by, “I flick off the
ash into a potted shrub. "I'm alluring, issit?" (Chiew, 2019;134)”

The word “issit" which is said by the character Chandra in this story is the local Singaporean
representation of the word "is it". This can be used to emphasize the word when it is used with an
exclamation mark.

The use of varieties of English language can be seen at the narration by the writer as proven
below,
“So, kiasu, afraid I will… We just can't help ourselves, it's liddat lor. (Chiew, 2019;134)

The narrative above really shows the writer using the words "kiasu” and “liddat lor”. Both of
those words are commonly found in Singaporean English, the meaning of those words are "fear
of missing out” and "like that”. Meanwhile, the reason why the author uses these two words in
her story is uncertain, but the author suggests that she might use those words to add the
authenticity of her diaspora in her short story. This can be proven by, “but ethnic diasporic
writers sometimes lack authenticity in their narrative voice. (Chiew, 2019;132)”.

"No lah, i got it on wardour street" (Miranda, V act 2 sc 1)

"Bit distracted lor" (Miranda, V act 2 sc 1)

"You siao char bor you, you're a little backstabber, you know… " (Chandra V act 2 sc 1).

The usage of italic for the singaporean english word indicate the reader that the word is
foreign to english vocabulary thus clarify that mixing language do exist and spoken frequently.
Opening a whole new english other that the genuine one.

Singlish is an informal, colloquial form of English that is used in Singapore. Linguists

define it as Singapore Colloquial English. Almost all Singaporeans are bilingual since
Singapore's bilingual language education policy promotes a dual-language learning system.
Which we can see the example on "The Heartsick Diaspora", sometimes they use malay slang,
chinese word. Etc

Despite this, Singlish is still widely spoken across the island and viewed by most
Singaporeans as a trait that identifies them as uniquely Singaporean.

In conclusion, the practice of language mixing among diasporas is common. According to

Professor Tej Bhatia and Professor William Ritchie, if you are bilingual then you will have more
than one choice of language which naturally leads to language mixing, of which code-switching
is a subset. Code-switching is the practice of moving back and forth between two or more
languages or between two or more dialects or registers of the same language.