The main languages I speak at home with my five-year-old boy are English and Mandarin. In Chinese-speaking households, language mixes in Singapore homes might include different Chinese dialects, for example, Hokkien, Teochew, and Cantonese. For example, from time to time, my child hears Cantonese from my Cantonese-speaking mum, and hears Hainanese from my Hainanese-speaking in-laws. He can speak a few phrases in both dialects, usually revolving around greetings and food.

Official language data in Singapore tends to collect people’s usage of English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil, which are the official languages in Singapore. This means that we do not know much about the use of Chinese dialects in Singapore households. However, the diverse language context that my boy hears at home is probably just one of many examples! This means that studies on multilingualism in Singapore might be missing out information about “unofficial” languages.

One way to collect rich information about the languages spoken at home would be to use audio recording of children’s interactions with their caregivers. This is something really exciting that BLIP lab is working on right now…

In our new talk-a-thon 500 families will be invited to help us develop a new kind of baby monitor – one that can figure out which language is which! With more information about how different families speak their different languages to their kids, we can understand more about multilingual learning. BLIP lab wants to bring this information together to help Singaporean children with their language learning. You can find out more or or sign up for children below the age of five.

Wai Tung is a Masters Student in BLIP Lab working on phonological systems and reading in Singapore.