Singapore presents a curious linguistic situation. The local non-standard English variety, Singapore Colloquial English (SCE), also known as 'Singlish', has been invalidated by official discourse in the long-running Speak Good English Movement since 2000, with aims to marginalise and even root out SCE for the benefit of the internationally-oriented economy. Despite such staunch language policies, SCE continues to flourish in the ordinary, everyday contexts and is considered a symbol of national identity for certain segments of the population. As such, while early expressed sentiments by local politicians towards SCE were largely aligned with the Movement, the Singlish wave has been gradually sweeping individual political actors in both the opposition and incumbent parties. These actors use SCE in political contexts seemingly to index a shared membership with the Singaporean audience. However, as political communication is a joint discursive activity between the speaker and recipient, purposes which are intended may not readily received.

The attitudes of 254 Singaporeans (aged 21 – 70) towards the use of Standard Singapore English (SSE) and SCE by politicians are examined using a mixed methods approach, combining the modified matched-guise technique and qualitative interviews. Participants listened to enacted recordings of political speeches, spoken in both SSE and SCE by multi-dialectal actors, and made personality trait ratings. Results reveal that SSE is rated significantly higher on the trustworthiness, reliability and status dimensions. Those with higher socioeconomic status seem to be leading this significant trend. Additionally, for the more educated group, findings from the interviews show a certain stigma against excessive SCE use as a political strategy for building rapport. For the solidarity dimension (e.g., friendly, relatable), age-related trends are seen, where those below 30 rated SCE significantly higher than those above 30, possibly indicating a budding social psychology that celebrates linguistic diversity in the political context.