Until in Singapore English is Not So Non-standard

Many lexical items in Singapore English display characteristics similar to those found in Chinese, reflecting the profound influence of various Chinese dialects on this variant of English. Bao and Wee (1998) argue that the lexical item until in Singapore English is illustrative of such influence. According to them, Singapore English allows until to convey both consecutive and concurrent readings, while Standard English is said to allow only consecutive readings. They attribute the flexibility of until in Singapore English to the influence of the Chinese word dao. In this article, we challenge Bao and Wee’s claim by demonstrating that Standard English until indeed accommodates both consecutive and concurrent readings. This perspective is supported by existing literature that describes the inferences generated by until as implicatures − pragmatic meanings that are context-dependent and cancellable. Our analysis indicates, if correct, that the semantic properties of until in Singapore English are not significantly different from those in Standard English, contrary to what has been previously suggested.