new book sociolinguistics nirmala srirekam purushotam negotiating language constructing race disciplining difference singapore 1997 23 x 15 5 cm x 294 pages cloth dm 178 approx us 111 00 isbn 311 015679 2 contributions sociology language 79 mouton de gruyter berlin new york study provides comprehensive analysis politics took inspiration control ordinary peoples ethnicities languages rare detailed social history shows orientalist construction race language colonial singapore transformed powerful practice nation remains today thus since advent nationalism singapore presented multiracial social space multiracial character carefully reconstructed constituted four races mainly four distinct languages policy ruling elite instituted particular discourse language almost always implicates race additionally discourse also translated actual institutional practices ordinary men women children avoid must participate interspersed actual voices experiences common people caught within neo orientalists statist constructions study provides another angle contemporary postmodern assurance difference necessarily liberating difference instead shown disciplinary consequences yet logic dominant discourses time reinterpreted cleverly innocently enabling legitimate pressure upon authorities everyday life readings state discourses importantly unfold within institution family often invisible role women actually play reference language race nation importantly brought fore contents nation race realms problematic possibilities language race ing language institutionalisation chinese malay indian singapore talk language political project daily life positionings language life trajectory everyday life contexts relevances practices mother tongue male texts female readings second language official bilingualism brought home disciplining difference notes references index _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ mouton de gruyter walter de gruyter inc postfach 30 34 21 200 saw mill river road d10728 berlin hawthorne ny 10532 germany usa fax 49 0 30 26005351 fax 1 914 7471326 email mouton degruyter de publications also ordered via world wide web http www degruyter com