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The meaning of ‘NIAO’ is from social practice ( Canagarajah, 2013). Singlish comprises English, Malay, and Hokkien (Tan, 2017). In Singlish, the word 'NIAO' is translated to 'stingy and miserly', originating from the Minnan dialect in China, in which 'cat' symbolizes this trait. Cats, known for guarding their food while snatching, have influenced this perception of stingy behaviour among people. The meaning of 'NIAO' is similar to cats and human social actions. ‘NIAO’ in a resignation letter also represents a social action( Ng & Lee, 2019 ). The employee uses this word to express dissatisfaction with the stingy actions of employers.

However, in this text, the writer uses uppercase and bolded font for an entire sentence to explain the reason for his resignation,  which breaks established rules of formal communication writing, creating a sense of urgency and aggression.

In online communication the use of capital letters in communication is often used to signify intense attention to the recipient(Taleghani‐Nikazm, 2012).

In this case, the use of capitaling caught the reader's attention at first sight, is a straightforward expression and construction of the author's own emotions of dissatisfaction with the writer's job, clearly constructing the image of employees who work hard but are not rewarded accordingly. 

The content of “Thank you” is appropriate, but ends too abrupt that shows little politeness. The reason for the resignation is understandable, but the phrase used is too offensive as “Business writing experts warn against using resignation letters to voice grievances or criticize a former institution, since it is the last formal record of an employee’s time in a position, even when leaving the position due to conflicts.” (Issitt, 2022). Also, the language used was too colloquial to appear in a business document.

At the same time, a resignation letter is also required to show its desire for approval since its “a business document delivered to an individual’s superiors or manager stating that individual’s intention to leave a job or position.” (Issitt, 2022), rather than a merely a notification to inform the superiors, which lefts the recipient with no choice to negotiate or respond.

 

Canagarajah, S. (2013). Developing a framework for translingual competence in contact zones. In The Multilingual Turn (pp. 78-102). Routledge.

Issitt, M. (2022). Resignation Letter. Salem Press Encyclopedia.

Ng, L. L., & Lee, S. L. (2019). Multilingual Malaysian university graduates' identity construction through translanguaging practices in digital media. English Teaching & Learning, 43(1), 105-123.

Scollon, R., Scollon, S. W., & Jones, R. H. (2012). Intercultural communication: An analysis from a discourse perspective (3rd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.

Taleghani-Nikazm, C. (2012). Politeness strategies in computer-mediated communication. In The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0918

Tan, Y. Y. (2017). Singlish: An assessment of its legitimacy in Singapore's language policies. European Journal of Language Policy, 9(1), 85-104.

Tracy, K., & Tracy, S. J. (1998). Rudeness in emergency communication: A reevaluation of face and face attack. Human Communication Research, 25(2), 225–251. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.1998.tb00444.

Involvement - “paying attention to others, showing a strong interest in their affairs, pointing out common in-group membership or points of view with them, or using first names.”

Independence – “making minimal assumptions about the needs or interests of others, by not ‘putting words into their mouths,’ by giving others the widest range of options, or by using more formal names and titles.”