Kongish as a Linguistic Variety

Whether Hong Kong English (HKE) should be a linguistic variety has been one of the most-debated topics in HKE studies since the landmark study of Luke and Richards (1982). Scholars dispute over whether the set of features in... [ view full abstract ]

Whether Hong Kong English (HKE) should be a linguistic variety has been one of the most-debated topics in HKE studies since the landmark study of Luke and Richards (1982). Scholars dispute over whether the set of features in the English spoken or written by Hong Kong people should be regarded as a variety. Given how this decision should not sole depend on the scholars, and how the users’ viewpoints should also be considered, it is necessary to survey the opinions and attitudes of Hong Kong people on these features.The variety status is highly dependable on how people’s attitudes towards its recognition and agreement in society. However, little attention was given to the people’s attitudes towards online HKE and whether these attitudes help to constitute a linguistic variety of online HKE.

18 informants (Aged between 13 and 37), from different sectors, were asked to do a survey by email. A set of online HKE expressions and survey were sent to informants. This finding provides one more perspective on the issue of regarding HKE as independent variety of English and initial stage of attitudinal studies on localized HKE. I applied the linguistic norms framework (Poon, forthcoming) to test whether Hong Kong people see these features constitute a variety. This study investigated the attitudes of Hong Kong people towards online HKE, and in the process, explored whether the recognition of online HKE might allow us to recognise Hong Kong English as a variety in both online and offline contexts. 

This finding provides one more perspective on the issue of regarding HKE as independent variety of English and initial stage of attitudinal studies on localized HKE.

Reference:

• Luke, K. K., & Richards, J. C. (1982). English in Hong Kong: Functions and status. English World-Wide, 3(1), 47-64.