Although iconization has long been recognized as a crucial mechanism driving sociolinguistic differentiation, we know little about why certain indexical signs come to be perceived as icons but others don't. Analyzing metalinguistic commentaries published in print and social media, this study explores why Cantonese tones, rather than some other linguistic feature, have become iconically linked to Hongkongers in recent debates over the status of Cantonese in post-1997 Hong Kong. The oft-evoked notion of salience may explain the initial indexical association, but to understand why Cantonese tones have become transformed into an icon, we need to examine their linguistic properties and the nature of their indexical meanings.
The Cantonese tone system is remarkable for its multifaceted nature, its indexical expansiveness, and the "storiability" of its indexical meanings. What is traditionally known as "Cantonese tones" encompasses segmental and suprasegmental features, and exerts a significant influence on the word and syllable structure of Cantonese. Thanks to their multifaceted nature, Cantonese tones evoke a wide range of associations. They have been linked to Hongkongers' musical talents, the communicative efficiency of Cantonese, and the glorious past of the Chinese nation. Since Cantonese preserves more faithfully the tonal categories of the Tang dynasty literary standard, Tang poems are said to rhyme better when read in Cantonese than in Putonghua. Given the prominent place of Tang poetry in Chinese culture, this attests to the authentic Chineseness of Cantonese. By virtue of this indexical expansiveness, Cantonese tones provide rich material for the construction of a myth of Cantonese superiority, which depicts Cantonese as more authentically Chinese than Putonghua, and Cantonese speakers as the true guardians of traditional Chinese culture.
This myth of Cantonese superiority speaks to Hongkongers' anxiety resulting from the recent rise of mainland China and the concomitant decline of Hong Kong. At the heart of iconization lies a post-hoc explanation that uses linguistic facts selectively to naturalize an already established characterization of a social type. This study shows that an indexical sign is more likely to be perceived as an icon if its indexical meanings can easily be recruited into the construction of such an explanation.
