scholarly journals Intonation in Hong Kong English and Guangzhou Cantonese-accented English: A Phonetic Comparison

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 724
Author(s):  
Yunyun Ran ◽  
Jeroen Van De Weijer ◽  
Marjoleine Sloos
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Language Variety ◽  
Accented English ◽  
Hong Kong English

Hong Kong English is to a certain extent a standardized English variety spoken in a bilingual (English-Cantonese) context. In this article we compare this (native) variety with English as a foreign language spoken by other Cantonese speakers, viz. learners of English in Guangzhou (mainland China). We examine whether the notion of standardization is relevant for intonation in this case and thus whether Hong Kong English is different from Cantonese English in a wider perspective, or whether it is justified to treat Hong Kong English and Cantonese English as the same variety (as far as intonation is concerned). We present a comparison between intonational contours of different sentence types in the two varieties, and show that they are very similar. This shows that, in this respect, a learned foreign-language variety can resemble a native variety to a great extent.

Vague language in Hong Kong English, ‘Something like that’

English Today ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Patrice Quammie–Wallen
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Computational Analysis ◽  
Language Variety ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
N Gram ◽  
Lexical Bundle ◽  
Vague Language ◽  
Hong Kong English

The computational analysis of corpora, a body of ‘naturally occurring language texts chosen to characterize a state of variety of a language’ (Sinclair, 1991: 171) provided the opportunity to reveal otherwise unobservable features and patterns across varieties, registers and languages. One such language feature is a ‘lexical bundle’ otherwise known as an n-gram. Vague terms in any language variety can often present themselves in the form of not just individual words (e.g. things, plenty, scores, stuff) but as a group of words that tend to co-occur: a lexical bundle (e.g. loads of, stuff like that, and so on, or what have you). In this paper, the function in Hong Kong English (HKE) of the vague n-gram ‘something like that’ will be explored via corpus methodology to account for its observed hyper-usage in Hong Kong society.

Cleft constructions in Hong Kong English

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinyue Yao
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Variety ◽  
Information Packaging ◽  
Advanced Stages ◽  
Hong Kong English

Existing second language acquisition research converges on a picture where learners of English exhibit marked divergence from native speakers in their use of information-packaging constructions, even at advanced stages of acquisition. This study extends the investigation of these constructions to an emerging institutionalised second language variety, Hong Kong English. Based on the Hong Kong and British components of the International Corpus of English, the study examines the formal and functional properties of it-clefts and wh-clefts, revealing regional variation in a number of areas, particularly in the use of that’s why constructions. Importantly, the grammar of the contact variety is found to be shaped by the transfer of gradient grammatical rules from the substrate language, and by stratification along stylistic parameters.

Hong Kong English: A stillborn variety?

English Today ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 12-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence T. T. Pang
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Dominant Ideology ◽  
Local Variety ◽  
General Acceptance ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
The World ◽  
Linguistic Purism ◽  
Hong Kong English

For a distinctive variety of English to subsist and be acknowledged in Hong Kong, localization is not enough. Indigenization through general acceptance is also necessary, but will not easily be forthcoming, regardless of the claims and assertions of linguists in Hong Kong or elsewhere regarding the existence of a distinctive ‘Hong Kong English’. In addition, Hong Kong teachers of English will not accept or adopt distinctive local usages in their classrooms, regardless of the everyday use of such usages. The sociolinguistic situation is increasingly triglossic, in terms of the three languages Cantonese, Putonghua, and English, each of which has distinct functions in terms of Hong Kong, mainland China, and the world at large. A dominant ideology of linguistic purism impels people to seek outside standards with regard to both English and Putonghua, and to deny that there is a viable local variety of English, despite the length of time that the language has been used in Hong Kong.

The attitudes of Hong Kong students towards Hong Kong English and Mandarin-accented English

English Today ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
Hong Kong Students ◽  
Accented English ◽  
Hong Kong English

The development of Hong Kong English (henceforth HKE) has triggered a number of concerns amongst the local population with respect to its status (Joseph, 1996; Luk, 1998; Bolton & Lim, 2000; Pang, 2003; Stibbard, 2004). However, despite the prominence of research into attitudes towards language variation within sociolinguistics, very few studies focus on Hong Kong English (Bolton & Kwok, 1990; Candler, 2001; S. Poon, 2007) or Mandarin-accented English (He & Li, 2009; Hu, 2004; F. Poon, 2006). The aim of this study is to uncover language attitudes towards HKE and Mandarin-accented English (henceforth ME) in the Hong Kong region through the application of the verbal-guise technique.

Trade Ties between Hong Kong and Mainland China

Asian Survey ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 820-839
Author(s):  
Patrick Yeung
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Mainland China
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