Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Hong Kong Language Context

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Multilingual Hong Kong: Languages, Literacies and Identities

Part of the book series: Multilingual Education ((MULT,volume 19))

Abstract

This chapter introduces the macrolinguistic context of multilingual Hong Kong society by outlining (a) the types and extents of the plurilinguality of its citizenry, (b) the current state of their biliteracy in Chinese and English, and (c) their perceived ethnolinguistic identities (Hongkonger, Chinese Hongkonger, Hong Kong Chinese, or Chinese) with reference to their attitudes towards Cantonese, English and Putonghua. The chapter will end with a synopsis of the rest of the book.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    兩文三語 (loeng 23 man 21 saam 55 jyu 23 /liăng wén sān yŭ). Written Chinese in Hong Kong is largely Mandarin- or Putonghua-based but pronounced in Cantonese (see Chap. 3).

  2. 2.

    For the conceptual and terminological distinctions between ‘Modern Chinese’, ‘Modern Standard Chinese’, ‘Standard Written Chinese’, etc., see Chap. 3 (cf. Li 2006, pp. 152–153; Li 2015).

  3. 3.

    Si 22 bun 33 gung 55 pui 23/shì bàn ɡōnɡ bèi. This four-syllable idiom has an antithesis involving the same morpho-syllables but in a slightly different order: 事倍功半 (si 22 pui 23 gung 55 bun 33 /shì bèi ɡōnɡ bàn), ‘getting half the result with twice the effort’.

  4. 4.

    There are two exceptions to my knowledge: Chan and Li’s (2000) contrastive study between Cantonese and English phonology (see Chap. 4), and Hung’s (2005) use of Chinese-English contrastive grammar to help EFL learners understand salient non-standard, learner English features.

  5. 5.

    普通話教中文 (pou 35 tung 55 waa 35 gaau 33 zung 55 man 35/pŭtōnghuà jiào zhōngwén), more commonly known as普教中 (pou 35 gaau 33 zung 55 /pŭ jiào zhōng).

  6. 6.

    So (1998, p. 168) notes that in the 30 years between 1965 and 1994, as a result of steady expansion of educational opportunities, the number of people who gained access to one form of English-medium education or another increased by 700 percent.

  7. 7.

    有線電視財經資訊台 (jau 23 sin 33 din 22 si 22 coi 21 ging 55 zi 55 seon 33 toi 21/yǒuxiàn diànshì cáijīng zīxùn tái).

  8. 8.

    As of May 2016, there are about a dozen paid Chinese newspapers and three paid English dailies with a community-wide circulation. In addition, there are half a dozen tabloid-like free newspapers – five in Chinese, one in English – published bi-modally (print and online), with the print version being delivered on working days (Headline Daily also on Saturday) at designated points of distribution. As for magazines, there is a multitude of types and topics, published weekly or monthly, mainly in Chinese, catering for the tastes and interests of a wide range of readers from different age groups.

  9. 9.

    方塊字 (fong 55 faai 33 zi 22/ fāng kuài zì).

  10. 10.

    形聲字 (jing 21 sing 55 zi 22/xíng shēng zì). For other character formation principles, see Hao (2001a) and Taylor and Taylor (2014).

  11. 11.

    『漢字有「音 形 義」有機地結合在一起的三個信息源可以充分利用』(Dai 2001a, p. xv).

  12. 12.

    攔路虎 (laan 21 lou 22 fu 35/lán lù hǔ, literally ‘road-blocking tiger’).

  13. 13.

    「漢字筆畫繁多,難認難寫又難記,兒童一邁進學校的大門,就要過識字關,教師要花大力氣教,兒童要反覆地機械地抄寫,師生的精力主要是耗費在識字上。識字成爲攔路虎,它是妨礙語文學習能力整體發展的主要矛盾,所以必須改革識字教學。」(Hao 2001b, pp. 107–108)

  14. 14.

    普教中 (pou 35 gaau 33 zung 55/pŭ jiào zhōng) in popular parlance.

References

  • Au, A. (1998). Language standards and proficiency (an employer’s viewpoint). In B. Asker (Ed.), Teaching language and culture. Building Hong Kong on education (pp. 179–183). Hong Kong: Addison Wesley Longman China Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bacon-Shone, J., & Bolton, K. (1998). Charting multilingualism: Language censuses and language surveys in Hong Kong. In M. C. Pennington (Ed.), Language in Hong Kong at century’s end (pp. 43–90). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Basic Law. (2015, March). The basic law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. Retrieved 10 May 2016, from http://www.basiclaw.gov.hk/en/basiclawtext/images/basiclaw_full_text_en.pdf

  • Blommaert, J. (2005). Discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Blommaert, J. (2010). The sociolinguistics of globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bolton, K., & Luke, K.-K. (1998). The social survey of languages in the 1980’s. Hong Kong: Social Sciences Research Centre, University of Hong Kong.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and symbolic power. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chan, A. Y.-W., & Li, D. C.-S. (2000). English and Cantonese phonology in contrast: Explaining Cantonese EFL learners English pronunciation problems. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 13(1), 67–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Census and Statistics Department. (2007). 2006 Population by-census. Summary results. Population By-census Office, Hong Kong Government. Retrieved 5 Apr 2015, from http://www.bycensus2006.gov.hk/FileManager/EN/Content_962/06bc_summary_results.pdf

  • Census and Statistics Department. (2012). 2011 Population census. Population Census Office, Hong Kong Government: Summary results Retrieved 5 Apr 2015, from http://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/B11200552011XXXXB0100.pdf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Census and Statistics Department. (2013). ‘Use of language in Hong Kong’ and ‘Utilisation of child health and family planning services provided by Maternal and Child Health Centres’ (Thematic household survey report no. 51). Social Surveys Section, Hong Kong Government. Retrieved 4 Apr 2015, from http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp453.jsp?productCode=C0000086

  • Coulmas, F. (2013). Writing and society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dai, R. [戴汝潛] (2001a). 前言(二) [Foreword (2)]. In S.-K. Tse, R. Dai, & J. Hao (Eds.), 高效漢字教與學 [Highly efficient teaching and learning of characters] (pp. viii–xii). Hong Kong: Green Field Education Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dai, R. [戴汝潛] (2001b). 中國內地識字教學 [Teaching and learning of Chinese characters in mainland China]. In Tse S.-K., R. Dai, & J. Hao (Eds.), 高效漢字教與學 [Highly efficient teaching and learning of characters] (pp. 126–234). Hong Kong: Green Field Education Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeFrancis, J. (1984). The Chinese language: Fact and fantasy. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ECR4. (1990). Education Commission Report No. 4. The curriculum and behavioural problems in schools. Hong Kong: Government Printer. Retrieved 27 May 2015, from http://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/about-edb/publications-stat/major-reports/ecr4_e.pdf

  • Erbaugh, M. S. (Ed.). (2002). Difficult characters. Interdisciplinary studies of Chinese and Japanese. Columbus/Ohio: Ohio State University National East Asian Language Resource Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fu, G. S. (1975). A Hong Kong perspective: English language learning and the Chinese student (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan). Comparative Education Series 28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hao, J. [郝嘉杰] (2001a). 漢字與文字學 [Chinese characters and Chinese philology]. In Tse S.-K., R. Dai, & J. Hao (Eds.), 高效漢字教與學 [Highly efficient teaching and learning of characters] (pp. 14–43). Hong Kong: Green Field Education Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hao, J. [郝嘉杰] (2001b). 中國內地識字教學課程 [Teaching and learning of Chinese characters: mainland Chinese curriculum]. In Tse S.-K., R. Dai, & J. Hao (Eds.), 高效漢字教與學 [Highly efficient teaching and learning of characters] (pp. 97–125). Hong Kong: Green Field Education Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • HKU Pop Site (2015). People’s Ethnic Identity (巿民的身份認同感). Public Opinion Programme, University of Hong Kong. Retrieved 5 May 2015, from http://hkupop.hku.hk/english/popexpress/ethnic/index.html

  • Ho, K.-C. [何國祥]. (1999). A study of Hong Kong Cantonese speaking teachers’ acquisition of the pronunciation of Putonghua (Mandarin) and its implications for the teachers’ pronunciation of standard Cantonese. Ph.D. thesis. School of English, Linguistics and Media, Macquarie University, Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ho, K.-C. [何國祥]. (2005). 香港學生普通話語音錯誤類型及糾正方法 [Categories of Hong Kong students’ Putonghua mispronunciation and their correction strategies]. In K.-C. Ho, B.-N. Cheung, S.-H. Kwok, S.-K. Cheng, K.-C. Cheung, & W. Liu (Eds.) [何國祥 張本楠 郭思豪 鄭崇楷 張國松 劉慧 (編)], 香港普通話科教學: 理論與實踐 [Teaching and learning Putonghua in Hong Kong: Theory and practice] (pp. 139–162). Hong Kong: Joint Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hung, T. T.-N. (2005). Understanding English grammar. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyland, K. (1997). Language attitudes at the handover: Communication and identity in 1997 Hong Kong. English World-Wide, 18(2), 191–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirkpatrick, A. (2007). World Englishes: Implications for international communication and English language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kwan-Terry, A., & Luke, K.-K. (1997). Tradition, trial, and error: Standard and vernacular literacy in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia. In A. Tabouret-Keller, R. B. Le Page, P. Gardner-Chloros, & G. Varro (Eds.), Vernacular literacy: A re-evaluation (pp. 271–315). Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lai, M. L. (2009). ‘I love Cantonese but I want English’ – a qualitative account of Hong Kong students’ language attitudes. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 18(1), 79–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lam, S. F., Lau, I. Y. M., Chiu, C. Y., & Hong, Y. Y. (2007). Executive summary of surveys on ‘social identities of Hong Kong adolescents: Inter-group perceptions and orientations in political transition’. Hong Kong: Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong.

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Page, R., & Tabouret-Keller, A. (1985). Acts of identity. Creole-based approaches to language and ethnicity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, C.-M. [李卓敏] (1989). 李氏中文字典 [Lee’s Chinese dictionary]. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Chinese University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, D. C.-S. (2000). Phonetic borrowing: Key to the vitality of written Cantonese in Hong Kong. Written Language and Literacy, 3(2), 199–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, D. C.-S. (2006). Chinese as a lingua franca in Greater China. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 26, 149–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, D. C.-S. (2015). Lingua francas in Greater China. In W. S.-Y. Wang & C.-F. Sun (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 578–588). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, A. M. Y., & Detaramani, C. (1998). By carrot and by rod: Extrinsic motivation and English attainment of tertiary students in Hong Kong. In M. C. Pennington (Ed.), Language in Hong Kong at century’s end (pp. 285–301). Hong Kong University Press.

    Google Scholar 

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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ng, M. N.-Y. (1978). Chinese – A living language. Hong Kong Standard, 24 Nov 1978. Reprinted in N.L. Cheng (Ed.) (1979), 教學語文媒介問題資料匯編 (‘Issues in language of instruction in Hong Kong’) (pp. 159–162). Hong Kong: Cosmos.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norton, B. (2013). Identity, literacy, and the multilngual classroom. In S. May (Ed.), The multilingual turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL, and bilingual education (pp. 103–122). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierson, H. D., Fu, G. S., & Lee, S. Y. (1980). An analysis of the relationship between language attitudes and English attaining of secondary school students in Hong Kong. Language Learning, 30(2), 289–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poon, A. Y.-K. (2010). Language use, and language policy and planning in Hong Kong. Current Issues in Language Planning, 11(1), 1–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rampton, B. (1995). Crossing: Language and ethnicity among adolescents. London: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shi, D. (2006). Hong Kong Written Chinese: Language change induced by language contact. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 16(2), 299–318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shi, D., Shao, J., & Zhu, Z. [石定栩、邵敬敏、朱志瑜]. (2014). 港式中文與標準中文的比較 [Hong Kong Written Chinese and Standard Chinese: A comparison] (2nd edn.). Hong Kong: Hong Kong Educational Publishing Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snow, D. (2004). Cantonese as written language: The growth of a written Chinese vernacular. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • So, D. W. C. (1989). Implementing mother-tongue education amidst societal transition from diglossia to triglossia in Hong Kong. Language and Education, 3(1), 29–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • So, D. W.-C. (1998). One country, two cultures and three languages: Sociolinguistic conditions and language education in Hong Kong. In B. Asker (Ed.), Teaching language and culture. Building Hong Kong on education (pp. 152–175). Hong Kong: Addison Wesley Longman China Ltd..

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, I., & Taylor, M. M. (2014). Writing and literacy in Chinese, Korean and Japanese (2nd ed.). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tse S.-K. [謝錫金] (2001). 漢字教學的模式 [Chinese characters: teaching models]. In S.-K. Tse, R. Dai, & J. Hao (Eds.), 高效漢字教與學 [Highly efficient teaching and learning of characters] (pp. 1–13). Hong Kong: Green Field Education Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tse, S.-K., Marton, F., Ki, W.-W., & Loh, E. K.-Y. (2007). An integrative perceptual approach for teaching Chinese characters. Instructional Science, 35, 375–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO. (2014). Human development report 2014. Retrieved 5 Apr 2015, from http://hdr.undp.org/en/

  • Yau, Shun-Chiu. (1992). Language policies in post-1997 Hong Kong. In K. K. Luke (Ed.), Into the twenty first century: Issues of language in education in Hong Kong (pp. 15–29). Hong Kong: Linguistic Society of Hong Kong.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    David C. S. Li

Authors
  1. David C. S. Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Li, D.C.S. (2017). The Hong Kong Language Context. In: Multilingual Hong Kong: Languages, Literacies and Identities. Multilingual Education, vol 19. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44195-5_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44195-5_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-44193-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-44195-5

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation