Hong Kong English

Welcome!

In this DFG-funded project, we undertake a systematic diachronic study of the origins and evolution of English in Hong Kong by building a diachronic corpus of Hong Kong English (DC-HKE)

From English in Hong Kong to Hong Kong English: A diachronic perspective on the emergence of a post-colonial variety in its socio-political context

The status of Hong Kong English (HKE) as a distinct variety has been much debated (cf. Evans, 2015, pp. 391-394) since the Japanese occupation resulted in a discontinuity in the settler and indigenous strands, and since, most importantly, Hong Kong has never gained independence. If the nativisation phase set in in the 1960s, as Schneider (2007, p. 136) suggests, the process was impeded by the Sino-British declaration in 1984 and the subsequent handover to China in 1997. These developments led to both the emigration of Hong Kong residents and an increasing influx of mainland Chinese which resulted in a large-scale reorganisation of the demographic structure.

Accordingly, the common practice of tracing structural nativisation in post-colonial varieties by analysing synchronic data seems even more problematic for Hong Kong English than for other varieties. This project aims at providing empirical evidence for the development of Hong Kong English by, on the one hand, collecting long-called for diachronic data (see sub-project DC-HKE) as a basis for linguistic analysis (see sub-project Modality), and, on the other hand, by following up on Evans’ approach of taking the other parameters of Schneider’s model into account to gain a better understanding of changes in Hong Kong English in its socio-historical context. Here we focus on identity constructions in public and private discourse (see sub-project Identity). A further interest of this research group is to analyse the English which came to the Colony and how different genres have developed the post-colonial setting in contrast to British English. In this way we can differentiate between features that are actual innovations and features that can be traced to earlier uses in British English or genre-specific usages (see sub-project Business Correspondence).

Compiling a diachronic corpus of Hong Kong English (DC-HKE)

According to Schneider, Hong Kong English progressed from the phase of exonormative stabilization into the phase of nativisation in the 1960s (Schneider, 2007, p. 137) . However, with the socio-political changes since 1997 and the fact that the colony has never gained independence – which is a crucial event in the development of a post-colonial variety – it is possible that English in Hong Kong is now developing from a second-language variety to a foreign language (Görlach, 2002) . Thus, the emergence (and possible loss) of any variety-specific features can only be traced by analysing English in Hong Kong through time, for which a diachronic corpus is a necessary precondition. Corpus-linguistic analyses based on such a corpus provides empirical evidence for (or against) Schneider’s periodisation of the emergence of Hong Kong English as well as for more recent changes in its status and function.

The text categories selected for the DC-HKE match the corpus design of the LOB-family in order to facilitate comparative studies across varieties, with the numbers being target values.

Cooperation partners

Prof. John Bacon-Shone (Hong Kong University Social Sciences Research Centre)
Prof. Kingsley Bolton

Publications

Guest lecture

Biewer, C. “Modalising Expressions and Ethnonyms in Hong Kong English: Tracing Diachronic Changes from 1928 to 2018 (from 1903 to 1999).” University of Zurich (UZH), April 10, 2019.

Poster presentation

Biewer, C. et al. “Compiling The Diachronic Corpus of Hong Kong English (DC-HKE): Motivation, progress and challenges.” 35th Annual Conference of the International Computer Archive of Modern and Medieval English (ICAME 35), University of Nottingham, April 30 - May 4, 2014.

Business correspondence in Hong Kong – Tracing genre- and variety-specific changes

The study of the structural characteristics of post-colonial varieties is facing two major problems which have been repeatedly addressed in recent studies: On the one hand, features of a new variety are almost exclusively compared to Present-Day Standard (British) English, thus neglecting spatial and temporal variation of the superstrate (see Mesthrie & Bhatt, 2008, p. 45) , i.e. the English transported to the colonies. On the other hand, cross-varietal comparative studies have shown that features that were formerly supposed to be variety-specific may point to genre-specific characteristics, i.e. genre might be a stronger predictor of variation than variety (Noël & Van der Auwera, 2015) . This shows that the diachronic study of the characteristic features of a post-colonial variety needs to take into account the development of the structure of the parental variety as well as the development of the genre in order to identify variety-specific features.

Since Hong Kong is a financial and commercial hotspot, this project focuses on the genre of business correspondence. From the very beginnings of the colony, banks and companies (such as the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Cooperation and Jardine & Matheson) established their head offices in Hong Kong and maintained a regular correspondence with their London office and other branch offices as well as with Hong Kong-based companies. Besides the British senior and foreign staff, local staff was employed and trained for the business. Within the scope of this project we collect, digitise and analyse business letters and colonial reports from as early as the 1860s until today in order to trace the development of this genre in Hong Kong (also in comparison to its development in Great Britain). With this knowledge about genre development, we are able to correctly assess varietal features emerging in Hong Kong English.

Team

Prof. Dr. Carolin Biewer
Dr. Ninja Schulz
Lisa Lehnen
Carina Stick

Identity (re)constructions in Hong Kong – A diachronic approach to the use of ethnonyms in public and private discourse

According to Evans (2014; 2015) the development and status of a new variety can (and should) not only be described by analysing LINGUISTIC FEATURES, but also by including the other parameters of Schneider’s dynamic model (2003, 2007). He investigated, for instance, the extent of bilingualism by scrutinising jury lists (2014, pp. 583–585), thus finding evidence for changes in the SOCIOLINGUISTIC CONDITIONS in the 1970s. Following up on this, this project takes a diachronic approach to the parameter IDENTITY (RE)CONSTRUCTION. By using the data collected for the Diachronic Corpus of Hong Kong English (DC-HKE), we investigate how different ethnonyms denoting in- and out-groups, such as Hongkonger and mainlander, are used in public and private discourse. Major research questions include:

Does the group of people denoted by the different ethnonyms change over time?
How do in-group and out-group terms develop in frequency?
In how far do the collocations and connotations of the terms indicate changing attitudes towards the groups?
Are there shifts in discourse topics connected to these terms?
In how far can changes in reference, frequency, collocations and connotations, and discourse topics be correlated with historical events and previous assumptions about the development of Hong Kong English?

By uncovering various periods of identity reconstructions, this approach contributes to the understanding of the evolution and dynamics of linguistic changes in Hong Kong English.

Team

Prof. Dr. Carolin Biewer
Dr. Ninja Schulz
Lisa Lehnen

Publications

Conference talks

Schulz, N., Biewer, C., & Lehnen, L. “Tracing identity (re)constructions in Hong Kong from 1903-1999.” 40th Annual Conference of the International Computer Archive of Modern and Medieval English (ICAME 40), University of Neuchâtel, June 1-5, 2019.

Guest lectures

Biewer, C. “Modalising Expressions and Ethnonyms in Hong Kong English: Tracing Diachronic Changes from 1928 to 2018 (from 1903 to 1999).” University of Zurich (UZH), April 10, 2019.

Diachronic change in modalising expressions in Hong Kong English

The modal system of English in its development provides an ideal perspective on language change and variation, and has therefore been studied widely. General changes that have been observed in ENL – such as the declining frequency of core modals connected to an overall trend towards the colloquialisation of the written form (Leech, 2013) – are also gaining momentum in ESL varieties (Collins, 2009) . However, the sociocultural and socio-historical situation in specific postcolonial communities promotes diversity among non-native varieties of English and may cause unique developments in their modal systems.

In this project, we seek to identify patterns in the use of modalising expressions in Hong Kong English in relation to topic, genre and the larger socio-historical context. For this, we study the frequency and function of selected modal verbs in Hong Kong English and compare these with findings from British English and other New Englishes. Our first analyses of press news reports in the DC-HKE reveal a peak in the use of modal verbs in the late 1980s, i.e., exactly the critical period before Hong Kong was handed over to China in 1997 (see Hong Kong project). In further studies, we will extend the analysis to other modalising expressions, other stance markers and other genres to shed light on a possible link between language change and social change in Hong Kong.

Team

Prof. Dr. Carolin Biewer
Dr. Ninja Schulz
Lisa Lehnen

Publications

Biewer, C., Lehnen, L., & Schulz. N. (in prep.) Modalising expressions in Hong Kong English: Tracing diachronic change from 1928 to 2018. In P. Hohaus & R. Schulze (Eds.), Modal Co-text, Modal Context - Re-Assessing Modal Expressions in the Light of Converging Evidence. John Benjamins.

Guest lectures

Biewer, C. Modalising Expressions and Ethnonyms in Hong Kong English: Tracing Diachronic Changes from 1928 to 2018 (from 1903 to 1999). University of Zurich (UZH), April 10, 2019.