What is it about?

Is English in Hong Kong a second or foreign language? There is as yet no definitive answer to this question. This is because ‘HKE’ is neither a typical second language (as in India and Singapore) nor a typical foreign language (as in China and Japan).

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Why is it important?

This article explains why HKE defies being conveniently pigeon-holed according to Kachru’s model of World Englishes. Based on Stephen Evans’s diachronic, data-driven evidence, the paper explains why in Edgar Schneider’s (2007) evolutionary dynamics model of World Englishes, the periodization of HKE needs to be updated. The status of HKE is also discussed in light of Susan Butler’s criteria of New Englishes.

Perspectives

Regarding the status of HKE, it seems more productive to speak of ‘second language’ and ‘foreign language’ conditions of use. There is now substantial empirical evidence indicating that for Cantonese-dominant Hongkongers, whereas HKE is used more like a foreign language in speech, it is more like a second language in writing.

David C.S. Li
Hong Kong Polytechnic University

This paper is intellectually indebted and affectionately dedicated to my colleague, Professor Stephen Evans of the Department of English, who passed away in March 2017.

David C. S. Li
Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Two decades of decolonization and renationalization: the evolutionary dynamics of Hong Kong English and an update of its functions and status, Asian Englishes, January 2018, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/13488678.2017.1415517.
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