Sociolinguistics

Lai, M. L. (2007). Exploring language  stereotypes in post-colonial Hong Kong through  
      the Matched-guise Test. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 17(2).  

Lai, M. L (2005). Language attitudes of the  first postcolonial generation in Hong Kong  
      secondary schools. Language in Society,  34(4), 363-388.



    

Following the return of sovereignty from Britain to China, Hong Kong has undergone significant sociopolitical and educational changes. This study is a quantitative investigation of the language attitudes of 1,048 secondary students from the first postcolonial generation brought up amid the significant changes after the political handover. The results show that the respondents feel the most integratively inclined to Cantonese (the vernacular variety), and they perceive English (the colonizers' language) as the language of the highest instrumental value and social status, while Putonghua (the language of the new ruler) is rated the lowest from both the integrative and the instrumental perspectives. Unlike what has been predicted by scholars, Putonghua has not yet taken the place of English as the language of power. Despite this, there are signs of a subtle transition toward an accommodating attitude to Putonghua, mainly induced by the growing instrumental value of the language for economic purposes.

back

Lai, M. L. (2004). Medium of instruction,  identity and language attitudes in post-colonial 
      Hong Kong. Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 13(2), 191-219.

Lee, J. F K. (2007). Acceptability of Sexist Language  Among Young People in Hong Kong. 
      Sex Roles, 56 (5/6), 285-295.



    

The purpose of the present study was to provide information on the acceptability of some selected gender-exclusive and inclusive usages and lexis in Hong Kong English. They include the selection of generic he or gender-neutral pronouns anaphoric to indefinite pronouns (e.g., everybody , someone ) and occupational terms (e.g., doctor , lawyer , cleaner ). A number of generic nouns and sex-unspecified nouns with or without morphologically marked gender were also examined (e.g., chairman vs chairperson , fireman vs fire fighter ). The findings reveal that linguistic sexism is still prevalent in Hong Kong. However, the strong feminist movement in Western countries and in the education field has had an impact among young people, some of whom have shown concern to avoid gender-biased language. Although consistent gender differences were not found in the present study, some significant differences between men and women were revealed; a relatively higher proportion of women opted for the coordinate pronoun he/she and gender-neutral occupational terms, whereas more men opted for generic they .

back

Lee, J. F. K. (2002). Attitudes towards  disputable usages among 
      Australian teachers and students. Australian Review of Applied 
      Linguistics, 25(1),  109-129. 

Littlewood, W. T., & Li, D. L.  (2006). The  sociolinguistic awareness of tertiary level 
      students in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Language Awareness, 15(2), 97-109.



    

This paper explores the sociolinguistic awareness in English of tertiary level students in Hong Kong and Wuhan (Mainland China). The language data consisted of specific instances when a native speaker presenter made changes, in the course of oral delivery, to the written text of a conference paper that she had prepared in advance. Matched pairs of sentences/utterances were selected and in each pair the written version was placed side by side with the spoken version. When native speakers were asked to judge which version had been written and which had been spoken, their responses indicated that the changes were based on sociolinguistic intuitions shared by other native speakers. For the present study, the same matched pairs of utterances were given to tertiary-level students of English in Hong Kong and Wuhan. The resulting data are used to explore the extent to which students have access to the same sociolinguistic intuitions as native speakers. Comparisons are also made between the responses of students in the two settings as well as between the responses of English and non-English majors in Wuhan.

back