Hong Kong English

As Hong Kong English , in short: HKE ( Chinese  港式英語  /  港式英语 , Pinyin gǎngshì yīngyǔ , Jyutping gong ² sik ¹ jing ¹ jyu ⁵ , English Hong Kong English ) is a variety of English language designated. In the modern sense, it is predominantly used to describe the language spoken by native Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong . Most of the speakers today are Hong Kong Chinese.

history

A pidgin language developed as early as the 17th century through language contact between Portuguese and English traders ( British East India Company ) and local merchants in Southeast China . This is known today as Chinese Pidgin English and, in addition to substrates from British Standard English and Cantonese, also contained elements, especially vocabulary, from Indian English , Portuguese and Malay . In some cases, structures from Chinese Pidgin English can still be found in modern English in Hong Kong, for example with terms like chop-chop! ( 速速 , sùsù , Jyutping cuk ¹ cuk ¹ , Yale su su  - “ brisk , jagged”), for example Dalli dalli !, zack, zack! But hurry! , or Co-hong ( 公 行 , gōngháng , Jyutping gung ¹ hong ⁴ , Yale gùng hòhng ; guild-like organization in the 17th century).

After the First Opium War , Hong Kong became a British crown colony in 1843. So-called compradors in business life first emerged , who were bilingual and mediated between the Cantonese and English speakers. With the increasing establishment of English after the establishment of English schools and the English administration, the use of English spread among the population, which is why the compradors gradually became obsolete.

Bilingual road sign

Today around 90% of Hong Kong residents speak Cantonese as their mother tongue and Cantonese plays an important role in public life. After Hong Kong was returned to the People's Republic of China in 1997, English is still the official language in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region :

"In addition to the Chinese language, English may also be used as an official language by the executive authorities, legislature and judiciary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region."

"In addition to the Chinese language, English may be used as the official language by the implementing authorities , the legislature and the judiciary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region."

- Basic Law for Hong Kong

English is therefore widely used in public life (e.g. all street signs and official notices are bilingual). After the end of the colonial period, English became even more popular than before, which can now be explained with a high level of prestige. In the area of ​​higher education, most of the events are held in English.

Linguistic norm

To a large extent, modern Hong Kong English is not standardized or codified. It is therefore difficult to make general statements about the linguistic properties of this variety. Some English vowels do not appear in Cantonese, which is why Hong Kong English speakers often speak different variants. The letter ‹a› can be articulated as / æ /, / aː / or / ʌ /. Due to the colonial past, however, British spellings and pronunciations still dominate. However, neither the orthography nor the phonology of Hong Kong English have so far been conclusively researched.

literature

• Patrick J. Cummings , Hans-Georg Wolf : A Dictionary of Hong Kong English. Words from the Fragrant Harbor. Hong Kong University Press 2011, ISBN 978-988-8083-30-5 .
• Stephen Evans : The English Language in Hong Kong. Diachronic and Synchronic Perspectives. Palgrave Pivot 2016, ISBN 978-1-137-50623-8 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Term "sùsù / cuk1cuk1 (速速)", Chinese: [1] on Zdic.net. Retrieved September 16, 2017
2. ↑ Basic Law: Chapter I, Article 9 , last accessed on August 31, 2017.