Cover not available

Article published In: English World-Wide
Vol. 41:3 (2020) ► pp.295–324

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Hongkongites, Hong Kongers, Hong Kong Belongers?

Tracing identity (re)constructions in news discourse in Hong Kong from 1903 to 1999

 | Julius-Maximilians-Universität, Würzburg
 | Julius-Maximilians-Universität, Würzburg
 | Julius-Maximilians-Universität, Würzburg
Published online: 9 November 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.00052.sch
Abstract
To find empirical evidence for 2007. Postcolonial English: Varieties Around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar periodisation for the emergence of Hong Kong English, Evans (. 2014. “The Evolutionary Dynamics of Postcolonial Englishes: A Hong Kong Case Study”. Journal of Sociolinguistics 181: 571–603. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2015. “Modelling the Development of English in Hong Kong”. World Englishes 341: 389–410. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) scrutinised various historical documents, such as newspapers, council proceedings and jury lists. Taking the increasing use of the terms Hongkonger and Hongkong people during the 1980s as evidence for the emergence of a new Hong Kong identity, he argued that the Chinese population considered themselves part of the community. This paper systematises . 2014. “The Evolutionary Dynamics of Postcolonial Englishes: A Hong Kong Case Study”. Journal of Sociolinguistics 181: 571–603. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar approach by analysing terms denoting ingroup and outgroup members in English news discourse in Hong Kong from 1903 to 1999. By tracing changes in frequency, reference and discourse topics associated with the terms, periods of identity reconstructions are uncovered and Schneider’s and Evans’ periodisations reassessed. The study thus contributes to our understanding of the social dynamics in Hong Kong’s history, which are considered key to the emergence of Hong Kong English.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The emergence and status of Hong Kong English
  • 3.Newspaper discourse and identity (re)construction
  • 4.Method
  • 5.Analysis of demonyms
    • 5.1Bird’s eye perspective: Frequency
    • 5.2Focus on the ingroup: Hongkongite and Hongkonger
      • 5.2.1Reference
      • 5.2.2Discourse topics: Hongkongite and Hongkonger
    • 5.3Focus on the outgroup: Mainlander
      • 5.3.1Reference
      • 5.3.2Discourse topics: Mainlander
    • 5.4Summary of results
  • 6.Discussion
    • Before the Japanese occupation
    • Impact of the Japanese occupation
    • After the Japanese occupation
    • Impact of the Joint Declaration
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Sources
  • References
References (32)
Sources
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: South China Morning Post. Publication title: South China Morning Post (1903–1941). Retrieved from <[URL]>.
. Publication title: South China Morning Post (1946-Current). Retrieved from <[URL]>.
References
Bacon-Shone, John and Kingsley Bolton. 2008. “Bilingualism and Multilingualism in the HKSAR: Language Survey and Hong Kong’s Changing Linguistic Profile”. In Kingsley Bolton, and Han Yang, eds. Language and Society in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Open University of Hong Kong Press, 25–51.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Benson, Phil. 1994. “The Political Vocabulary of Hong Kong English”. Hong Kong Papers in Linguistics and Language Teaching 171: 63–81.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biewer, Carolin, Lisa Lehnen, and Ninja Schulz. 2020 “‘The Future Elected Government Should Fully Represent the Interests of Hongkong People’: Diachronic Change in the Use of Modalising Expressions in Hong Kong English between 1928 and 2018”. In Pascal Hohaus, and Rainer Schulze, eds. Re-Assessing Modal Expressions – Categories, Co-text and Context. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 311–341. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bolton, Kingsley. 2002. “The Sociolinguistics of Hong Kong and the Space for Hong Kong English”. In Kingsley Bolton, ed. Hong Kong English: Autonomy and Creativity. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 29–55.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boyle, Joseph. 1997. “Changing Attitudes to English”. English Today 131: 3–6. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chiu, Way-Yee T. 1994. “The Newspaper Industry in Hong Kong: A Strategic Analysis”. MBA Dissertation, University of Hong Kong. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Collins, Peter. 2009. “Extended Uses of Would in Some Asian Englishes”. Asian Englishes 121: 34–46. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. “Hong Kong English and the Professional World”. World Englishes 301: 293–316. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. “The Evolutionary Dynamics of Postcolonial Englishes: A Hong Kong Case Study”. Journal of Sociolinguistics 181: 571–603. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015. “Modelling the Development of English in Hong Kong”. World Englishes 341: 389–410. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016. The English Language in Hong Kong: Diachronic and Synchronic Perspectives. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Garrett, Peter. 2010. Attitudes to Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gisborne, Nikolas. 2000. “Relative Clauses in Hong Kong English”. World Englishes 191: 357–371. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Greaves, Chris and Martin Warren. 2007. “Concgramming: A Computer Driven Approach to Learning the Phraseology of English”. ReCALL 191: 287–306. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gu, Mingyue. 2011. “Language Choice and Identity Construction in Peer Interactions: Insights from a Multilingual University in Hong Kong”. Journal of Multilingual & Multicultural Development 321: 17–31. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hamlett, Tim. 1997. “English in Hong Kong: The Future”. English Today 131: 10–11. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hutcheon, Robin. 1983. SCMP, the First Eighty Years. Hong Kong: South China Morning Post, Publications Division.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Joseph, John E. 1999. “Ex-Colonial Language Post-Colonial Identity: The Future of English in Hong Kong”. In Fritz-Wilhelm Neumann, ed. Proceedings Anglistentag 1998 Erfurt. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, 405–414.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lai, Mee-Ling. 2001. “Hong Kong Students’ Attitudes Towards Cantonese, Putonghua and English After the Change of Sovereignty”. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 221: 112–133. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005. “Language Attitudes of the First Postcolonial Generation in Hong Kong”. Language in Society 341: 363–388. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
OED Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press <[URL]> (accessed December 22, 2019).
Pang, Terence T. T. 2003. “Hong Kong English: A Stillborn Variety?”. English Today 191: 12–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Riggins, Stephen H. 1997. “The Rhetoric of Othering”. In Stephen Harold Riggins, ed. The Language and Politics of Exclusion: Others in Discourse. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1–30.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schneider, Edgar W. 2003. “The Dynamics of New Englishes: From Identity Construction to Dialect Birth”. Language 791: 233–281. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2007. Postcolonial English: Varieties Around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2014. “New Reflections on the Evolutionary Dynamics of World Englishes”. World Englishes 331: 9–32. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scollon, Ron. 1997. “Hong Kong Newspapers on the Pre-Transitional Stage”. Asia Pacific Media Educator 21: 48–59.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Setter, Jane, Cathy S. P. Wong, and Brian H. S. Chan. 2012. Hong Kong English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Biewer, Carolin, Lisa Lehnen & Ninja Schulz
2020.  “The future elected government should fully represent the interests of Hongkong people”. In Re-assessing Modalising Expressions [Studies in Language Companion Series, 216], ► pp. 311 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 9 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue