Friday, December 03, 2004, 18:22 GMT
Hello! I'm doing a study of the type of English spoken in Hong Kong as part of my MPhil course. I'd like to know from any Cantonese speakers from Hong Kong if they consider Hong Kong English to be a legitimate form of English in its own right, or if they think Hong Kong speakers should follow the norms of English as followed in L1 countries such as the UK&Ireland/US&Canada/Aust.&NZ.
To focus the question a bit more. The following features are typical of Hong Kong English:-
(1) On the phonemic level: not distinguishing between /i/ and /i:/; reduced use of the schwa phoneme; not distinguishing between say 'pot' and 'port' (I can't seem to get this page to accept phonemic symbols, so I have to illustrate by example!)
(2) On the grammatical level: treating mass nouns as count nouns e.g. alphabets, equipments, furnitures, staffs etc.; omission of the 's' in the 3rd person and plural inflections, so "a bowl of noodle" etc.
Do you think these features of Hong Kong English should be as acceptable as the features found in so-called "inner-circle" countries (UK, US etc.), or should Hong Kong speakers follow accepted L1 country speaker norms? (if the second, which variety? UK or US or Australian)
Although I'm mainly interested in what Hong Kong people think, anyone should feel free to contribute to this question if they find it interesting (but please indicate your nationality before your answer).
Cheers!
To focus the question a bit more. The following features are typical of Hong Kong English:-
(1) On the phonemic level: not distinguishing between /i/ and /i:/; reduced use of the schwa phoneme; not distinguishing between say 'pot' and 'port' (I can't seem to get this page to accept phonemic symbols, so I have to illustrate by example!)
(2) On the grammatical level: treating mass nouns as count nouns e.g. alphabets, equipments, furnitures, staffs etc.; omission of the 's' in the 3rd person and plural inflections, so "a bowl of noodle" etc.
Do you think these features of Hong Kong English should be as acceptable as the features found in so-called "inner-circle" countries (UK, US etc.), or should Hong Kong speakers follow accepted L1 country speaker norms? (if the second, which variety? UK or US or Australian)
Although I'm mainly interested in what Hong Kong people think, anyone should feel free to contribute to this question if they find it interesting (but please indicate your nationality before your answer).
Cheers!