EN G278 World Englishes Lesson 6 Features of Hong Kong English

1. ENG278 World Englishes Lesson 6 Features of Hong Kong English

2. Features of Hong Kong English • Lexis • Phonetics and phonology • Morphosyntax

3. Borrowing • originate from pre-existing words in another language. • common process of forming new words, especially in times of culture and language contact

4. Borrowing • Vocabulary items of HKE have been borrowed from Mandarin or Cantonese. • These borrowings usually reflect cultural practices or objects which are exclusively associated with Chinese culture, and which are difficult to codify in English. • feng shui

5. Examples of borrowing • Feng shui refers to 'a kind of geomancy for determining sites for houses and graves. fung → 'wind' shui → 'water' • Dim-sum 'tidbits eaten at a Cantonese restaurant either in the morning or at lunch known as yamcha or “drinking tea”

6. Borrowing • Though borrowings through phonetic transliteration (sometimes called phonetic loans) assume a pronunciation near that of words in source language, they undergo phonological integration into the borrowing language • Phonological integration kung-fu (HKE) → gung1 fu1 (Cantonese) yum-cha (HKE) → jam2 caa4 (Cantonese)

7. Examples of borrowing – loan blends • A loanword from Chinese or Cantonese may be combined with another English word Chung Yeung Festival

8. Examples of borrowing – loan translations • Expressions borrowed from Chinese or Cantonese where the Cantonese morphemes are translated into English without traits of Cantonese pronunciation 'The New Territories' (san1 gaai3) ‘Fragrant Harbour’ (hoeng1 gong2) • Those morphemes are not meaningful in English

9. Chinese loanwords in HKEClassification of loanwords Cultural practices • 'dragon boat': a narrow boat with a dragon head, used in racing during Tuen Ng Festival • 'kung hei fat choy': a common congratulatory saying exchanged during the Chinese New Year

10. Chinese loanwords in HKEClassification of loanwords Food and beverage items • 'baak choy' : Chinese cabbage • 'cha': Chinese tea • 'egg tart': a local Hong Kong snack which Chris Patten, the ex-governor, was very fond of

11. Chinese loanwords in HKEClassification of loanwords Leisure activities • 'mahjong': a Chinese game with four people using small tiles imprinted with symbols, usually involving gambling • 'tai chi': a kind of kung fu, but slower in motion

12. Chinese loanwords in HKEClassification of loanwords Community activities • 'coolie': an unskilled labourer • 'kaifong': literally a 'street square', used to refer to a neighbourhood Others • 'Canto-': abbreviation for ‘Cantonese’ (Canto-pop) • 'Gweilo': word for 'westerners'

13. Coinage • new words or expressions for a new concept or entity • benchmark examination (HKE), refers to an English test the government set up for practising English teachers → does not exist in BE or AE

14. Abbreviations • shortened form of a word or phrase • consist of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase. • pronounced by spelling out a series of English letters • BOC • SAR • UST

15. Acronyms • shortened form of a word or phrase • consist of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase. • pronounced as one English word • NET • SPACE • IVE

16. Blending • new words formed by reducing two words and combining the two parts • Legco • Exco • Cantopop • Chinglish

17. Compounding • new words or expressions formed by combining two or more existing words without reduction • lemon tea • tea buffet • tea set

18. Affixation • derivation: new words formed by adding affixes (such as -er) to existing words • Hongkonger • mainlander • inflectional suffixation: involves the addition of suffixes such as the plural suffix -s or past tense suffix -ed • gweilos (Pl.of gweilo) • equipments • staffs

19. Lexical choice • expressions used in different contexts (countries) • canteen in HKE • café, cafeteria, bar, lounge, snack bar, food court, refectory

20. Phonetics – Consonants • Voicing • Dental fricatives • Final consonant cluster simplification • /l/-vocalisation • /n/-/l/ merger • Diphthongs followed by consonants • Initial consonant cluster simplification • Deletion of consonants

21. Voicing Loss of voicing contrasts in word-final plosives and affricates rope /ɹoʊʔp/ word /wɜʔ/

22. Voicing Loss of voicing contrasts in fricatives usually /juʃəli/ cousins /kʌsəns/

23. Dental fricatives /θ/ replaced by /f/ /ð/ replaced by /d/ path /paf/ there’s /dɛəz/

24. Final consonant cluster simplification east /is/ it’s /ɪs/ camp /kɛm/

25. /l/-vocalisation able /eɪbo/ until /ʌntio/

26. /n/-/l/ merger snake /slɛʔk/ alone /əʹnoʊn/

27. Diphthongs followed by consonants The diphthong is preserved but the consonant disappears size /saɪ/ The consonant is produced by the diphthong is realised as a monophthong point /pɔnt/

28. Initial consonant cluster simplification primary /paɪmri/ play /peɪ/ flight /faɪt/

29. Deletion of consonants

30. Phonetics – Vowels • Shortening of vowels

31. Shortening of vowels

32. Phonology – Prosodic Features • Word stress • Compound stress • Rhythm • Sentence stress

33. Word stress Stressing of the penultimate syllable communiCAtive fasciNAted sepaRAtion

34. Compound stress Stressing of the penultimate syllable view POINT hot DOG fruit CAKE

35. Rhythm Syllable-timed We normally stay there for a whole day.

36. Sentence stress Main stress is always located on the last word There are more rural AREAS than urban AREAS.

37. Morphosyntax • ‘Random’ morphological markings • Double morphological markings • Tense switching • Subject-verb agreement • Double subjects and zero subjects • Non-distinction between count and mass nouns • Word order: modifiers immediately precede heads • Prepositions • Conversion of grammatical categories • Use of yes/no • Question tags

38. ‘Random’ morphological markings Use of singular count noun in its bare form There will be giraffe. Omission of the –s suffix in plural nouns All sort of dangerous things Use of plural suffix to mark singular count nouns Every children they came with their parents

39. Double morphological markings This pertains usually to irregular inflected forms more better facilities She would even took me to the park

40. Tense switching Switching between usually the present tense and the past tense Some people win some people lose and …after several hours it’s around noon time and then we have to go back so we walk another two hours and we came back to the city.

41. Subject-verb agreement No agreement in number The churchorganise a wild camp. It still take like three to four hours to go there. The cows’ faces which is very smelly…

42. Double subjects and zero subjects Double subjects My sistershe is living there now. Zero subjects You’ve got one kind of melon is green.

43. Non-distinction between count and mass nouns Pluralisation of mass nouns furnitures equipments fruits breads chalks

44. Word order: modifiers immediately precede heads It took more than an hour travel. We walked another two hours and then one hour bus. He very like dancing. I got a quite interesting childhood.

45. Word order: inversion

46. Prepositions Extra use of a preposition After you pass through the highest view point… You have to face to the south. He returned back to the office.

47. Conversion of grammatical categories Prep  Verb Just alonged it. Prep  Adv Even you go very away from the cities… V  Adj It’s less physically demand.

48. Use of yes/no In response to the question ‘Hasn’t he come yet?’

49. Question tags