Project Details | preserve-promote

Our Project

In this project, we will be focusing our research on the preservation and promotion of Cantonese in Hong Kong via social media. The motivations behind this research is to consolidate the types of Cantonese that are considered ‘proper’ and ‘improper’ in Hong Kong and also to address the fact that there is a diversity in the Cantonese language in Hong Kong.

Living in Hong Kong a largely metropolitan and digitised community, the event of a language shift is inevitable which, is why it is vital for the community to gauge how the community preserves and promotes the ways in which the individual communicates in Cantonese. Within the community of Hong Kong - there is a difference in which divides HK Cantonese and Mainland Cantonese (conversationally speaking). Regarding this fact, what is being put through the educational system via the Education Bureau; Chinese education is not in favour of Hong Kong Cantonese as it can be seen as a ‘lazy way’ of speaking or simply ‘improper’. Though, Hong Kong Cantonese, has not been approved through the means of formal education - the diversity that it has established has been approved of those through the help of the internet such as, social media platforms where young people are able to express their creativity without restrictions. This language shift is also due to the “official languages” that are available in Hong Kong, namely, Cantonese and English. Due to the majority of individuals being able to speak both languages, code-mixing the two has become quite common in terms of incorporating it in day-to-day conversations.

Perspectives and Motivations

Perspectives

The main perspectives that will be taken when proceeding with the project are:

To consolidate Cantonese in Hong Kong
To address Cantonese diversity in Hong Kong

Motivations for Study

We as a group, found this subject intriguing as, compared to the past few years there has been a language shift within the community as official languages are established in Hong Kong; English and Cantonese. Also, this shift was intriguing as it tended to deviate away from the Mainland Cantonese, therefore making Hong Kong Cantonese a phenomena unique to those in Hong Kong. Another motivation that got us going was, the fact that the code-mixing of both Cantonese and English was institutionally stigmatised by the Education Bureau as they promoted and officially preferred the Mainland deviation of Cantonese speech and mainstream media as the 'proper' version of communication. Due to this, it is to essentially answer the question of, what is 'proper' and 'improper' communication in Hong Kong.

Existing Preservation and Promotion Methods

Firstly, these effects of social media go both ways in terms of preserving and promoting either language: Mainland Cantonese or Hong Kong Cantonese. Both promotion methods utilise social media to their advantage as, the general public has constant contact with the media as it is easily accessed via mobile devices.

Some examples of the preservation and promotion efforts of Mainland Cantonese:

Online Encyclopaedia

Words.hk (http://words.hk)

A project that was created in order to create a collection of colloquial Cantonese and to promote it as a type of 'dictionary' that contained definitions and example sentences that are written in colloquial Chinese. This can be seen as a promotion of the 'proper' way to communicate in Cantonese.

2. The Encyclopaedia of Virtual Communities in Hong Kong (香港網絡大典)

(http://evchk.wikia.com/wiki/%E9%A6%96%E9%A0%81 )

A collection of colloquial Cantonese phrases and vocabulary specifically prevalent in social media platforms.

3. Sermon by Ben Sir

A locally sourced (TVB) television programme in which Ben Sir teaches colloquial Cantonese by addressing Hong Kong culture within the show. Therefore also teaching viewers the 'correct' way to communicate in Cantonese

4. iCantonese channel on YouTube

YouTube being a popular viewing for platform, is very effective in the ways in which that thi channel posts short videos to teach viewers the proper pronunciation and meaning of Cantonese words and phrases

5. Institutional pressures on Cantonese usage

There is a general institutional pressure to use the Mainland deviation of Cantonese instead of Hong Kong Cantonese as it is deemed the 'proper' version of the language. As mentioned earlier, the code-mixing of two languages is not encouraged within educational institutes. Also, due to the influx of individuals who are coming from the Mainland - there seems to be a general trend that conformed around the need to this growing body of people.

Effects of Social Media to Preserve and Promote a language

On the other hand, as Bucholtz and Hall have mentioned in their Language and Identity article, they mentioned that language is dynamic and inevitable to change which, does explain the reasons as to why these efforts have been less than fruitful in their endeavours. As viral videos on social media disappear from sight, so does the popularity of a language deviation that those of the youthful population do not use.

As Bucholtz and Hall's article suggests that language is intrinsically tied to the individual's identity. The South China Morning Post had published an article titled, "Hong Kongers Mix English and Cantonese into a new language - Kongish." This article being published in a much more positive light creates a gateway towards a lesser stigma towards this type of code-mixing as it is tied in with their identity as the young generation community and even a political stance. This type of publication then therefore, not only notifies the public about its existence but, it also consolidates the fact that this type of communication is accepted among the user community in Hong Kong.