“Bits”, “chunks” and “channel-switching”: Perceptions of Cantonese-English code-switching

This paper compares the code-switching (CS) practices and perceptions of three groups of Cantonese-English bilinguals with different social backgrounds: (1) university-educated Hong Kong locals, (2) second-generation migrants in English-speaking countries and (3) Hong Kong students who have spent a significant amount of time in English-speaking countries at school and/or university. The results show that far from agreeing on what constitutes a normal CS style, each of these groups has different normative perceptual contours, and distinct CS practices. This finding is shown to be significant within the social context of the Hong Kong speech community, which has reabsorbed a great deal of the Cantonese-English speaking diaspora in recent years. The consequences of this reabsorption are also shown to be important for our current models of CS variation.

提要:

本文透過研究三個不同社會背景的雙語 (廣東話–英 語) 組別: 1. 大學畢業的香港本土人士; 2. 移居香港的英語人士的第二代及 3. 曾長期留學英語國家學校/大學的畢業生, 探討雙語轉換的實踐及觀念。結果顯示做成正常的雙語轉換在每一個組別間皆含有合乎規範的觀念輪廓及截然不同的慣例。是次發現明確的顯示了在香港的語言群體中, 近年有著重新吸收大量廣東話–英語的大流散, 其結果往往對現時的雙語轉換變化模式有著重要的揭示。