Aims
The purpose of this research is to explore the intriguing Chinese writing system in Hong Kong and how Cantonese is influencing Hong Kong people in writing Chinese. Another objective of the study is to detect the reasons behind the language phenomenon by investigating people’s attitudes towards colloquial forms in written styles.
Hong Kong has been returned to China for over sixteen years; nevertheless it remains socially and culturally varying from the mainland, with language as one of the best examples. In the recent decade, while Standard Chinese is promoted by the government and schools, Cantonese is not only used in spoken forms but also in written Chinese, which can be easily found in personal communication or published works. It is not surprising that Hongkongers personally include Cantonese in their messaging, but the topic becomes more intriguing when our local newspapers or movie scripts are getting used to the vernacular form. Despite the traditional associations of the vernacular form with lower status, educated people from middle-class begin to accept it. Therefore I am particularly interested in how and why Hongkongers use written Cantonese.
Relevant literature
The mixing of spoken Cantonese and written Chinese is a popular topic in the local linguistic field, and the writings on it are from various perspectives, ranging from the history, structure and causes.
The first academic piece about Cantonese as a written language is Robert Bauer’s “Written Cantonese of Hong Kong”, which defines key terms, including written Cantonese as “spoken Cantonese represented with written symbols” (1988, p. 246). He indicates that Cantonese is unique for Hongkongers because it facilitates communication and is unintelligible to main...
... middle of paper ...
...lture: Building Hong Kong on education (pp. 152-177). Hong Kong, HK: Longman.
Snow, D. (2004). Cantonese as written language: The growth of a written Chinese vernacular. Hong Kong, HK: Hong Kong University Press.
Wu, D. Y. (2000). Orality in Hong Kong print media. Language and education in postcolonial Hong Kong. Retrieved from http://www.cbs.polyu.edu.hk /ctdwu /publication/Paper-Orality.pdf
Wu, D. Y. , Qin, X. B. and Ng, P. (2004). ‘香港報刊語言口語化的表現形式和功能 or Orality in Hong Kong Print Media’ , 當代語言學or Contemporary Linguistics, 6( 3), 248-256. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Wu, F. H. (2003). A study of written Cantonese and Hong Kong culture: The development of Cantonese dialect literature before and after the change of sovereignty (Master's thesis, The University of Hong Kong Pokfulam, Hong Kong). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10722/39118
Her principal was described as "maniacal" (Wong 1). Wong identified speaking Chinese as an "embarrassment" (Wong 2). The words she chose
Chang Rae-Lee, author of "Mute in an English-Only World," moved to America from Korea when he was only six or seven years old. He adopted the English language quickly, as most children do, but his mother continued to struggle. "For her, the English language…usually meant trouble and a good dose of shame and sometimes real hurt" (Lee 586). It is obvious, though, that his mother was persistent in her attempt to learn English and deal with her limited culture experience, as Lee accounts of her using English flash cards, phrase books and a pocket workbook illustrated with stick-people figures. Lee sympathetically connects with the audience through his mother, and forces them to make a personal conclusion when he ends the article with a lingering question in the reader’s mind; what if they had seen her struggling? Would they have sat back and watched or stepped up to help?
The narrator explains a quote she remembered that her mother said using the English that her mother uses, “Du Yusong having business like fruit stand. Like off the street kind. He is like Du Zong—but not Tsung-ming Island people. The local people call putong, the river east side, he belong to that side local people. The man want to ask Du Zong father wasn’t look down on him, but didn’t take seriously, until that man big like become a mafia. Now important person, very hard to inviting him. Respect for making big celebration, he shows up. Mean gives lots of respect. Chinese custom. Chinese social life that way. If too important won’t have to stay too long. He come to my wedding. I didn’t see, I heard it. I gone to boy’s side, they have YMCA dinner. Chinese age I was nineteen.”(108). Another example is when her (the author) mother use to have her call people on the phone pretending it was her. “Why he don’t send me my check, already two weeks late. So mad he lie to me, losing me money.” (110). After these incidents had occurred a while back, the author says: “I began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with: the English I spoke to my mother, the English she used with me, my translation of her English, and what I imagined to be her translation of her Chinese.” (113). This quote not only shows examples of the different Englishes in her novel, but it also explains how she begins to write stories using her
While these essays are similar because they focus on the native languages used in America and the struggles of being a Chinese American in America, they differ in both their attitudes toward their mothers and personal reflections of being Chinese American. An individual’s background is where one comes from and how he or she was raised. Tan is a Chinese American. She has a traditional Chinese mother who speaks “broken” English. Tan states that, “It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than ‘broken’, as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed[. . . ]”
By juxtaposing both the English and Mandarin language, Wong is effectively showcasing and questioning the institutional dominance the English language may possesses over both worldwide linguistics as well as individual’s freedom of expression; Stating we may need to break free from the constraining borders English may pose on an individual, and instead write or speak in any way we wish in hopes of effectively getting our point across. The narrator wants herself and others to break free from the strict dominant borders, empowering others to live a life filled with full freedom of expression regardless of one’s style of writing or minority
Thesis: In American Born Chinese by Gene Yang during the scene of Wei-Chen’s first lunch color choices, the deliberate positioning of characters, and symbols illustrate the uphill battle members of non-dominant cultures specifically Wei-Chen and Jin-Wang face in attempting to fit into and gain acceptance from the dominant culture.
There are two forms of languages; public and private. The "private" language only spoken with family and close intimate relationships. The "public" language used in society, work, and school. Both of these help form two identities, that help us connect and communicate with one another. In the essay “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan and also in the article “Speech Communities” by Paul Roberts ,we will see how both private and public language demonstrate how we view, and grow from each language.
Despite growing up amidst a language deemed as “broken” and “fractured”, Amy Tan’s love for language allowed her to embrace the variations of English that surrounded her. In her short essay “Mother Tongue”, Tan discusses the internal conflict she had with the English learned from her mother to that of the English in her education. Sharing her experiences as an adolescent posing to be her mother for respect, Tan develops a frustration at the difficulty of not being taken seriously due to one’s inability to speak the way society expects. Disallowing others to prove their misconceptions of her, Tan exerted herself in excelling at English throughout school. She felt a need to rebel against the proverbial view that writing is not a strong suit of someone who grew up learning English in an immigrant family. Attempting to prove her mastery of the English language, Tan discovered her writing did not show who she truly was. She was an Asian-American, not just Asian, not just American, but that she belonged in both demographics. Disregarding the idea that her mother’s English could be something of a social deficit, a learning limitation, Tan expanded and cultivated her writing style to incorporate both the language she learned in school, as well as the variation of it spoken by her mother. Tan learned that in order to satisfy herself, she needed to acknowledge both of her “Englishes” (Tan 128).
The Essay written by Amy Tan titled 'Mother Tongue' concludes with her saying, 'I knew I had succeeded where I counted when my mother finished my book and gave her understandable verdict' (39). The essay focuses on the prejudices of Amy and her mother. All her life, Amy's mother has been looked down upon due to the fact that she did not speak proper English. Amy defends her mother's 'Broken' English by the fact that she is Chinese and that the 'Simple' English spoken in her family 'Has become a language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk' (36). Little did she know that she was actually speaking more than one type of English. Amy Tan was successful in providing resourceful information in every aspect. This gave the reader a full understanding of the disadvantages Amy and her mother had with reading and writing. The Essay 'Mother Tongue' truly represents Amy Tan's love and passion for her mother as well as her writing. Finally getting the respect of her critics and lucratively connecting with the reaction her mother had to her book, 'So easy to read' (39). Was writing a book the best way to bond with your own mother? Is it a struggle to always have the urge to fit in? Was it healthy for her to take care of family situations all her life because her mother is unable to speak clear English?
Yang, Gene Luen, and Lark Pien. American Born Chinese. New York: First Second, 2006. Print.
Understanding the Chinese culture was confusing for Kingston. “Chinese-Americans, when you try to understand what things in you are Chinese , how do you separate what is peculiar to childhood, to poverty, insanities, one family, your mother who marked your growing with stories, from what is Chinese? What is Chinese tradition and what is the movies?” (Kingston 223). Kingston questions her tradition and she doesn’t seem very sure what it is. She questions whether what her mother did by...
Lindo Jong provides the reader with a summary of her difficulty in passing along the Chinese culture to her daughter: “I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these two things do not mix? I taught her how American circumstances work. If you are born poor here, it's no lasting shame . . . You do not have to sit like a Buddha under a tree letting pigeons drop their dirty business on your head . . . In America, nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you. . . . but I couldn't teach her about Chinese character . . . How to know your own worth and polish it, never flashing it around like a cheap ring. Why Chinese thinking is best”(Tan 289).
The United States and China are two very large countries that have cultures that are well known throughout the world. There are many differences between the United States and China, but there are many contributing factors that shape the cultures of these two countries. Language is universal, but there are different meanings and sounds, which vary from one culture to another. In China, citizens speak many languages, but about 94% speak the Chinese language. The difference in dialects was overcome by the written word and eventually a version of Mandrin became the “official speech” (The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, 1996, p.304).
Chen, Zu-yan. Li Bai & Du Fu: An Advanced Reader of Chinese Language and Literature =. Boston: Cheng & Tsui, 2008. Print.
Clark, Virginia P., Paul A. Eschholz, and Alfred F. Rosa. Language: Introductory Readings. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. Print.