THE INFLUENCE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT UPON LANGUAGE CHANGE IN HONG KONG （POST—1997）

杨媚

【Abstract】Since the return in 1997， Hong Kong has been motivated by its economic force in changing its language landscape. English and Cantonese code-mixed in the 1990s and Putonghua rose in the 2000s. Objective economic conditions drive language change in Hong Kong.

【Key words】 Economy，Language change，Hong Kong

1. Financial crisis in 1998 and recovery in the 2000s

The connection between Hong Kong and mainland is booming international trade and promoting prosperity. However， Negative economic growth and high unemployment rate indicated that financial crises in 1998 and in 2008 apparently damaged the financial center-Hong Kong. Although central government helped Hong Kong survive the crisis， two main pillars of local economy-stock market and real estate-were so damaged that they failed to get rid of the damage even until today. Industrial hollowing after manufacture industry put the problem of unemployment onto table. High labor price and land price discourage local economy. Because of incomplete industrial transformation， labor-intensive processing trade is still the feature of Hong Kong economy. Its comparative advantage comes from low labor price， which means that compared with Korea， Singapore and Taiwan， Hong Kong does not have competitive emerging industry or famous enterprise or brand.

More importantly， its role as a channel is weakened because it is no longer the only medium through which foreign countries cooperate with China. The gap between Hong Kong and mainland is shrinking thanks to fast-growing economy in the mainland. Coastal cities such as Shang Hai and Shen Zhen show signs of fast economic growth. High-end technology and equipment industry in Guang Zhou and Shen Zhen also reduce Hong Kongs radiation effect as an economic center. Besides， individual visit helps Hong Kong economy recover， and individual visit promotes permeation of mainland visitors into local industry such as catering industry， retailing industry， transportation and hotel business while booming these industries. Because of these changes， the abilities to speak Putonghua and to read and write simplified characters have become increasingly worth acquiring.

2. Rising of Putonghua and worry for Chinese

Cantonese is spoken as a usual language by 90.8% of the population aged 5 and older. Cantonese is the socially preferred language in Hong Kong. In 2011， Putonghua becomes the second largest language in Hong Kong. For the first time， English is ranked after Putonghua in terms of second language and the percentage of residents speaking Cantonese as the usual language decreases after 1997.

Before its return to the mainland， in Hong Kong， spoken Cantonese is used as the medium of instruction at the majority of schools and as a common language for communication among friends and colleagues in daily life. It is used in the media， in law courts， in the legislative and executive councils， and in many other government departments. This is very different from its use in China， where Cantonese is a dialect for non-official use. After 1997， there is official biliterate trilingualism as well as “unofficial maintenance of English”（Wright，2008）. However， although language policy affects the promotion of language， the economic force on the other hand plays a more essential role. Considering great significance of mainland involvement in local economy， Hong Kong is unlikely to get rid of Putonghua. Joseph warned that that Hong Kong people being bilingual or trilingual is the first stage in the demise of a language（Joseph，1996）. In practice， the policy does not guarantee that Cantonese will be immune from interference. For example， the prosperous Hong Kong pop culture traditionally based on Cantonese such as Hong Kong film-making and music industries， has to adapt itself to the market in mainland. Singers begin to sing songs in Putonghua and films originally made in Cantonese have to be remade in Putonghua. There are film makers who want to maintain the originality of films but the huge market in mainland makes the final decision.

3. Conflict of identity

Linguistically， the use of Cantonese in official functions in Hong Kong will go some distance toward manifesting the distinctiveness； but it simultaneously presents the possibility of a regional Hong Kong-Cantonese identity emerging. The contradiction between subjective favor towards Hong Kongs style of speech and the objective need for Putonghua upsets Hong Kong locals. Moreover， the relatively recent fear of losing Hong Kongs competitiveness as the once-British colony now becomes just another city among many in China （as opposed to Hong Kongs past with its almost exclusive role in trade between closed-door China and the rest of the world） pushed them to defend their self-perceived Hong Kong identity.

【BIBLIOGRAPHY】

[1]Hoi Yingchen. Bilinguals In Style： Linguistic Practices And Ideologies Of Cantonese-English Codemixers In Hong Kong. The University of Michigan， 2008. http：//deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/58417/1/hoiyingc_1.pdf （assessed on 2013-03-02）

[2]Harrison， GJ and So， LKH.“The Background to Language Changes in Hong Kong”. Current Issues in Language & Society，1996（3）.

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[4]Joseph， J. E.. “English in Hong Kong： emergence and decline”. Current Issues in Language and Society， 1996（2）.

[5]Lai， M.， 1999. “Hong Kong： language and education in a post-colonial era.” http：//www.multilingual-matters.net/lcc/012/3/default/htm （assessed on 2013-03-02）

[6]Wright， Clare.“Diglossia and Multilingualism-Issues in Language Contact and Language Shift in the case of Hong Kong pre and post-1997”. ARECLS， 2008（5）.