ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a detailed investigation of the acceptance of Hong Kong English (HKE) as an independent variety of English in Hong Kong. The dashed black line shows the combined Yes response for all participants across time. The study also sought to understand why participants felt HKE was or was not a real variety of English. This was done through an open-ended question on the questionnaire. The main reasons respectively participants felt that HKE was a real variety of English was that it had its own ‘unique’ features distinctive from any other variety of English and that it was just like any other variety of English. Similar responses were given to explain why HKE was not a real variety of English; rather than being viewed positively, however, they were viewed as negatives.
