ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author analyzes not only the emerging linguistic governance of English over Cantonese in the LGBTI activist scene, but also the ways in which both English and Cantonese become instrumentalized to achieve different ends. The author adapts Vanessa Pupavac’s linguistic governance and Robert Phillippson’s linguistic imperialism to refer to the various and multiple ways in which certain languages are given preference over others. The queer sinophone lens is particularly relevant for this case study, both in the ways in which it refocuses on Hong Kong’s relationship with expatriates and not mainland China, as well as how locals resist simple associations with Cantonese. The sinophone, originally defined as “literature written in Chinese by Chinese-speaking writers in various parts of the world outside China, as distinguished from ‘Chinese literature’—literature from China,” has evolved as a theoretical tool in literature, cultural studies, film studies, and visual studies.
