ABSTRACT

This chapter examines language ownership in relation to the status of English in Hong Kong, and whether it has become a language of rather than language in Hong Kong. It also examines how Putonghua, the national language of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), is viewed in Hong Kong, particularly in juxtaposition to Cantonese, the local variety of Chinese spoken by most Hong Kong people. Though the actual research that examines gender in relation to language attitudes in Hong Kong is relatively scant, previous research on gender and language attitudes in Hong Kong does suggest that they are gendered. Cultural identification has also been found to impact language attitudes in Hong Kong, with English viewed as part of a bilingual Hong Kong identity in juxtaposition to Putonghua, which linguistically has been viewed to represent the PRC.