Cover not available
Article published In:
Cultural Linguistic Contributions to World Englishes
Edited by Hans-Georg Wolf, Frank Polzenhagen and Arne Peters
[International Journal of Language and Culture 4:2] 2017
► pp. 197–214

A corpus-based analysis of cultural conceptualizations from the domains of family and money in Hong Kong English

 | University of Potsdam
Hong Kong culture blends paradoxes: In it, life and death, the real and the other world coexist in the traditions of its inhabitants, which eventually surface in the variety of English spoken in this Special Administrative Region of China. Our corpus-linguistic analysis, on the basis of ICE-HK and the GloWbE (Davies 2013) corpus,
demonstrates the centrality of the family concept and its ramifications as well as its relation to the concept of money in Hong Kong English. The conceptualization children are an investment does not only show the conceptual network family and money belong to, but also lucidly shows the dynamics within the parent-child relationship, which is governed by filial piety and elderly care when the investment bears fruit. Collocations such as ‘hungry ghost,’ ‘hell money,’ and ‘worship ancestors’ are combinations of common core English terms that underwent semantic extension under the influence of the local Hong Kong cultural context. Our data shows how tightly language and culture are linked and that culture and cultural changes are the main factors to influence language and its development.
Keywords: Hong Kong English, Cultural Linguistics, cultural conceptualizations, corpus linguistics
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2. family and money in Hong Kong English
  • 3.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 14 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.4.2.04lat
References (38)
References
Bolton, K. (2002). Chinese Englishes: from Canton jargon to global English. World Englishes, 21(2), 181–199. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2003). Chinese Englishes. A sociolinguistic history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
(2005). Where WE stands: approaches, issues, and debate in world Englishes. World Englishes, 24(1), 69–83. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chow, I. H. -S., & I. Ng. (2004). The characteristics of Chinese personal ties (guanxi): Evidence from Hong Kong. Organization Studies, 25(7), 1075–1093. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Davies, Mark. (2008-). The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA): 520 million words, 1990-present. Available online at [URL]. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
. (2013). Corpus of Global Web-Based English: 1.9 billion words from speakers in 20 countries (GloWbE). Available online at [URL]. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
Der Tagesspiegel. [URL]
Duden online. [URL]
Evans, S. (2011). Hong Kong English: The growing pains of a new variety. Asian Englishes, 14(1), 22–45. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eno, R. (2015). The analects of Confucius. An online teaching translation. [URL]
Fan, Y. (2002): Questioning guanxi: definition, classification and implications. International Business Review, 11(5), 453–561. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gao, X. (2003). Women existing for men: Confucianism and social injustice against women in China. Race, Gender & Class, 10(3), 114–125.Google Scholar
Hung, T. (2000). Towards a phonology of Hong Kong English. World Englishes, 19(3), 337–356. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hwang, D. B. et al. (2009). Guanxi and business ethics in Confucian society today: An empirical case study in Taiwan. Journal of Business Ethics, 891, 235–250. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hwang, K. -K. (1999). Filial piety and loyalty: Two types of social identification in Confucianism. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 21, 163–183. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2001). The deep structure of Confucianism: A social psychological approach. Asian Philosophy, 11(3), 179–204. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ip, P. K. (2009). Is Confucianism good for business ethics in China? Journal of Business Ethics, 881, 463–476. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kristiansen, G., & Dirven, R. (2008). Introduction. Cognitive linguistics: Rationale, methods and scope. In G. Kristiansen & R. Dirven (Eds.), Cognitive sociolinguistics. language variation, cultural models, social systems (pp. 1–20). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liu, T. (2003). A nameless but active religion: An anthropologist’s view of local religion in Hong Kong and Macau. The China Quarterly, 1741, 373–394. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Luo, Y. (2007): Guanxi and business. Asia Pacific Business Series 5. New Jersey: World Scientific. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Oldstone-Moore, J. (2005). Religionen verstehen. Konfuzianismus. Köln: Fleurus.Google Scholar
Palmer, G. B. (1996). Toward a theory of cultural linguistics. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Palmer, G. B., & Sharifian, F. (2007). Applied cultural linguistics. An emerging paradigm. In F. Sharifian & G. B. Palmer (Eds.), Applied cultural linguistics. Implications for second language learning and intercultural communication (pp. 1–14). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Polzenhagen, F., & Wolf, H.-G. (2010). Investigating culture from a linguistic perspective: An exemplification with Hong Kong English. ZAA, 58(3), 281–303.Google Scholar
Pütz, M. et al. (2012). The emergence of cognitive sociolinguistics. An introduction. In M. Pütz, J. A. Robinson & M. Reif (Eds.), Cognitive sociolinguistics. Social and cultural variation in cognition and language use (pp. 241–263). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Rosenlee, L.-H. L. (2007). Confucianism and women. A philosophical interpretation. Albany: State University of New York Press (SUNY).Google Scholar
Scott, J. L. (2007). For gods, ghosts and ancestors. The Chinese tradition of paper offerings. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.Google Scholar
Sewell, A. J. (2010). Phonological features of Hong Kong English: Patterns of variation and effects on local acceptability (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved from Lingnan University, Department of English. [URL].
Sharifian, F. (2003). On cultural conceptualisations. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 3 (3), 187-207.Google Scholar
(2008). Cultural models of Home in Aboriginal children´s English. In G. Kristiansen & R. Dirven (Eds.), Cognitive sociolinguistics. language variation, cultural models, social systems (pp. 333–352). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011). Cultural Conceptualisations and Language: Theoretical Framework and Implications. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2015). Cultural linguistics. In F. Sharifian (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of language and culture (pp. 473–492). New York/London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Suc, C. (1999). Money and local Hong Kong culture. Unpublished M. Phil. thesis. Department of Sociology. Hong Kong: The University of Hong Kong.Google Scholar
The South China Morning Post: [URL].
Wolf, H.-G. (2008). A cognitive linguistic approach to the cultures of World Englishes: The emergence of a new model. In G. Kristiansen & R. Dirven (Eds.), Cognitive sociolinguistics. language variation, cultural models, social systems (pp. 353–385). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wolf, H.-G., & Chan, T. (2016). Understanding Asia by means of cognitive sociolinguistics and cultural linguistics. The example of ghosts in Hong Kong English. In G. Leitner, A. Hashim & H.-G. Wolf (Eds.), Communicating with Asia. The future of English as a global language (pp. 249–266). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wong, M. (2017). Hong Kong English. Exploring lexicogrammar and discourse from a corpus-linguistic perspective. London: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Q. (2009). Hong Kong people’s attitudes towards varieties of English. Newcastle Working Papers in Linguistics, 151, 150–173.Google Scholar
Cited by (7)

Cited by seven other publications

Latić, Denisa, Frank Polzenhagen, Hans‐Georg Wolf & Arne Peters
2024. A research bibliography for world Englishes and Cultural Linguistics. World Englishes 43:3 ► pp. 523 ff. DOI logo
Polzenhagen, Frank, Hans‐Georg Wolf, Denisa Latić & Arne Peters
2024. World Englishes and Cultural Linguistics: Theory and research. World Englishes 43:3 ► pp. 360 ff. DOI logo
Sewell, Andrew
2024. The discourse of ‘falling standards’ of English in Hong Kong. World Englishes 43:3 ► pp. 503 ff. DOI logo
Taiwo, Rotimi
2024. Otherness and cultural conceptualisations of Gender and Social Class in Nigerian English. World Englishes 43:3 ► pp. 456 ff. DOI logo
Unuabonah, Foluke Olayinka & Jemima Asabea Anderson
2023. “You are quite funny paa!”: A corpus-based study of borrowed discourse-pragmatic features in Ghanaian English. Corpus Pragmatics 7:3 ► pp. 267 ff. DOI logo
Peters, Arne
2021. Cultural Conceptualisations of witchcraft and traditional healing in Black South African English Herbalist Classifieds. In Cultural Linguistics and World Englishes [Cultural Linguistics, ], ► pp. 333 ff. DOI logo
Peters, Arne
2024. Threatening as a sociocultural–conceptual communicative act. World Englishes 43:3 ► pp. 491 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 september 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.