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Representativeness of the Hong Kong English lexicon

Studying word formation from an end-user perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2024

Matthew W. L. Yeung Open the ORCID record for Matthew W. L. Yeung [Opens in a new window] ,
Alice H. Y. Yau  and
Crystal Y. P. Lee
Matthew W. L. Yeung*
Affiliation:
The Centre for Applied English Studies, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Alice H. Y. Yau
Affiliation:
The Centre for Applied English Studies, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Crystal Y. P. Lee
Affiliation:
College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
*
Corresponding author Matthew W. L. Yeung Email; yeungmatty@gmail.com
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Extract

In 2016, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) formally recognized the status of Hong Kong English (HKE) by adding 13 HKE words in its entries (Oxford English Dictionary [OED], n.d.-a). While this codification marks significant progress in the development of a language variety, there have been vigorous discussions within the local community about the legitimacy and representativeness of these selected words as HKE (Xu, 2019). As emphasized by Schneider (2007), acceptability and codification are both important criteria for language development. Therefore, this warrants a bottom-up approach to investigate the extent to which HKE words are accepted by the local community, so as to provide insights on how future HKE words can be better codified.

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Shorter Article
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English Today , First View , pp. 1 - 6
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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