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Linguistic ridicule and shifting indexical values on social media: The case of English in Hong Kong

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2024

Dennis Chau Open the ORCID record for Dennis Chau [Opens in a new window]
Dennis Chau*
Affiliation:
Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong
*
Address for correspondence: Dennis Chau Hong Kong Metropolitan University Department of Humanities, Language and Translation School of Arts and Social Sciences 7/F, Block A, Main Campus Hong Kong Metropolitan University Homantin, Kowloon, Hong Kong [email protected]
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Abstract

This article examines the online reaction to the linguistic performance of a pro-China Hong Kong singer-actor in a commercial where he speaks Hong Kong English. Paradoxically, the posters criticizing his English are Hongkongers themselves, while those showing admiration are mainland Chinese. Understanding this paradox requires an appreciation of the multiple and complex orders of indexicality through which the variety is evaluated and of the increasing use of linguistic evaluations as a proxy for political judgements in a society undergoing significant changes. An analysis of online comments and remixes associated with the commercial shows that Hong Kong social media users attribute a range of different indexical meanings to the celebrity's English to shame him for his perceived ‘betrayal’ and to reclaim a sense of social superiority over mainlanders in the face of unease about Hongkongers’ cultural distinctiveness. It unpacks complexities surrounding the deployment of language ideologies in societies experiencing sociopolitical upheavals. (Language ideologies, linguistic ridicule, orders of indexicality, polycentricity, social media, Hong Kong)*

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Language in Society , First View , pp. 1 - 24
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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