Languages have “status”. From high to low status of a language, it’s not an unchangeable rating – it depends on where you are and what other languages are involved. In fact, language status is a complex phenomenon made up of socio-cultural attitudes towards the home county of the language and institutional attitudes about the language.
IN THE EYES OF OUR INTERVIEWEES…
With more than 90 per cent of the population here has claimed Cantonese as their mother tongue, it is apprantely the dominant and socially preferred language in Hong Kong. However, our three guests from the linguistic minorities in Hong Kong have all chosen English- a language spoken by some 40 per cent of the population in the city-to be on top of the pyramid. English, in the eye of them, ocuppies the highest status in the context of Hong Kong, followed by Cantonese and their national and regional languages at home.
Why is that the case?
Why is that the case?
People’s attitudes towards
the home country/ the speakers of the language
The staus of a language is often associated and affected by people's perception towards the home country or the people who speak the language. In other words, the perceived image attached to a certain language could determine the status of a language in the society.
For languages with higher status in the society, they are usually highly appreciated by the citizens. Speaking of that language gives a positive image of the speaker. English for instance, is described by one of our participants as a language that "gives off the air of a rich well educated person”. Given that most decent jobs in Hong Kong require a high communicative competence in English, people get the message that English is useful an desirable, as it would increase the chances of having a better career and a higher salary in the workplace. Therefore whereas Cantonese is treated as a common language for communication among Hong Kong locals, English is rather perceived as a pragmatic language mainly used in economically contexts. Language is thus given a place in the society.
On the other hand, language with a lower status may be closely related to how people think of the speakers in the society. Take Hong Kong as an example, since most of the Filippinos who work here are domestic helpers with a lower occupation status, their language is also "devalued" and even being considered as the "language of Domestic Helpers”. Our Filipino participant Tessie, has also experiened being 'looking down' by the others in the society when she once tried to communicative in her home langauge, Tagolog.
For languages with higher status in the society, they are usually highly appreciated by the citizens. Speaking of that language gives a positive image of the speaker. English for instance, is described by one of our participants as a language that "gives off the air of a rich well educated person”. Given that most decent jobs in Hong Kong require a high communicative competence in English, people get the message that English is useful an desirable, as it would increase the chances of having a better career and a higher salary in the workplace. Therefore whereas Cantonese is treated as a common language for communication among Hong Kong locals, English is rather perceived as a pragmatic language mainly used in economically contexts. Language is thus given a place in the society.
On the other hand, language with a lower status may be closely related to how people think of the speakers in the society. Take Hong Kong as an example, since most of the Filippinos who work here are domestic helpers with a lower occupation status, their language is also "devalued" and even being considered as the "language of Domestic Helpers”. Our Filipino participant Tessie, has also experiened being 'looking down' by the others in the society when she once tried to communicative in her home langauge, Tagolog.
Institutional attitudes about the language
When it comes to institutional attitude, it usually relates to the language and education policy of a government towards a certain language in the society.
Language does not obtain a high status by itself. There is always a force behind that makes it the top of a hierarchy chart of languages in the society. One essential step is to make it becoming the official language that every person know about. For example, Cantonese and English are both the official language in Hong Kong. At the same time, ever since Biliteracy and Trilingualism- the learning of written Chinese and English, as well as spoken Cantonese, English and Putonghua- have been fostered by the Hong Kong SAR government after the handover in 1997, the status are the three languages have been "upgraded" and their status are therefore affirmed in the society.
For the languages that generally get no support or encouragement institutionally, they usually receive a lower status in the society. This is always the case with minority languages, as there are realtively less speakers of those and they therefore exert less influence in the society. And we may or may not aware of the fact that the status of language has actually a large impact on us. For example, children arriving at school with different languages face different prospects. Children who are native speakers of English are always encouraged to keep thier language and if they enter international schools where the medium of instructions are English as well, they are even not pressured to learn Cantonese. It is no wonder why one of our participant left the impression that “If you know English, you have almost no problems communicate with the others in Hong Kong!”
On the contrast, if a child is born speaking a lower status language and go to school, the attitude is more likely to be “You speak your minority language at home, but that isn’t useful here so we want you to only speak English and Cantonese.” As a result, there is much higher chance that the child would not be able to keep up with their mother tongue to the same level with the school language. More importantly, it could pose the problems of the maintenance and sustainability of Mother Tongue.
Language does not obtain a high status by itself. There is always a force behind that makes it the top of a hierarchy chart of languages in the society. One essential step is to make it becoming the official language that every person know about. For example, Cantonese and English are both the official language in Hong Kong. At the same time, ever since Biliteracy and Trilingualism- the learning of written Chinese and English, as well as spoken Cantonese, English and Putonghua- have been fostered by the Hong Kong SAR government after the handover in 1997, the status are the three languages have been "upgraded" and their status are therefore affirmed in the society.
For the languages that generally get no support or encouragement institutionally, they usually receive a lower status in the society. This is always the case with minority languages, as there are realtively less speakers of those and they therefore exert less influence in the society. And we may or may not aware of the fact that the status of language has actually a large impact on us. For example, children arriving at school with different languages face different prospects. Children who are native speakers of English are always encouraged to keep thier language and if they enter international schools where the medium of instructions are English as well, they are even not pressured to learn Cantonese. It is no wonder why one of our participant left the impression that “If you know English, you have almost no problems communicate with the others in Hong Kong!”
On the contrast, if a child is born speaking a lower status language and go to school, the attitude is more likely to be “You speak your minority language at home, but that isn’t useful here so we want you to only speak English and Cantonese.” As a result, there is much higher chance that the child would not be able to keep up with their mother tongue to the same level with the school language. More importantly, it could pose the problems of the maintenance and sustainability of Mother Tongue.