Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

3-1999

Abstract

In the present study, we examined the relationship of social identity (Hongkonger or Chinese) and the attitudes toward bilingual code switching in a conversation between a Hong Kong person and a Chinese Mainlander. Students from a local university in Hong Kong (N = 159) listened to a four-turn conversation between a Hong Kong person and a Mainlander in a wedding party. As expected, when the speaker converged to the Putonghua (the Mainland official language), those who claimed a Hongkonger identity judged the Hong Kong speaker less favourably than did those who claimed a Chinese identity. In addition, participants who claimed a Chinese identity judged the Hong Kong speaker more favourably when he converged to Putonghua than when he maintained Cantonese (a Chinese dialect most commonly used in Hong Kong). Finally, social identity was unrelated to language attitudes when the Mainland speaker converged to Cantonese first.

Keywords

social identity, bilingual code switching, Mandarin, Cantonese, Chinese, Hong Kong, China

Discipline

Asian Studies | Multicultural Psychology | Personality and Social Contexts

Research Areas

Psychology

Publication

International Journal of Intercultural Relations

Volume

23

Issue

2

First Page

281

Last Page

296

ISSN

0147-1767

Identifier

10.1016/s0147-1767(98)00039-x

Publisher

Elsevier

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/s0147-1767(98)00039-x

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