Hong Kong code-mixers' attitudes towards different degrees of code-mixing

Abstract

Studies on code-mixing have shown that it is inevitable for Hong Kongers to mix codes between Cantonese and English. Yet, at the same time, Hong Kongers have been found to harbour negative attitudes towards code-mixing, despite the fact that they, themselves, are code-mixers. For instance, a Hong Kong local celebrity who has regularly mixed codes during media interviews has been criticised for being "pretentious" and even given a sarcastic term, "JM Tone". What are the reasons behind this "paradoxical" scenario? This study aims to investigate Hong Kongers' current code-mixing practices and their attitudes towards code-mixing. A questionnaire survey containing 50 questions was conducted on 208 Cantonese L1 Hong Kongers, aged 18 or above. Similar to previous studies, the results show that code-mixing is used on both formal and informal occasions. In addition to investigating the phenomenon of code-mixing in Hong Kong as a whole, the current study also attempts to examine whether word length influences Hong Kongers' preferences when mixing codes. The results reveal that monosyllabic words are more preferred to quadrisyllabic words whereas, in the case of disyllabic and trisyllabic words, there appears to be little difference. It has also been found that these code-mixers make different acceptability judgments about code-mixed utterances; these differences may be attributed to various potential factors, including social factors like frequency of use in society, and linguistic factors, such as semantic meaning of the inserted items. The results further indicate that an individual's English proficiency, particularly with regard to speaking and listening, significantly correlates with their acceptability judgements about code-mixing.