Research On The Linguistic Landscape Of Hong Kon

Linguistic landscape studies mainly focus on the language choices and language use on various signs in urban public spaces.Linguistic landscape examines the motivation of language choice,social mechanisms,ideologies,identity,and the linguistic hierarchy behind language practice by analyzing different forms of language presence in public spaces.After the return of sovereignty to the People’s Republic of China,Hong Kong Special Administrative Region(HKSAR)implements ’Biliteracy and trilingualism’language policy which could be described as standard written Chinese,English and spoken Cantonese,Putonghua,and English.Under the framework of the ’Biliteracy and trilingualism’ language policy,what are the characteristics of the current linguistic landscape in Hong Kong?Is the language practice on the sign consistent with the language policy?What is the historical development trace of linguistic landscape in Hong Kong?What are the features of language use in sign?All these questions need to be solved urgently.The findings could solidate the study of Hong Kong sociolinguistics,fill the blank in the study of the language landscape in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area,provide theoretical support and practical evidence for the SAR government to construct a coherent social language environment.it will be very positive to form an explicit language power system and enhance the recognition of national language and national identity.it could promote social stability,and safeguard the language security and national security in Hong Kong.This paper examines the linguistic landscape of Hong Kong based on the theoretical approaches of Place Semiotics and Four Sociological Structuration Principles from the perspective of sociolinguistics with the research model of‘data-theory-analysis’.The qualitative and quantitative research methods will be applied for analyzing of social factors from both synchronic and diachronic approaches.Finally,the paper draws out the following findings.In terms of synchronicity,the linguistic landscape of Hong Kong is dominated by Chinese-English bilingual signs(57.7%),Chinese is the preferred language in signs.Chinese and English bilingual signs are mainly used in majority trade samples.The monolingual samples in the four sampling areas indicates regularity.From Central to Sheung Shui,Chinese monolingual samples gradually decreased,and English monolingual samples gradually increased.Traditional Chinese characters are mainly used in the samples among the four sampling areas,and small number of simplified characters(0.9%)and mixed samples of traditional and simplified characters are also found.In the public sign samples,all language information type is reduplicating,and the proportion of reduplicating and complementary in private samples are the highest types.The Chinese calligraphy fonts used in the four regional samples are mainly regular script(58.4%)and official script(30.1%).The samples in the main streets and side streets are mainly bilingual signs in Chinese and English,and the Chinese monolingual samples in the side streets(31.1%)are significantly higher than those in the main streets(16%).Chinese and English bilingual(47.5%)samples and Chinese monolingual samples(35%)are mostly used in shops,while the sample outside shops mostly are used in English monolingual(38%),Chinese monolingual(28%)and bilingual Chinese and English(23%).The vitality of minority languages in Hong Kong’s language landscape is low(8.6%),with the highest proportion of Japanese(3.6%).The soundscape in Hong Kong is dominated by samples of trilingual Cantonese,Mandarin,English,and monolingual Cantonese.Among the bilingual and multilingual samples Cantonese has the largest number(86.7%)as the preferred language.Cantonese occupies an absolute dominant position in the soundscape.Putonghua only appears in the pre-recorded samples.The language used in the official voice sample basically conforms to the language policy of ’Biliteracy and trilingualism’,while the language used in the private voice sample inconsistent with the language policy of the SAR government.Above features is the result of balance from different social factors.These factors include history,language policy,demographic structure,language economy,cultural identity,language commercialization,symbolic functions,and construction strategies of linguistic landscape.From the diachronic perspective,the linguistic landscape in the early period of Hong Kong appears regional distribution.Monolingual Chinese signs were mainly presented in Chinese civil settlements,monolingual English signs were mainly emerged in English civil district.This distribution is caused by racism and social customs.From the 1960s to the 1970s,the text vector of Chinese in signs had been transferred from the traditional vertical top-down direction and horizontal right-left direction to "Western"horizontal left-right direction.This transition involved in the westernized languages and the application of computerized typesetting.In the 1980s,Chinese-English bilingual landscape had been constructed in Hong Kong under the influence of consumerism,modernization,and identity shift.In the 1990s,with the spread of globalization,English became the universal lingua franca.English has been granted the symbolic value of "fashion,trend,and internationalization".English monolingual signs appeared in bottom-up signs gradually to cater the clients.During the same period,Cantonese also appeared largely in the linguistic landscape of Hong Kong under the influence of localism identity.In the fourth chapter,this paper closed examines the characteristics and distribution of signs from the micro perspective based on the previous synchronic and diachronic approaches.it is found that Cantonese has the greatest impact on the language use in signs(42.3%),which is manifested in the mode of Cantonese characters and Cantonese-specific words;the second is the influence of English(27%)with the form of hybrid English and load words.The classical Chinese words has least influence(6%).In addition,standard written Chinese(21.6%)is practiced in signs with formal theme.This paper initially presents the features of the linguistic landscape,transition,and language use in Hong Kong.Some new perspectives be illustrated,and the paper achieved the research goal.However,this paper still has some shortcomings from the limitations of the object of investigation,sampling area and research approach.The object of investigation could be expanded,the untypical signs should be included in future study.Interview or questionnaire could be conducted from reader to understand their attitudes towards the use of signs.The linguistic soundscape studies should be strengthened to fully describe the situation of Putonghua in the public broadcasting.The further study could provide more academic testimonials for implementation of language policy and language planning in Hong Kong,and it also contributes to the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong.