What’s in a word? A lot if it is in Hong Kong Cantonese
The language has evolved considerably since new immigrants adopted it after they arrived in the city, although Putonghua is now starting to influence it
The cultural identity of being a Hongkonger grows in tandem with the Cantonese language. To understand how colloquial Cantonese evolved over the years, the Post spoke to Anthony Fung, the director of the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University about the sociology of Cantonese.
According to Fung, the contemporary history of Cantonese started in the 1950s when it bound together the early waves of immigrants.
“Most of the current population came from the immigrants who moved here in the 1950s and 60s,” he said, “People then spoke a variety of different dialects. When they got to Hong Kong, the only thing they had in common was the Chinese language.”
He said early immigrants soon adopted Cantonese as their shared spoken language and they also reinvented it. “The current Hong Kong Cantonese has elements from many spoken dialects,” he said.
Fung said the language really emerged in the 1970s as the first generation of Hong Kong Chinese were born. He said mass media and popular culture were then saturated with Cantonese, which quickly elevated its status.