Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10397/95898
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dc.contributorDepartment of Chinese and Bilingual Studiesen_US
dc.creatorLi, DCSen_US
dc.date.accessioned2022-10-25T07:59:12Z-
dc.date.available2022-10-25T07:59:12Z-
dc.identifier.isbn'9781474292467 (Hardback)en_US
dc.identifier.isbn9781350123113 (Paperback)en_US
dc.identifier.isbn9781474292450 (ePDF)en_US
dc.identifier.isbn9781474292443 (ePub)en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10397/95898-
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherBloomsbury Publishing Plcen_US
dc.rightsCopyright © Constanze Weth and Kasper Juffermans, 2018en_US
dc.rightsPosted with permission of the publisher.en_US
dc.rightsThe following publication Li, C. S. D. (2018). Writing Chinese: A challange for Hong Kong Chinese and ethnic minorities. In C. Weth & K. Juffermans (Eds), The tyranny of writing: ideologies of the written word (pp. 149-164). Bloomsbury Academic is available at https://dx.doi.org/https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/tyranny-of-writing-9781474292443/.en_US
dc.titleWriting Chinese : a challenge for Cantonese-L1 and South Asian Hongkongersen_US
dc.typeBook Chapteren_US
dc.identifier.spage149en_US
dc.identifier.epage164en_US
dcterms.abstractThis chapter discusses the challenges faced by Chinese and South Asian Hongkongers to acquire, develop and maintain literacy in Standard Written Chinese (SWC). Language acquisition or learning is mediated by speech (DeFrancis 2002; Erbaugh 2002; Perfetti and Dunlap 2008). The relative ease of literacy acquisition, development and maintenance depends largely on how closely speech sounds are mapped onto more or less discrete graphic units of the target language. Being logographic, Chinese characters (hanzi, 漢字) are orthographically deep, difficult to learn, and easy to forget. Since the lexis and grammar of SWC are essentially based on Mandarin, speakers of Chinese ‘dialects’ such as Cantonese do not have the benefit of ‘writing as one speaks’. Considerable effort is needed to master Mandarin-based words, which in Hong Kong (and Macau) Special Administrative Region are taught and learned in Cantonese. Although colloquial written Cantonese elements are widespread in mass and social media, they are systematically banned and excluded from school literacy. E-gadgets being so widespread and convenient today, Chinese characters are increasingly inputted electronically rather than composed by hand. That trend accentuates the challenge of remembering and retrieving Chinese characters in the e-era. If Cantonese-L1 Hongkongers find it difficult to develop and maintain literacy in their ‘mother tongue’, one can easily imagine the linguistic predicament faced by South Asian Hongkongers who need to struggle with learning Cantonese in addition, and who see their life chances significantly curtailed by the Chinese literacy requirement for higher education and civil service positions since the return of sovereignty to China in 1997.en_US
dcterms.accessRightsopen accessen_US
dcterms.bibliographicCitationIn C Weth & K Juffermans (Eds.), The tyranny of writing : Ideologies of the written word, p. 149–164. London & New York: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2018en_US
dcterms.issued2018-01-25-
dc.relation.ispartofbookThe tyranny of writing : Ideologies of the written worden_US
dc.publisher.placeLondon and New Yorken_US
dc.description.validate202210 bckwen_US
dc.description.oaAccepted Manuscripten_US
dc.identifier.FolderNumbera1469-
dc.identifier.SubFormID45082-
dc.description.fundingSourceSelf-fundeden_US
dc.description.pubStatusPublisheden_US
dc.description.oaCategoryPublisher permissionen_US
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