Diglossia without Biliangualism: Hong Kongs Policies Before Independence (Research Paper Sample)

Diglossia without Biliangualism
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30/11/2014
Introduction
Diglossia can be defined as the distinction between two different language forms such as French and German and separating the formal part of the language known as the ‘outer’ High and the informal part, the ‘inner’ Low. Fishman (1967) defined the interaction between diglossia and bilingualism existed in four basic forms; diglossia and bilingualism, diglossia without bilingualism, bilingualism without diglossia and finally no diglossia and no bilingualism. Hong Kong has been defined as a society with diglossia without bilingualism (Tsou & You, 2007). In Hong Kong despite the fact that Cantonese was used on a daily basis when carrying out the routine activities, English was used as the official language up until 1974. English was used in the legal aspects of the country, in educating children and in public administration as well (Myers, 2006). A society’s official language choice can be influenced by many factors such as policies and historical colonization, however, it is up to the people to decide what language they prefer to use while carrying out their daily activities.
Hong Kong’s Policies before Independence
The Chinese Language Movement created pressure and social unrest within the society that finally saw the end of diglossia in 1974. At this time the Chinese language was declared a co-official language alongside English. This historical achievement did not end there, from that time numerous policies have been formulated that have promoted the use of the Chinese language (Poon, 2004). Policies have been proposed that would see the use of Chinese as the official language of instruction in schools and that the English language be used as a second language. These campaigns were however drawn back due to the continued use of the English Language in public administration and in schools (Bolton, 2002). English was use as the main language of communication in the business circles, its usage remained between 90% and 100% of the business communications. Schools that used English as the main medium of communication remained very popular among the locals.
Hong Kong’s Language Situation after Independence
Biliteracy and Trilingualism
The Education Commission’s report in 1996 of ‘biliterate trilingualism’ laid out the policy of official language use. The report stated that multilingual education is the best way to ensure that the citizens have equal opportunities. The report advocated for the use of Cantonese, English and Putonghua in both oral and written language. The policy was immediately reinforced after the independence handover in the year 1997. This report however had its limitation as it did not outline the implementation plan of the policy. (Education Commission, 2005).
The Putonghua Language
There is no clear evidence of the interaction between English and Putonghua. However the language has been promoted in Hong Kong even before Independence. Immediately after independence the Putonghua was made a compulsory language in 1998 that was to be learned in schools (Wee & Lim, 2013) . A radio channel was also set up in Putonghua language. The government action plan on education of the year 2003 endorsed the use of Putonghua as the main language for teaching Chinese rather than Cantonese (Lai, 2005). The Putonghua language has received adequate support from both teachers and students with 25% of the students indicating that the Putonghua language was important while 50% stated that the trilingual policy was the best way to handle the language situation in Hong Kong and also for equality purposes. There is statistical evidence of the increase in popularity and usage of the Putonghua language with approximately 30% of the population being Putonghua speakers.
Putonghua and Cantonese
There are varying attitudes regarding this two languages in Hong Kong. The young people especially the high school students have a positive attitude towards the Putonghua language. The students thought using Putonghua as the main means of communication to some extent reserved their Chinese culture even though it is perceived as having a lower status than the other Cantonese and English. The students did not support the bilingual notion of Putonghua and Cantonese but supported a multilingual approach as this made them feel more connected to Hong Kong (Wei, 2007). The post-independence period saw more tolerance to the Cantonese language compared to Putonghua even though there was an official tendency to make Putonghua a diglossic High of the Chinese language. In education, Putonghua was more often than not viewed as minor language in the curriculum. Hong Kong is currently experiencing a force that sustains the diglossic balance that is quite different from what existed in the past.
Obstacles that May Hinder Development of Biliteracy and Trilingualism
Language Policies
After Independence there has been a significant divergence from the policy that was put forward by Education Commission. This divergence can be seen from the fact that the government intended to make the schools use Chinese as the official instruction medium (Li, 2004). There was a lot of opposition from the parents and teachers maintaining that schools that used English as the main instruction language remained popular among the citizens. As a result only 70% of the schools implemented the use of Chinese as the main medium of instruction (Evans, 2009). Such policies create an unconducive environment for language learning since English speaking outside the school setting is limited. English is therefore viewed as a foreign language rather than a second language.
Language use In Education
In Hong Kong, the schools and the society believe that English and Putonghua are the most important languages when compared to Cantonese. Official statements that relate to teaching of language do not have an emphasis on the Cantonese language even though the language is the people’s mother tongue. This in itself is a hindrance to the development and moving forward towards trilingualism (Holmes, 2001). Cantonese is considered a low level language, therefore, educators prefer using English and Putonghua as the main language of instruction.
Education Curriculum
In Hong Kong educators believe that Cantonese should only be used as a transition medium of instruction. In any society, the education curriculum is an important aspect for the success of a language policy. The education curriculum is the most effective way that a government can effectively implement it education policies (Leung, 2003). The curriculum, teaching objectives, teaching materials as well as the teaching methods need to put into consideration of the job market requirements otherwise the trilingual policy will not succeed in its implementation. Educators and policy makers need to conduct sufficient research that would be used to lay the foundations for the implementation of any education policy (So, 2002).
Attitude
Surveys conducted in Hong Kong on students have shown varied attitude towards the king of language they would like to be proficient in. Around 50% of the respondents indicated, when given the resources, that they would love to become proficient in English or Putonghua (Lai, 2001). Cantonese was mainly considered as a language to help them carry out their daily activities. There is a difference between knowing a language and speaking the language. The society is not very keen on knowing about the language provided that they are able to use it for communication (Li & Tse, 2002).
Conclusion
The biggest change in Hong Kong since 1974 has been a creative combination of rapid increase in the cross-functional bilingualism and diglossia. This seems to mainly come from the attitude that individuals have on the utility that the different languages bring. A generation’s motivation of using a language will significantly dictate which direction the language shift will move (Bauer, 2000). As Lee (2007) put it, another important factor that may influence the language shift is the technologies and media that are available and being used by the individuals in the society. Chatrooms on the internet and the media have a significant influence on the people’s dialect (Crystal, 2001).
Diglossia in Hong Kong is underpinned by the fact that the Chinese language is the most appropriate language for writing especially in the school, political and business settings. Cantonese therefore is less likely to take over as the Standard Chines that currently dominates the High domain (Guo, 2004). Cantonese is less likely to dominate Standard Chinese because of another significant factor, Hong Kong is less likely to use the language in political circles and shun the National language. Policies may be the main governing principles in a country, but these policies need to consider the issue of comprehensibility of the people involved (Lai, P. & Byram, 2003). Back then during the colonial era the British advocated the use of Cantonese in the courts and other legal settings. There were numerous disagreement on this proposal but this was not the case now, Cantonese will take...