Modelling the development of English in Hong Kong

Abstract

ABSTRACT Inspired by Schneider's (2007) innovative Dynamic Model, this paper traces the rise of English‐knowing bilingualism in Hong Kong by analysing the authorship of 1,379 letters published in the city's leading English‐language newspapers since the early 1840s. The evidence points to three main phases in the evolution of this community: 1840s–1910s, 1920s–1970s, 1980s–present. In the first phase, the bilingual segment of the Chinese community was apparently microscopic or, in the words of a colonial official, ‘infinitesimal’. The second and third phases may be characterised as periods of spreading minority and majority bilingualism respectively.

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