Linguistic ridicule and shifting indexical values on social media

The case of English in Hong Kong

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7902537
AutoresDennis Chau (0000-0001-8618-8689, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2025
Volumen54
Número4
Páginas637-660
Fecha de publicación2025-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLanguage in Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0047-4045 • E-ISSN: 1469-8013
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047404524000691
OpenAlexW4403495753
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas61

This article examines the online reaction to the linguistic performance of a pro-China Hong Kong singer-actor in a commercial where he speaks Hong Kong English. Paradoxically, the posters criticizing his English are Hongkongers themselves, while those showing admiration are mainland Chinese. Understanding this paradox requires an appreciation of the multiple and complex orders of indexicality through which the variety is evaluated and of the increasing use of linguistic evaluations as a proxy for political judgements in a society undergoing significant changes. An analysis of online comments and remixes associated with the commercial shows that Hong Kong social media users attribute a range of different indexical meanings to the celebrity's English to shame him for his perceived ‘betrayal’ and to reclaim a sense of social superiority over mainlanders in the face of unease about Hongkongers’ cultural distinctiveness. It unpacks complexities surrounding the deployment of language ideologies in societies experiencing sociopolitical upheavals. (Language ideologies, linguistic ridicule, orders of indexicality, polycentricity, social media, Hong Kong

Indexicality · Linguistics · Sociology · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy · Psychology