English loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese: false friend cognates and English vocabulary acquisition
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Jesse W. C. Yip
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John C. Wakefield
Abstract
Research on loanword semantics seldom investigates systematic patterns of change because semantic change is not nearly as constrained and predictable as phonological change. Hong Kong is a bilingual city of English and Chinese/Cantonese, where people frequently use English loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese (ELCs). Drawing upon the notion of cognates, this questionnaire-based study examines the extent to which Hong Kong Cantonese speakers are aware of the contrasts in meaning between ELCs and the English words from which they have been borrowed. Three ELCs that are false friend cognates with their English source words were selected to be included in the study. Respondents who completed the questionnaire included a group of native English speakers (N = 19) and a group of native Cantonese speakers (N = 107). Their responses were compared and contrasted through both qualitative and quantitative methods. The results show that the ELCs affect the Cantonese speakers’ understanding of the English source words. The English proficiency of native Cantonese speakers has been identified as a contributing factor that correlates with the accuracy of understanding word meanings. This study delineates the relationship between false friend cognates, ELCs and English vocabulary acquisition. It offers pedagogical implications for vocabulary learning and teaching in bilingual contexts.
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Interactional features in second language classroom discourse: variations across novice and experienced language teachers
- English-medium instruction and impact on academic performance: a randomized control study
- ESL classroom interactions in a translanguaging space
- Motivation profiles of Chinese rural foreign language learners: link with learning strategy and achievement
- Translingual practice as a representation of heritage languages and regional identities in multilingual society
- Pedagogical implications of translingual practices for content and language integrated learning
- Understanding micro-blogging users’ translanguaging in Chinese language play: a qualitative phenomenological approach
- Do teachers’ well-being and resilience predict their Foreign Language Teaching Enjoyment (FLTE)?
- Investigating in-class and after-class boredom among advanced learners of English: intensity, interrelationships and learner profiles
- Africatown in Guangzhou as geosemiotic assemblage: connecting multilingualism, store signs, and chronotopes
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- Developing a taxonomy of teacher emotion labor through metaphor: personal, interpersonal, and sociocultural angles
- When women’s empowerment meets health communication: a critical discourse analysis of the WeChat official account “Health China”
- “I never make a permanent decision based on a temporary emotion”: unveiling EFL teachers’ perspectives about emotions in assessment
- How ‘good-enough’ is second language comprehension? Morphological causative and suffixal passive constructions in Korean
- The predictive effect of language achievement on multiple emotions in languages other than English: validating a distal mediation model based on the control-value theory
- Narratives of the self in bilingual speakers: the neurophenomenal space
- Uncovering English as a foreign language teacher resilience: a structural equation modeling approach
- Documenting students’ conceptual understanding of second language vocabulary knowledge: a translanguaging analysis of classroom interactions in a primary English as a second language classroom for linguistically and culturally diverse students
- Investigating translanguaging strategies and online self-presentation through internet slang on Douyin (Chinese TikTok)
- Collaboratively pursuing student uptake of feedback through storytelling: a conversation analytic study of interaction in team doctoral supervision
- Languages ontologies in higher education: the world-making practices of language teachers
- English loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese: false friend cognates and English vocabulary acquisition
- Artificial intelligence and posthumanist translation: ChatGPT versus the translator
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Interactional features in second language classroom discourse: variations across novice and experienced language teachers
- English-medium instruction and impact on academic performance: a randomized control study
- ESL classroom interactions in a translanguaging space
- Motivation profiles of Chinese rural foreign language learners: link with learning strategy and achievement
- Translingual practice as a representation of heritage languages and regional identities in multilingual society
- Pedagogical implications of translingual practices for content and language integrated learning
- Understanding micro-blogging users’ translanguaging in Chinese language play: a qualitative phenomenological approach
- Do teachers’ well-being and resilience predict their Foreign Language Teaching Enjoyment (FLTE)?
- Investigating in-class and after-class boredom among advanced learners of English: intensity, interrelationships and learner profiles
- Africatown in Guangzhou as geosemiotic assemblage: connecting multilingualism, store signs, and chronotopes
- “I’m not angry!”: language ideologies, misunderstanding, and marginalization among North Korean refugees in rural South Korea
- Developing a taxonomy of teacher emotion labor through metaphor: personal, interpersonal, and sociocultural angles
- When women’s empowerment meets health communication: a critical discourse analysis of the WeChat official account “Health China”
- “I never make a permanent decision based on a temporary emotion”: unveiling EFL teachers’ perspectives about emotions in assessment
- How ‘good-enough’ is second language comprehension? Morphological causative and suffixal passive constructions in Korean
- The predictive effect of language achievement on multiple emotions in languages other than English: validating a distal mediation model based on the control-value theory
- Narratives of the self in bilingual speakers: the neurophenomenal space
- Uncovering English as a foreign language teacher resilience: a structural equation modeling approach
- Documenting students’ conceptual understanding of second language vocabulary knowledge: a translanguaging analysis of classroom interactions in a primary English as a second language classroom for linguistically and culturally diverse students
- Investigating translanguaging strategies and online self-presentation through internet slang on Douyin (Chinese TikTok)
- Collaboratively pursuing student uptake of feedback through storytelling: a conversation analytic study of interaction in team doctoral supervision
- Languages ontologies in higher education: the world-making practices of language teachers
- English loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese: false friend cognates and English vocabulary acquisition
- Artificial intelligence and posthumanist translation: ChatGPT versus the translator
