香港言语社区两文三语的格局及其变化

Language Change in Hong Kong:Diglossia or Bilingualism?

香港语言文字使用的格局是两文三语,言语社区的性质原来有了公认的定性的说法,属于双言或三言制。有学者认为这一提法已不能从理论上很好地解释香港语言使用的新变化,认为其性质已经发生了根本性的变化。笔者认为到目前为止还没有改变这一说法的足够理由。影响言语社区性质变化的因素主要有三个:政策因素、语言使用的现状和语言态度。三个因素中,语言使用的现状是决定言语社区性质的最重要的因素。文章就1997年前后这三个因素对香港言语社区性质所产生的影响进行了分析,尤其是对语言文字使用现状进行了比较深入的分析,进一步说明香港言语社区的语言格局还没有发生根本性的变化。香港言语社区粗分是双言制,细分是三言或多言制,要能够比较清楚地说明问题,最好是通过一个多层的双言体系来叙述。笔者构建了一个多层的双言体系并进行了一些说明。最后的结论是,由多层双言体系组成的香港言语社区,在近阶段发生了一些变化,这些变化使该体系某些成分发生了量的变化,但没有产生质的变化。

It has been commonly accepted that the language situation of Hong Kong can be seen as diglossia or triglossia though a few linguists argued that this point of view could not offer us a better theoretical explanation for the language development in Hong Kong. It was claimed that its diglossic situation has quickly given way to bilingualism. It is obvious that the situation has changed somewhat since Hong Kong returned to China in 1997. The diglossic situation has not yet disappeared, and will not disappear in the near future. This paper examines the linguistic changes in pre-1997 and post-1997 Hong Kong. There are three external factors influencing linguistic changes in Hong Kong speech community： policy, language use and language attitudes, of which the second is the most important. The paper analyses these three factors, especially focusing on language use. The results show that the language situation in Hong Kong has undergone some quantitative changes, but not qualitative chan- ges. Therefore, Hong Kong is still a diglossic society, not a bilingual society. It is concluded that the sociolinguistic situation in Hong Kong may be described as a multi-level diglossic system which could explain linguistic changes in pre-1997 and post 1997 Hong Kong in a more systematic and convincing way.