Reasons For Code-switching in Hong Kong
There are several possible reasons for Hong Kong people to code-switch in their everyday lives.
- It is communicatively efficient by using the fewest number of words possible to express oneself, especially as many English words are in common usage and thus widely understood. In other words, it is a shortcut to communication.
- It avoids embarrassment. Asian culture in general is rather demure and places less emphasis on expressing one's feelings openly in public. Thus, it may be more comfortable to use English instead of Chinese in some cases. For example, saying I love you in English is more common than "我愛你" in Chinese. Other examples include sensitive words such as underwear, toilet, gay or expressions of personal feelings such as I'm proud of you or I appreciate it.
- As code-switching is more prominent in Hong Kong than in Cantonese-speaking regions of China (i.e. Guangdong), code-switching is most probably adopted as a linguistic habitus of Hong Kong. The fact that Hongkongers code-switch, continue to use traditional Chinese characters (along with Taiwan, Macau, and the Chinese diaspora), and accord high "prestige value" to English, is to distinguish themselves from the people of China. It is a nod to the lingering values of the British colonial era.
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