P1~~~~~ Good evening P2~~~~~ The paper has four parts.

In the introduction, the author talked about the language situation in ong !ong, in particular, the pheno"enon called fu##$ %hinese. In the second part, the %antonese vernacular nor" is introduced and so"e teaching e&a"ples are given to sho' the position of %antonese as a "ediu" of instruction at school. Then "ove on to the third part %antonese as a banned language, that is %antonese, unlike (nglish, is not taught in local schools. )nd the final fart the author talked about the prospects about diglossia in the %hinese conte&t and the linguistic regionalis" in %hina. P*~~~~~ To start 'ith, The role of %antonese needs clarification at the societal level and the educational level. ere co"e t'o +uestions. )t the societal level, 'hich do"ains 'ill be reserved for %antonese, )nd at the educational level, 'hether it 'ill be retained as the "ediu" of instruction, The ter" %hinese in ong !ong include language varieties, 'hich serve different societal functions. (ven after 1--., the ter" %hinese is still not precisel$ defined. /o' the ter" %hinese refers to the 'ritten standard, that is 01% as 'ell as the spoken for", that is the %antonese. P2~~~~~ 3ets "ove on the language situation in ong !ong. %antonese is no' the do"inant language in ong !ong. 4efore 1522 'hen the island 'as ceded to the 4ritish, there 'ere several different dialects like 6ue, akka and 0in being used in ong !ong. )fter the 4ritish ca"e, %antonese beca"e the lingua franca in the societ$, because the i""igrants fro" %anton 7Guang#hou8. Putonghua has never pla$ed a "a9or role as a usual language of co""unication. )fter II :orld :ar, refugees and i""igrants
1

brought PT into ong !ong. PT 'as even taught as a for"al sub9ect at schools, but disappeared in public e&a"inations b$ 1-;<. In 1--< 'hen this paper 'as 'ritten, it is said that PT 'as a sub9ect in secondar$ schools, and taught onl$ one hour per 'eek. /o' in 2==* PT is a sub9ect in all levels of schools and other education organi#ations. 4ut still its one hour or t'o hours per 'eek onl$. P<~~~~~ The discussion of bilingualis" in ong !ong is and 'as do"inated b$ a %hinese>(nglish bracket bilingualis". ?ecentl$ educators and linguists noticed a trilingual language situation in ong !ong. Thats %antonese>(nglish>Putonghua triangle. %oncerns to the post>1--. role of (nglish in the 4asic 3a' are ver$ clear. 71ee page *28 4ut concerns about the status of %antonese are not e&pressed 'ith the sa"e official 'eight. Thinking about article < of the 4asic 3a', 'e can i"agine that the status of %antonese can at least re"ain unchanged for <= $ears. P;~~~~~ The 4asic 3a' does not provide clear stipulations or even reco""endations for the future role of Putonghua in ong !ong. ) surve$ conducted b$ 6au in 1-5<>5;, found that "ore than t'o> thirds of the @or" IA students 'ere opposed to the use of PT as the B legal spoken languageC. )nd the preference for Putonghua increased 'ith the level of education. 4ut the respective uses of %antonese and PT 'ere not specified in the 4asic 3a', ho' 'as it possible, 7see page ;8 P.~~~~~ 6au said it 'as a grave oversight. P5~~~~~ This oversight has to do 'ith the perception of 'hat %hinese is.
2

7see page 58 )t a co""on language level, %antonese is ter"ed %hinese, like other %hinese dialects. 4ut the general %hinese actuall$ "eans Putongua. There are courses on B o' to i"prove to 'rite our "other tongueC in ong !ong, the "other tongue here is based on the PT nor", or 01% nor". There is no 'ritten for" of %antonese. %hildren learn to 'rite the 01% at school and the "ediu" of instruction is %antonese. 1o children have to learn conversion rules and have to avoid using %antonese 'ords. )lthough %antonese is 'idel$ used at ho"e, govern"ent, legal, church and cultural, especiall$ entertain"ent>related do"ains, as the "ediu" of oral co""unication, so"e people still feel that %antonese is not real %hinese. 1o, 'hat is %antonese, P-~~~~ 3ets turn to the vernacular nor" of %antonese. %antonese and Putonghua differ considerablel$ in phonolog$. P1=~~~~~ P11~~~~~ 7*8 the classifier can used 'ith a noun 'ithout preceding nu"eral or de"onstrative. P12~~~~~ P1*~~~~~ /o' 'e "ove on to the %antonese as the "ediu" of instruction. Despite the linguistic differences bet'een PT and %antonese, %antonese is used in teaching 01% in local schools. /e' vocabular$ ite"s are E7see P1*8

P12~~~~~ Teachers teaching 01% 'ords often provides students 'ith the %antonese e+uivalents. P1<~~~~~ P1;~~~~~ P1.~~~~~ P15~~~~~ To conclude, In the first place that children are introduced to a vocabular$ the$ do not kno', and secondl$ that %antonese and 01% vocabularies cannot stand side b$ side in 'riting. )s children gro' up and "a$ beco"e 'ell>educated speakersF the$ "ake a further distinction in register 'hen using 01% vocabular$, that is so"e "a$ be spoken in for"al st$les, and so"e, 'hich is not added to spoken registers. P1-~~~~~~ The 01% nor" is introduced to the students at ver$ earl$ age, and the$ have to use 01% during the e&a"inations. The 01% vocabular$ ite"s are naturall$ added to the for"al registers of %antonese. The 01% is a language source of various kind of discourse. P2=~~~~~ 3ike the "i&ing of %antonese and (nglish, the "i&ing of %antonese and 01% is causing educational concerns. People 'orried about the decline of the %hinese standard of the students. )nd the$ 'ant prescriptive, pure 01% nor", but not all ne'spapers follo' this nor". 0a$ be the articles on the ne'spapers are 'ritten b$ those 'hose %hinese standard is being said decline, or "a$ be the$ dont 'ant to follo' the 01% nor". )s so"e people prefer to 'rite in %antonese. It is said that 'riting in %antonese has beco"e "ore co""on
4

since 5=s. P21~~~~ 1o lets discuss %antonese as a banned language. )lthough %antonese is used in teaching, the language itself is not taught. Its said that the follo'ing are a list to see the official attitudes to'ard "inorit$ languages. The third one appears to obtain the case of %antonese. That is unsupported coe&istence. The govern"ent has no clear polic$ to support %antonese. Its onl$ a dialect and its onl$ for the foreigners to learn it. P22~~~~ P2*, 22~~~~ %antonese is not taught at an$ level of schools e&cept the %hinese Dept. of the universities. There is no official notice on 'hat happens in this language. In Piersons list, 'e can see 'hat the native %antonese speakers said about their o'n language. /obod$ said that the$ ban %antonese but the language itself is not taught, so the ban still e&ists and it "akes the native speakers feel that their native language is not good enough.

P2<~~~~ /o' Prospects The %hinese 'riting s$ste" is above all various dialects in %hina. 1o its not difficult to understand the diglossia conte&t in %hinese. )nd its the 'ritten for" of %hinese leads to the assu"ption that there is a general %hinese 'hich is the "other tongue of the %hinese people.

P2;~~~~~ %antonese, as the co""on spoken standard of Guangdong Province and of ong !ong, has re"arkable vitalit$. In ong !ong, the 'riting of %antonese is beco"ing "ore popular in
5

different do"ains. 1o"e people suggested that different diglossia in the %hinese conte&t could be considered. )t the regional level, there could be %antonese diglossia and at the national level, there could be Putonghua diglossia. The future can tell.

P2.~~~~ %antonese is no' heading /orth. 4ecause the business contacts bet'een the south and north, and the %anto>pop7song culture8 is also a pro"otor of %antonese. 1o %antonese is being studied in other parts of %hina. Gf course there are opposition about this. 1o"e 'ill said its a backpedaling of the linguistic develop"ent in %hina, but there are also so"e people 'ho feel not surprised, because the$ thought that the functions and the po'er of a dialect cannot be underesti"ated and ignored.

P25~~~~ o' "uch diversit$ can %hina take in and allo',

P2-~~~~ %onclusion