Hong Kong Sign Language

[aka Heung Kong Sau Yue, 香港手語]

Classification: Sign Language

·

threatened

resource

Online database of endangered and minority languages of Hong Kong and wider Asia

https://www.eng.cuhk.edu.hk/ENGE-TellingStories/

Telling Stories: Linguistic Diversity in Hong Kong was created by Professor Jette G. Hansen Edwards of The Chinese University of Hong Kong to showcase the languages of Hong Kong, past and present. The website was developed to be easily accessible by researchers as well as by teachers and students, and to be used to explore a range of linguistic issues including linguistic diversity, minority languages, language endangerment, linguistic discrimination, and world Englishes. A particular focus of this research was on the languages/varieties spoken by ethnic minorities as well as endangered languages/varieties in Hong Kong, such as Hakka, Waitau, Tanka. 41 languages, comprising 14 varieties of Chinese, 12 other Asian languages, 7 African languages, and 8 European languages, were identified as having been historically or are currently spoken in Hong Kong. In addition, 29 varieties of English were identified, including 13 varieties of Asian English, 6 varieties of African English, 8 varieties of European Englishes, 1 variety of Australasian English and 1 variety of North American English. We hope to expand the range of languages/varieties in the future. The languages identified for the project include the indigenous languages of Hong Kong, such as Hakka, Waitau, and Tanka, as well as other varieties of Chinese such as Cantonese, Teochew, Putonghua, Hokkien, Shanghainese, among others, and Asian (Urdu, Tagalog, Hindi, Japanese, Korean), European (Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Irish, English, Portuguese, French, Dutch, German) and African (Swahili, Amharic, Oromo) languages. A range of varieties of English were also identified through this analysis, including Hong Kong English, Filipino English, British English, American English, Indian English, Thai English, Pakistani English, Japanese English, China English, and Australian English. A Language Profile (for languages) or Variety Profile (for varieties of English) was created for each language/variety. To date, 195 stories have been collected from speakers of the 70 languages/ varieties highlighted in this website. Whenever possible, these stories were transcribed into written text in the original language/variety, and then translated into English and both traditional and simplified written Chinese. For many of the language, a video translation of the story into Hong Kong Sign Language was also created. The Hong Kong Sign Language translations were made so that this website is accessible to the deaf community in Hong Kong, as well as to provide a more inclusive overview of linguistic diversity of Hong Kong. As Hong Kong Sign Language is becoming an endangered language, the inclusion of these videos also serves to help document and preserve this indigenous language of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Sign Language videos may also

Jette Hansen Edwards

Hong Kong

Jan. 1, 2022

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