Relative clauses in written Hong Kong English and British English: A corpus-based comparison
Keywords:
English relative clauses; Hong Kong English; British English; corpus linguisticsAbstract
Knowledge of relative clauses in Hong Kong English as a variety of the English language is limited. This study aims at comparing frequencies of occurrence of relative clauses in written Hong Kong English and their counterparts in British English. wh relatives and that relatives in the Hong Kong and Great Britain components of the International Corpus of English were identified and compared with each other quantitatively. Results indicate that relative clauses appear much more frequently in written British English than in written Hong Kong English, and frequencies of occurrence of most types of relative clauses in written British English are either higher than or equal to those of their counterparts in written Hong Kong English. Given the low frequencies of occurrence of some types of relative clauses in both Hong Kong English and British English, it may not be necessary to require learners to learn those types of relative clauses in formal instruction.
References
1. Curriculum Development Council. English Language Education Key Learning Area Curriculum Guide (Primary 1 - Secondary 6). Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Printer; 2017.
2. Biber D, Johannson S, Leech G, et al. Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Harlow, Essex, England: Pearson Education Ltd.; 1999.
3. Gisborne N. Relative clauses in Hong Kong English. World Englishes. 2000; 19(3): 357-371. doi: 10.1111/1467-971x.00184
4. Newbrook M. Which way? That way? Variation and ongoing changes in the English relative clause. World Englishes. 1998; 17(1): 43-59. doi: 10.1111/1467-971x.00081
5. Huddleston R, Pullum GK, Peterson P. Relative constructions and unbounded dependencies. In: The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2002.
6. Hewings M. Advanced grammar in use, 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2013.
7. Larsen-Freeman D, Celce-Murcia M, Frodesen J, et al. The grammar book: form, meaning, and use for English language teachers, 3rd ed. Boston, MA: National Geographic Learning, Heinle Cengage Learning; 2016.
8. Bolton K. The sociolinguistics of Hong Kong and the space for Hong Kong English. In: Hong Kong English: Autonomy and creativity. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press; 2002.
9. Bolton K, Bacon‐Shone J, Luke KK. Hong Kong English. In: The Handbook of Asian Englishes. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Son; 2020.
10. Fuchs R. Hong Kong English: Structural features and future prospects. In: Multilingual Global Cities: Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai. London: Routledge; 2020.
11. Kirkpatrick A. World Englishes: Implications for international communication and English language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2007.
12. Luke KK, Richards JC. English in Hong Kong. English World-Wide. 1982; 3(1): 47-64. doi: 10.1075/eww.3.1.04kan
13. Li DCS. The Functions and Status of English in Hong Kong. English World-Wide. 1999; 20(1): 67-110. doi: 10.1075/eww.20.1.03li
14. Schneider EW. Postcolonial English: Varieties around the world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2007.
15. Chan KLR. The future of Hong Kong English: Codification and standardization?. In: Tang W (editor). Hong Kong: Past, present and future. Nova Science; 2020.
16. Chan KLR. The Construct of English Native Speaker in Hong Kong. Journal of English and Applied Linguistics. 2024; 3(1). doi: 10.59588/2961-3094.1074
17. Hung TTN. Chapter 7. Hong Kong English. In: English in Southeast Asia: Features, policy and language in use. Amsterdam: John Benjamins; 2012.
18. Sung CCM. Hong Kong English: Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Perspectives. Language and Linguistics Compass. 2015; 9(6): 256-270. doi: 10.1111/lnc3.12142
19. Hansen Edwards JG. Hong Kong English: attitudes, identity, and use. Asian Englishes. 2015; 17(3): 184-208. doi: 10.1080/13488678.2015.1049840
20. Gonzales WDW. From tweets to trends: analyzing sociolinguistic variation and change using the Twitter Corpus of English in Hong Kong (TCOEHK). Asian Englishes. 2023; 27(1): 1-24. doi: 10.1080/13488678.2023.2251771
21. Gonzales WDW, Zhang Y. Reshaping language learners’ languaging habitus: A world-Englishes-informed critical pedagogy. RELC Journal; 2025.
22. Ladegaard HJ, Chan KLR. Teachers’ attitudes towards varieties of Hong Kong English. English World-Wide. 2022; 44(2): 251-275. doi: 10.1075/eww.21060.lad
23. Ng CW. Subject-Operator Disagreement in English Existential Constructions: A Corpus-Based Analysis of American English and Hong Kong English. Applied Linguistics Research Journal. 2020; 4(3), 1-12.
24. Ng CW. Relative clauses in written Hong Kong English: a corpus-based study of untimed student essays. Asian Englishes. 2023; 26(2): 372-390. doi: 10.1080/13488678.2023.2251732
25. Ng CW. A revisit of three hypotheses about second language development of English relative clauses. Pedagogical Linguistics. 2024; 6(1): 78-108. doi: 10.1075/pl.23008.ng
26. Zhang Y, Gonzales WDW. World English pedagogy: Constructing learner identity. ELT Journal; 2024.
27. Chan AYW. Toward a Taxonomy of Written Errors: Investigation Into the Written Errors of Hong Kong Cantonese ESL Learners. TESOL Quarterly. 2010; 44(2): 295-319. doi: 10.5054/tq.2010.219941
28. McEnery T, Hardie A. Corpus Linguistics: Method, theory and practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2011.
29. McEnery T, Wilson A. Corpus linguistics: An introduction, 2nd ed. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press; 2001.
30. Greenbaum S. Comparing English Worldwide: The International Corpus of English. Oxford: Clarendon Press; 1996.
31. Greenbaum S, Nelson G. The International Corpus of English (ICE) Project. World Englishes. 1996; 15(1): 3-15. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-971x.1996.tb00088.x
32. Nelson G, Wallis S, Aarts B. Exploring Natural Language: Working with the British component of the International Corpus of English. Philadelphia, John Benjamins Publishing Company; 2002.
33. Bolton K, Nelson G, Hung J. A corpus-based study of connectors in student writing: Research from the International Corpus of English in Hong Kong (ICE-HK). International Journal of Corpus Linguistics. 2002; 7(2): 165-182. doi: 10.1075/ijcl.7.2.02bol
34. Scott M. WordSmith Tools version 5.0. Liverpool: Lexical Analysis Software; 2010.
35. Gass SM, Mackey A. Data Elicitation for Second and Foreign Language Research. Routledge; 2007.
36. Chan AYW. Syntactic Transfer: Evidence from the Interlanguage of Hong Kong Chinese ESL Learners. The Modern Language Journal. 2004; 88(1): 56-74. doi: 10.1111/j.0026-7902.2004.00218.x
37. Schmitt N, Carter R. Formulaic sequences in action: An introduction. In: Schmitt N (editor). Formulaic sequences. Amsterdam: John Benjamins; 2004.
38. Wong MHI, Prange J. A Bayesian approach to (re)examining learning effects of cognitive linguistics–inspired instruction. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. 2024; 46(5): 1493-1513. doi: 10.1017/s0272263124000603
39. Harris C. Developing Skills: Grammar & Usage for Junior Secondary Learners 2 (Set B). Hong Kong: Aristo Educational Press Ltd.; 2012.
40. Kuno S. The position of relative clauses and conjunctions. Linguistic Inquiry. 1974; 5(1): 117-136.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
