Bulletin No. 1, 2016

Familiarity Breeds Interest 41 Activities in a Glance ‘When Non-native Speakers Meet Cantonese’ (30 March) The three speakers—Prof. Stephen Matthews (1st right), Department of Linguistics, the University of Hong Kong; Prof. John Wakefield (2nd right), Department of English Language and Literature, the Hong Kong Baptist University; and Prof. Shin Kataoka (1st left), Department of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies, the Education University of Hong Kong—are non-native speakers of Cantonese with research interests in Cantonese linguistics. They shared the joy and challenges of l earning the language and envisioned its future development. Professor Matthews observed that some Hong Kong children are already using Putonghua but not Cantonese at school and in daily life. Professor Wakefield said the future of Cantonese will depend on the attitude of Hong Kong people. Professor Kataoka suggested that non-Chinese residents in Hong Kong should also learn Cantonese. ‘Begin with Grammar’ (6 April) Dr. Au Yeung Wai-hoo Ben and Prof. Tang Sze-wing of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, CUHK, introduced the special features of Cantonese grammar, and shared their views on trendy expressions and adopting Putonghua as the medium of instruction. Dr. Au Yeung suggested developing written Cantonese as an endorsed language in official documents in Hong Kong. ‘Begin with Literature’ (13 April) Prof. Fan Sin-piu , Department of Chinese Language and Literature, CUHK, discussed issues of language and identity, literature appreciation and social transformation, using works in Hong Kong literature as illustrations. He also analyzed the external factors leading to the inferior status of written Cantonese to standard written Chinese. Book Exhibition (30 March–31 May) About 50 books on phonology, g r amma r, a n d l i n g u i s t i c s o f Cantonese, written in English and Chinese, were selected from the Library’s collection for display at the lobby of the CUHK Library. The 16th Workshop on Cantonese: ‘Everything You Want to Know about Cantonese’ (9 April) Jointly organized by T.T. Ng Chinese Language Research Centre, Institute of Chinese Studies, CUHK; Linguistic Society of Hong Kong and Center for Chinese Linguistics, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the workshop was participated by more than 10 linguists from local tertiary institutions who presented their papers on Cantonese functional morphemes, phonology and grammar of early Cantonese. ‘Fun with Cantonese’ Book Exhibition and Talk Series Organizers: Research Centre for Cantonese, Department of Chinese Language and Literature The Chinese University of Hong Kong Library