Anglicized Cantonese :

Phillip Allen White (pwhite who-is-at carbon.cudenver.edu)
Wed, 6 Dec 1995 07:06:18 -0800 (PST)

Angel, I am wondering if the children's playing with the two
languages isn't a form of language internalization - as well as a way
to create an 'English speaker identity'. I wondered what age these
children are, also. And, how their bantering reflects their own
group-specific social hierarchies... and how that relates to
hierarchies related to academic success.

I have wondered if some of the speech patterns aren't precursors
to code-switching (something I have noted in the Hispanic community in
which I live, as well as the Latvian emigre community I sometimes find
myself involved with).

Also, even though English is privileged over Cantonese, I am
assuming that these children you speak of are actually in position of
privilege compared to other Cantonese speakers. Having watched the
Taiwanese film "Eat man, drink woman" (I hope that title is correct.) I
was interested in the use of English words the way I have noted English
speakers to incorporate French vocabulary, as a way of establishing
social prestige.

When I was in Latvia two years ago, friends there complained
about the sudden growth of English words. For my first week there, I saw
very little evidence of English, because I was looking about for English
words, in English. The next week I noted that within Latvian texts there
was a lot of English embedded - in order to give the text social
prestige and a certain 'au courant' elegance.

Anyway, just a thought.

Phillip White
Cotton Creek Elementary
Westminster, CO