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This paper investigates the language attitudes of Mandarin-speaking MainlandChinese migrants in Hong Kong (referred to as “MLHKs”) towards Cantoneseand explores their perceptions of the role of Cantonese in defining Hong Kongidentity. By contributing to a better understanding of the linguistic experiences ofMLHKs, a growing demographic, this paper aims to serve as a reference forfuture debates on language and education policies in Hong Kong.

The study employed a mixed-methods approach, surveying 32 MLHKs andconducting semi-structured interviews with a sub-group of six volunteers from thesurvey participants. The survey included statements designed to measureintegrative and instrumental attitudes towards Cantonese, with responses scoredon a Likert scale to facilitate quantitative analysis. To provide comparativereference points, the survey also gathered attitude data regarding Mandarin andEnglish. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted to seek in-depthinformation regarding participants’ integrative and instrumental attitudes.

This study differs from previous research by focusing on older informants with,on average, longer residence in Hong Kong (over 20 years) and none spokeCantonese at the time of migration, whereas earlier studies predominantlyinvolved student participants.

The findings reveal that the informants exhibit a strong integrative orientationtowards Cantonese, stronger than their orientation towards both English andMandarin. Additionally, the instrumental orientation towards Cantonese iscomparable to that towards Mandarin and weaker than that towards English.Overall, the orientation towards Cantonese among MLHKs is as strong or evenstronger than reported in prior studies. However, the relationship betweenproficiency in Cantonese and Hong Kong identity remains inconclusive. Theresults suggest a potential trend towards a more flexible view of Hong Kongidentity among the next generation of MLHKs, which may not considerCantonese proficiency as a necessary condition for Hong Kong identity.

本研究调查了在香港讲普通话的中国大陆移民 （以下简称“MLHK”）对广东话的语言态度，并探讨了他们对广东话在定义香港身份时所担当的角色。通过更好地了解这一不断扩大的群体——MLHK 的语言经验，本文旨在为未来有关香港语言和教育政策的辩论提供参考。

本研究采用混合方法，对32 名MLHK 进行了调查，包括问卷调查和半结构化访谈。问卷调查的内容包括有衡量受访者对广东话的综合性和工具性态度的陈述，并通过李克特量表对回答进行评分，作为之后定量分析的数据。为了提供有用的参考材料，本次调查还收集了受访者对普通话和英语的语言态度数据。问卷调查结束后，半结构化访谈随后进行，一共访问了六名自愿参与者。访谈的目的旨在获得他们的综合性和工具性态度的详细信息。

有关这方面的研究，之前主要以学生为对象。本研究跟以往的不同，重点关注的是平均在香港居住时间较长的年长受访者（超过20 年），而且在移居时无人会说广东话的中国大陆移民。

研究发现，受访者对广东话表现出很强的综合倾向（强于对英语和普通话的倾向）。此外，研究还发现受访者对广东话的工具性倾向较强（与普通话相当，但弱于对英语的倾向）。总体上，MLHK 对广东话的倾向与之前的研究结果同样强烈，甚至更强。然而，关于掌握广东话与香港身份之间关系的结果尚不确定，这结果可能表明下一代MLHK 对香港身份的看法会更为灵活，即不认为掌握广东话是获得香港身份的必要条件。