Is there a Chinese English? Attitudes of young Chinese speakers of English

Chinese English is recognised as, potentially, one of the most important developing varieties of English (Kirkpatrick & Zhichang, 2002; Xu et al., 2017). Various studies have identified features of an emerging Chinese English, including syntax (Xu, 2008), lexis (Qin, 2021) and phonology (Deterding, 2006) but the variety still carries the ideological ‘baggage’ of its association with the much-maligned “Chinglish”.
This paper investigates the attitudes of English-speaking Chinese nationals towards Chinese English and Chinglish. We targeted participants from 18-30+ years old, as this generation have had the most exposure to English, and analysed a total of 277 questionnaires. Most participants made a clear distinction between Chinese English and Chinglish, with China English associated with Chinese culture, and Chinglish associated with ungrammatical structures, informality and literal translation. However, curiously, when asked to provide examples of Chinese English, participants tend to provide examples of commonly known Chinglish expressions. This suggests that while the concept of Chinese English is becoming more widely accepted as an alternative to Anglophone varieties, specific features have not yet become iconized. This paper is the first stage in a project which will examine Chinese English speakers’ cognitive processing of Chinese English, using both behavioural and electrophysiological (EEG-ERP) measures.