The Use of Language

Abstract

This chapter discusses the use of language in the 2010s Hong Kong new indies. Specifically, the use of Cantonese in many of these films advanced to a new level of application in Hong Kong films, triggered by the linguistic requirements for Hong Kong-related Chinese-language films set by the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) and its several supplements for films seeking to benefit from this trade agreement between the PRC authorities and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government. From a sociolinguistic angle, while building my scrutiny on concepts of ‘accented cinema’ and the ‘Sinophone’, I welcome cautiously the use of Cantonese in these new indies (to express their sociocultural and political specificities), because I believe it could easily lead to mutual exclusiveness, if not properly handled.