Hong Kong English is an emergent new variety and, as such, its status as either a legitimate variety or learner interlanguage is under dispute. Some writers prefer to discuss phonological aspects of Hong Kong English in terms of error when compared to varieties such as British or American English (see, for example, Stibbard 2004; Chan 2006; Chan and Li 2000). This chapter – and, indeed, this book – does not take this view, preferring to describe and evaluate Hong Kong English pronunciation on its own terms, and in terms of difference from other accents rather than deficiency. However, it should be recognised that, as it is an emergent new variety, features of Hong Kong English such as phonology are not always stable, and that there is wide variation amongst speakers in both intelligibility and similarity to other accents and varieties. It is therefore necessary to talk in terms of tendencies in phonology, rather than to assume all speakers share the same characteristics.

The pronunciation of English in Hong Kong varies along a continuum from native-like British English Received Pronunciation (RP) and/or General American accent features to virtual unintelligibility outside of the Hong Kong environment. What may be thought of as the typical Hong Kong English accent (see, for example, Deterding et al. 2008; Hung 2000; Peng and Setter 2000), spoken by educated individuals who have not spent much, if any, time outside of Hong Kong, is clearly influenced by features of Cantonese phonology.