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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 720

Part of General Paper Session (Other abstracts in this session)

“Kong Girl”: Intersubjectivity, Indexicality and Commodification in Hong Kong

Authors: Tang, Yuen-Man; Wan, Hoi-Lun Helen
Submitted by: Tang, Yuen-Man (University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong S.A.R. (China))

The term “Kong Girl” emerged recently and is used to identify a particular kind of Hong Kong woman who is accused of committing so-called “81 sins”, such as being greedy, materialistic, self-centered, etc. The popularity of this term triggered an immense public debate on the Internet and in the media. Despite its pervasiveness and the intensity of the debate, there has been limited academic research conducted on this topic. This paper studies the emergence of “Kong Girl” through investigating how it is borrowed from a neutral term (‘Hong Kong woman’) and now being widely used in the mass media with negative connotations. This paper examines how the labeling of “Kong Girl” is mediated through language use and the ideologies that lie behind this; it discusses how Kong Girls’ characteristics are formulated in relation to commodities such as brand name bags and make-up. This paper adopts a qualitative and discourse analytic approach to analyze a written text and a video extract. Using Bucholtz and Hall’s (2004) tactics of intersubjectivity and Ochs’ (1992) (indirect) indexicality, a disjuncture of indexical meanings is observed between the representation of “Kong Girl” as an agent and a patient. In addition, the paper shows how the labeling reveals the power relations between men and women in Hong Kong and how Hong Kong women are being marginalized socially and in public discourse. It can be concluded that mass media plays a significant role in not only reflecting but also perpetuating the indexical meanings which solidify the ideology of the hegemonic power that Hong Kong men possess.  

References:

Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. (2004). Theorizing identity in language and sexuality research. Language in Society, 33(4), 469-515.

Ochs, E. (1992). Indexing Gender. In A. Duranti & C. Goodwin (Eds.), Rethinking context: language as an interactive phenomenon (pp. 335-358). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.