The playfulness of ‘new’ Chinglish

Abstract

Chinglish may mean different things to different people, but it has often been associated negatively with broken English that arises out of inappropriate direct translations from Chinese into English. In recent years, however, certain Chinglish expressions have developed a range of different functions, particularly in technology-mediated interactions among users of Chinese English, and this innovative usage is referred to as ‘new’ Chinglish. There have also been new Chinglish expressions arising from the changing social, economic and political discourse of China and the Chinese diaspora. The use of ‘new’ Chinglish expressions shows certain degrees of ‘playfulness’ as a common feature, and requires sophisticated linguistic skills in discursive contexts. In this article, we adopt a World Englishes perspective and unpack ‘new’ Chinglish, comparing it with a number of other named colloquial varieties, particularly Singlish, Taglish, Manglish and Japlish, and we argue that certain usages of Chinglish may serve a positive function, so they are worth researching and analysing.