＂You speak English with your boss, but you speak Chinese with me!＂: Constraints and Possibilities in Language use by Hong Kong Foreign Domestic Helpers

“你和你老闆說英語，但你跟我要說廣東話！”：香港外籍家庭傭工語言使用的限制和可能性

白士禮(Selim Ben Said)

《慈濟大學人文社會科學學刊》 24期 (2019/06) Pp. 64-104

https://doi.org/10.29650/TCUJHSS.201906_(24).0003

摘要

This study examines the interplay between migration, global care work, and the propensity of languages to affect constraints or index empowerment for Foreign Domestic Helpers (FDHs) working in Hong Kong. FDHs' mobile lifestyle is one of constant adaptation and adjustment where familiarity with the language of employers is an added asset of symbolic power valued by recruiting agencies and prospective employers alike. In this paper, I explore the dynamics of power associated with four FDHs' linguistic command/ownership and lack of proficiency in both Cantonese (as the local language of the in-group) and English (which, although losing ground, is still used as a lingua franca). The barriers to communication between FDHs, employers, and other interlocutors, and the resulting tensions arising from these encounters are reported in this study through narratives. The cases explored relate to how Cantonese and English are perceived as either sources of empowerment (Lan 2003b) - when they are the languages spoken by the host family or by FDHs' daily interlocutors - or alienation/estrangement when they are not part of the FDHs' linguistic repertoire and results in controlling and constraining their contributions as non-[less]powerful participants (Fairclough 2001: 38-39).

關鍵字

FDHs ； Hong Kong ； Narratives ； Empowerment

並列摘要

本研究探討了移民、全球照護工作、語言傾向影響在香港工作的外籍家庭傭工（FDHs）之限制或賦權之間的交互作用。外傭不斷適應和調整的生活方式是為了熟悉雇主的語言，而這也是招聘傭工的仲介機構和其未來雇主所重視的象徵性附加資產。在本文中，作者探討了與三名外籍傭工的語言掌握以及其對粵語（作為傭工使用的當地語言）和英語（雖然英文在香港並非主要使用語言，但仍然被當作當地的通用語）的熟悉程度。本研究藉由敘述的方式探討外傭，雇主和其他對話者之間的溝通障礙，以及由此引發的緊張局勢。探討的案例涉及對粵語和英語作為賦權來源的看法（Lan 2003b），進而討論以下兩種情況所衍生的議題：一、當粵語和英語是傭工的寄宿家庭或其日常對話者所使用的語言時，傭工對這兩種語言的看法。二、當這兩種語言不是傭工所熟悉的而是異化和隔離他們的來源時，將影響他們的工作成效而被視為非有力的參與者（Fairclough 2001：38-39）。

並列關鍵字

外傭 ； 香港 ； 敘事 ； 賦權

參考文獻

Boersma, M. (2019). Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong: Between permanence and temporariness in everyday life. Current Sociology, 67(2), 273-293. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392118792928

Ladegaard, H. J. (2015). Coping with trauma in domestic helper narratives: Linguistic, cognitive and emotional perspectives. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 19(2), 189-221.

Ladegaard, H. J. (2017). The Discourse of powerlessness and repression: Life stories of domestic migrant workers in Hong Kong. London, UK: Routledge.

Lan, P. C. (2003a). Negotiating social boundaries and private zones: The micropolitics of employing migrant domestic workers. Social Problems, 50(4), 525-549.

Lan, P. C. (2003b). "They have more money but I speak better English!" Transnational encounters between Filipina domestics and Taiwanese employers. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 10(2), 133-161.