“Potato chips” or “fries”?
A research study on how do place of abode and
Americanization influence the choice of synonyms?
Gloria Yuen Tung Kwan
The University of Hong Kong
[email protected]
Synonym is one of the linguistic devices that are widely used by speakers. However, as
there are numerous English synonym pairs, what are the bases that speakers use to
make their choice of synonyms? In this research, we are going to investigate whether
the speakers’ place of abode and place of receiving education, as well as
Americanization of the languages involved have an influence on the speakers’ choice
of synonyms. The data was gathered by a survey questionnaire completed by 24
subjects from Australia and Hong Kong. Surprisingly, the findings of this study
indicated that although the speakers’ place of abode and place of receiving education
do have a certain degree of influence on their choice of synonyms, Americanization of
the languages involved plays a more significant role. In this paper, we will explain
how and why these factors influence the speakers’ choice of synonyms.
LCOM Papers 2 (2009), 101 – 122
102 Gloria Yuen Tung Kwan
1. Introduction
Which do you prefer – “potato chips” or “fries”? Do you consider them as having
exactly the same meaning or do you use these lexical items differently in different
situations? Are they absolute synonyms or near synonyms? What are the factors that
affect your choice of synonyms?
In order to answer these questions, there are some key terms that we need to define.
First of all, what is a synonym? “Synonym” is considered as one kind of sense
relation that may occur between words. The term “synonymy” derives from Greek,
and its two parts (syn- + -nymy) mean “same + name”: Synonymy “deals with
sameness of meaning, more than one word having the same meaning, or alternatively
the same meaning being expressed by more than one word” (Howard, 1988: 64). In
simpler words, synonyms refer to words that share the same meaning. Synonyms can
be further divided into absolute synonyms and near synonyms. Absolute synonyms, or
strict synonymy, refer to synonyms that can be used interchangeably in all contexts.
Alternatively, near synonyms are considered to be synonyms that can be used
interchangeably in certain contexts only. It is also important to note that the term
“synonym” in the paper will generally refer to absolute synonym, unless specified
otherwise.
It may sound uneconomical to have two words with exactly the same meaning;
however, if we look into how synonyms develop, we will be able to understand the
rationale behind their existence. One of the major reasons that accounts for the
development of synonyms is the existence of different English varieties. As English is
no longer “just” the lingua franca of the world, which is defined by McArthur as “a
rough-and-ready socially low kind of medium between people who (for the most part)
do not have it as a mother tongue” (McArthur, 2002: 2), many varieties of English
have developed in different geographical locations and each has its own unique
pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary. Australian English, Singaporean English and
Indian English are just a few instances of such varieties.
There are also other reasons that account for the development of synonyms.
According to Leech (1974: 15), “stylistic meaning” is that which a piece of language
conveys about social circumstances of its use’. Hence, synonyms may vary in their
stylistic meaning. Speakers may use a word to convey meaning in addition to its
conceptual meaning. For instance, the choice of a particular lexical item could show
the social relationship between speaker and hearer, formality of discourse, and
The choice of synonyms 103
exaggeration of meaning, etc. These factors not only contribute to the reasons why
there are synonyms, but also affect how speakers make their choice as to which
lexical item to use.
In this paper, we are going to look into some important factors that affect speakers’
choice of English synonyms of food as eating is such an essential aspect of human
lives. We will particularly focus on some factors which may have an influence on
speakers’ choice of synonyms, namely speakers’ place of abode or where they
received their education, the formality of discourse and thematic meaning of the
utterance. We will also investigate to what extent Americanization has influenced two
varieties of World Englishes, namely Australian English (AusE) and Hong Kong
English (HKE), and to what extent this has an impact on the speakers’ choice of
synonyms.
2. Methodology
The study was conducted in form of a survey questionnaire which aimed to
investigate if the place of abode and receiving education in English had an impact on
the choice of food synonyms. In particular, interviewees were chosen from two
distinct countries i.e. Australia and Hong Kong. The reason for choosing subjects
from Australia is because Australia is now one of the most popular countries where
Hong Kong students choose to study abroad. The 24 subjects are students from
Australia and Hong Kong, 12 from each place. The reason for choosing subjects from
Australia and Hong Kong is simply because of my personal contacts and therefore, for
the ease of data collection. All subjects were undergraduates in their second and third
year of study, and Cantonese was the first language of the majority of the interviewees.
Subjects from Australia were all born in Hong Kong and had spent at least seven years
receiving education in Australia, while subjects from Hong Kong had received
education from kindergarten to tertiary education solely in Hong Kong without
spending time studying overseas. All subjects were between the age of 20 and 24 and
have received education in English for more than 10 years. Subjects were chosen on
the belief that they had proficient levels of English and should be able to understand
the questionnaires designed for this study.
The questionnaires were sent to the subjects through the internet and the completed
questionnaires were gathered three days after they were sent out. A pilot study with
104 Gloria Yuen Tung Kwan
four randomly selected students was conducted and the feedback from the students
was used to revise the questionnaire before it was administered again to a larger group
of subjects in the main study.
The questionnaire is divided into three parts. Part I focuses on the varieties of English
e.g. American English (AmE), AusE, British English (BrE) or Hong Kong English
(HKE) which the subjects used to name a particular food given in the picture. The
questions in Part II aimed to elicit students’ choice of synonyms of food in different
English varieties. In this part, two or three options were given in the multiple choice
questions, and some of the questions were related to the questions in Part III. In Part
III, students were given scenarios of different formality of different thematic emphasis,
and were asked to choose among different responses. This part aimed to elicit
students’ choice of food synonyms under the influence of formality of situation and
thematic emphasis. The questionnaire is included in Appendix I.
3. Literature review
3.1 More about synonyms
In English, there are only a few pairs of synonyms that are recognized to be absolute
synonyms, for example, “sofa” and “couch”. The reason why they are considered to
be absolute synonyms is that they share the same conceptual meaning (Leech, 1974).
In terms of contrastive features, the meaning of “sofa” and “couch” can be specified
as +FURNITURE, +SEAT, +ARM, +BACK, +MORE THAN ONE PERSON, in
which these two words share exactly the same features. These lexical items can also
be used interchangeably in all contexts, for instance, in a furniture shop, no matter
whether we say to the shop keeper, “I want to buy a sofa” or “I want to buy a couch”,
they denote the same entity to the shop keeper. However, it is important to note that
even though “sofa” and “couch” share the same contrastive features and can be used
interchangeably in all contexts, they are from different varieties of English: “sofa”
originally came from BrE, while “couch” from AmE (source from Cambridge
Dictionary Online). Thus, speakers may be biased about these two lexical items and
may choose to use the one that originated from their own variety of English.
The examples of the near synonyms “big” and “large” can be used to illustrate how
their meanings differ in different contexts. These two words have the same general
The choice of synonyms 105
reference; usually they are used to describe something massive in size or amount. We
can for example describe a house as “a large house” or “a big house”. In these
sentences the adjectives have the same sense. However, they are not necessarily
interchangeable in all contexts. For example, we would describe sophisticated words
as “big words” but not as “large words” as it may convey a meaning of describing the
size of the words instead of the meaning. Another example illustrating the difference
in meaning of the two lexical items is the following: in the US slang, “large” can be
used to refer to a thousand dollars, such as, “I hit the jackpot in the casino and pull in
25 large”. In this sentence, the word “large” is referring to a certain amount of money,
so if we substitute it with the synonym “big”, the meaning of this slang would be
totally different or destroyed. Thus, the words “big” and “large” cannot be considered
as absolute synonyms.
But why do numerous pairs of synonym pair exist if they have more or less the same
meaning? According to (Howard, 1988: 65), “one of the major reasons for the
existence of so many pairs of synonyms in English is the different origins of the
members of a synonym pair.” In simpler words, the synonym pairs that exist
nowadays actually originated from different countries. Examples given by Howard are
the synonyms originated in Anglo-Saxon, French and Latin, as in “kingly”, “royal”
and “regal”. These words are now used in various contexts sharing the same reference
as “belonging or connect to a king or queen or members of their family”. Another
possible reason can be because the pairs of synonyms belong to different varieties,
such as BrE and AmE, where we have a number of synonyms, such as “biscuit” and
“cookie”.
Because of the existence of a huge number of near synonyms in English, speakers
make their lexical choice based on different factors, such as the different types of
meaning of the synonyms, contextual factors, and the frequency of the usage of the
synonyms, as well as the continuity factor in which speakers develop a habit using the
same lexical item regardless of the contexts and existence of other synonyms. Leech
(1974) has given a comprehensive and detailed view on lexical choice, particularly on
near-synonyms. He suggests that “meaning” can be broken down into seven different
ingredients, as in conceptual meaning, connotative meaning, social meaning, affective
meaning, reflected meaning, collocative meaning, and thematic meaning. Each of
these meanings of a word significantly affects the lexical choice of the near
synonyms.
106 Gloria Yuen Tung Kwan
According to Leech, there are different types of meaning that account for the reasons
why there are so many pairs of synonyms in English and how these types of meaning
can make up and create a comprehensive linguistic communication.
1. Conceptual meaning accounts for the main reason why speakers make a
particular choice of synonyms as it is the basic meaning that speakers want to
denote to the other party. Additionally, in order to qualify as absolute synonyms,
possessing the same conceptual meaning is the basic requirement.
2. Connotative meaning is the meaning which is used to express above the pure
conceptual meaning that a word possesses. The connotative meaning embraces
“the putative properties of the referent, due to the view point adopted by an
individual, or a group of people or a whole society… Connotations are apt to vary
from age to age and from society to society” (Leech, 1974: 12).
3. Social meaning is the words or language used to “convey about the circumstances
of its use” (Leech, 1974: 14). Leech further distinguishes several socio-stylistic
variations such as Dialect, Time, Province, Status, Modality, and Singularity. The
dialectal difference, such as the words “lift” in BE and “elevator” in AE, denote
the same referent but a speaker from Britain would most likely choose to use “lift”
rather than “elevator” and vice versa. Status refers to the degree of politeness that
we may wish to convey through language. For example, we would say “May I go
to the ‘washroom’?” instead of “loo” when we ask for permission from the teacher
in order to show politeness and respect, as “washroom” is comparatively more
formal than the word “loo”.
4. Affective meaning is “the consideration of how language reflects the personal
feelings of the speakers, including his [sic] attitude to the listener, or his [sic]
attitude to something he [sic] is talking about” (Leech, 1974: 15). Under the
affective meaning, a speaker makes a lexical choice depending on the emotion that
he or she may wish to convey to the other party.
5. Collocative meaning “consists of the associations a word acquires on account of
the meanings of words which tend to occur in its environment.” (Leech, 1974: 17)
In other words, collocative meaning refers to the meaning of words that tend to
co-occur with other words and this highly influences the lexical choice of near
synonyms.
6. Thematic meaning is another concern of the lexical choice. Thematic meaning by
Leech refers to the meaning in which a speaker organizes the message to put
emphasis on certain aspects. Speakers can make choices over synonyms
depending on whether there is any emphasis on a particular meaning.
The choice of synonyms 107
Apart from the different types of meaning suggested by Leech, the relation between
syntax and semantics also plays an important role on affecting speakers’ choice of
synonyms. From the work of Hudson, Holmes and Gisborne (1996:440), pairs of
synonyms are used to demonstrate how syntax relates to the use of different synonyms.
One pair of synonyms is “likely” and “probable”, which differ in subcategorization.
Likely allows to-infinitive with subject to subject raising, but probable does not.
Although the conceptual meanings of these two words are the same, they also differ
stylistically as “probably belongs to a higher, more formal style than likely”. Hence,
the syntactic differences of the two lexical items also significantly impact on the
users’ choice.
3.2 Americanization
Similar to Westernization, Americanization is a type of cultural assimilation, which is
particularly related to the US American culture. Americanization is used to describe
the influence of the US American culture has on cultures of the other countries,
resulting in the assimilation of the American culture by a given culture. The ever
growing influence felt of American culture, business, politics, language etc is felt by
many people in this world (Sussex, 1898: 58 – 62). The adopting of AmE linguistic
elements such as everyday vocabulary items, slang, phrases, pronunciation or accent,
grammar is also under the influence of Americanization. Since the end of World War
II, US America has developed into a ‘superpower’ which enables it to influence the
globe. Nowadays, ranging from American pop music, to architecture, and to their
political power, US America has an enormous influence over people around the world.
Not only to the general culture as people in other countries can easily receive
information of the American culture, such as by watching the Hollywood movies, or
listening to the American pop music, the assimilation to AmE is one major trend of
Americanization. Sussex (1989), for example, gives a comprehensive view on how
AusE has been influenced by AmE, in terms of the use of vocabulary and
pronunciation. Americanization is a very broad term covering almost all aspects of
human lives, from daily necessity such as food and drinks, to politics and business
trade. However, in this paper, we will mainly focus on the language level of
Americanization that influences the two selected English varieties, namely, AusE and
HKE.
108 Gloria Yuen Tung Kwan
3.3 Australian English
The overall dominance of English (in Australia) has long been recognized, but the
distinctiveness and vigour of Australian usage has only recently been accented both in
Australia and in the world at large. The first record instance of the term Australian
English dates from 1940.
“Since the end of the Second World War, however, Australian English has
steadily gained in prestige both abroad and more warily at home, until at the
beginning of the 21st century it stands third in numbers and burgeoning
self-confidence in the international pecking order of English” (McArthur, 2002:
378).
Although the term Australian English has not received serious recognition as a
national variety in its own right until the last 60 years despite its usage in Australia for
over 200 years during the settlement period, the language itself has developed its own
uniqueness especially in terms of pronunciation, it has for instance relatively slow
rhythm, with evenly spaced stress and fairly “flat” intonation, and it is non-rhotic.
Because of Australia’s history as a British colony, other features such as grammar and
style have no remarkably distinguishable differences from British usage, and British
spellings are generally much preferred. Nonetheless, there are a number of studies
showing that the American usage is becoming more accepted in Australia. For
example, an increasing number of students in Australia showed strong preference for
some lexical variants which are closer to AmE than BrE (Collins, 2004: 506, 511).
3.4 Hong Kong English
Whether or not HKE actually exists as a distinct variety of English has been
controversial among linguists over the last 20 years. Although whether HKE should
be recognized as a local variety of English still needs further research and
investigation, “if one can establish that there are clusters of shared lexical and
grammatical items which contribute to a distinctive body of shared linguistic features
then this may well legitimize recognition of HKE as localized variety” (Bolton and
Kwok, 1990: 163). Apart from the reasons for having developed degrees of lexical
and grammatical items, other proposed criteria that English in Hong Kong has to
satisfy if it is to be defined or recognized as a variety of world English are: a
distinctive accent, history, literary creativity and reference work (Butler, 1997: 106;
The choice of synonyms 109
Bolton, 2000). Although it is not the scope of this paper to argue or draw conclusions
about whether English in Hong Kong is a variety of World Englishes, I will continue
to use the term Hong Kong English (HKE) in the rest of the paper to describe the local
variety of English spoken in Hong Kong.
With Hong Kong’s well-known British colonial history, BrE has undeniably strong
influence over the development and usage of HKE. Whether it is language planning in
Hong Kong or language usage in the government or by the general public, BrE is
recognized as standard and is more preferable in most contexts. On the other hand,
similar to AusE, there is an increasing preference for AmE among HKE speakers. For
instance, a study done by Deterding, Wong, Kirkpatrick (2008: 150), shows that
“while the accent of most people in Hong Kong is based on BrE, as might be expected
after the long colonial history of the territory under British rule, a substantial minority
prefer to adopt a North American style of speech.”
4. Analysis
In this part, we will first consider the extent of American influence in the data. AusE
and HKE, which have both historically been influenced by BrE, are also influenced by
AmE and the US American culture. We will then analyze the relationship between
formality of context as well as thematic meaning in order to explain speakers’ choice
of food synonyms.
From daily observation and according to past studies (Lee, 2004; Deterding, Wong,
and Kirkpatrick, 2008) focusing on the use of English (including pronunciation and
lexical choice) by HKE speakers and AusE speakers, it is especially true that HKE
speakers usually adopt a mixture of AmE and BE. This can be explained by the
historical influence of BrE under the British colonial history, and the influences of US
American popular culture (e.g. Hollywood movies and US American fashion
magazines) particularly favored by teenagers in Hong Kong. These media provide a
channel for the teenagers to receive knowledge about the AmE variety such as
pronunciation and lexical terms. In Australia, it is also more frequent to see
restaurants using AmE terms. For instance, in an Australian owned fast food
franchisee “Oporto”, in their menu, “chips” is used instead of the BrE variety term
‘crisps’.
110 Gloria Yuen Tung Kwan
4.1 Subjects studying in Australia
From the data (see Appendix II) received from the subjects who have studied in
Australia for over seven years, it is noticeable that their choice of synonyms of food is
being influenced by AmE.
Despite the British colonial history of Australia, the results of questions 1, 3, 4, and 9
show that this group of subjects has adopted the AmE version in naming the food
items instead of the traditionally preferred BrE variety. In question 1, 83% of the
subjects used “chips” and the rest of the 17% used “potato chips” which are both AmE.
The British variety, “crisps”, was not used by any of the subjects. More significantly,
in question 4, all subjects used “corn”, which is the AmE version to name the food
item instead of “sweetcorn” as the BrE version. There is also a substantially larger
number of subjects, 75%, who used the AmE term “cookies” instead of the BrE term
“biscuits” in question 9.
4.2 Subjects studying in Hong Kong
However, interestingly, the result obtained from the second group of subjects who
have only studied in Hong Kong without spending any time abroad for over 1 year is
completely different from the first group of subjects.
The choice of synonyms 111
Compared with the first group of subjects, more subjects in group 2 opted for the BrE
terms. Questions 2, 5, 6, 9, and 10 are instances in which the BrE version of the
synonyms was preferred, while only in questions 3 and 4 AmE was used. The most
significant result is achieved in question 9 where 75% of the subjects of the first group
opted for cookies (which is American English), and almost all of the remaining
subjects went for “biscuits”, which is the British way to name the same food items.
Also, in question 10, all of the subjects chose “orange juice” which is BrE instead of
“squeeze” as the AmE equivalent. These examples nicely illustrate that BrE is still
more preferred than AmE by Chinese people in Hong Kong.
Reasons for the dominance of BrE in Hong Kong may be the long history of British
colonial ruling over Hong Kong and the language planning and teaching policies of
Hong Kong. Since mission schools were established in Hong Kong from 1840s
onwards, English began to spread through education (Bolton, 2000: 267), and because
of the British colonialism, BrE has always been adopted by both government
departments and for educational purposes. Students in schools are taught in British
112 Gloria Yuen Tung Kwan
English, especially in grammar and lexicon, although pronunciation is sometimes a
mixture of both varieties: e.g. the /r/ sound is emphasized in some students’ speech, in
which a more American way of pronunciation is preferred. Therefore, the status of
BrE in Hong Kong is higher than that of AmE, although the popular US American
culture also plays an important role in shaping Hong Kong’s culture in recent years.
4.3 Influence of the place of abode
From part I and II of the questionnaire we will also be able to notice how place of
abode influences speakers’ choice over synonyms of food. In question 10, the two
options “orange juice” and “orange squeeze” are from BrE and AusE respectively.
Although “orange juice” was more preferred in both groups of subjects, there were
indeed relatively more subjects from the first group who chose “orange squeeze” than
in the second group. This can be explained by the fact that the term “orange squeeze”
is almost invisible in Hong Kong (e.g. it can rarely be seen in any restaurant to denote
this drink). Therefore, it is fairly reasonable that no subjects from the second group
chose “orange squeeze” in question 10. The same reason can be applied to question 5
in which the Australian term “smoothies” was opted for more frequently by the first
group than by the second group.
4.4 Influence of Americanization
Based on answers of the first 10 questions, it seems to be inadequate to explain
speakers’ choice of synonyms solely by reference to the place of abode of the subjects
or where they received education. On the other hand, the influence of Americanization
on the two English varieties (i.e. AusE and HKE) has indeed a large impact that
affects speakers’ choices in addition to the historical influence of BrE. The widespread
use of AmE and its subsequent influence on other varieties of World Englishes could
be imputed to the globalization. With American’s “superpower” and its principal
source of media- and computer-related products, especially its significantly important
status in the media industry, the globally known weekly newsmagazines (e.g. TIME
and Newsweek), and all the famous Hollywood movies have continued to the spread
of AmE all over the world. For this reason, it is not difficult to understand why
speakers of AusE opted for more AmE terms in the questionnaires. Especially from
the data received from the subjects who study in Australia, AmE is becoming more
widely used than before, although BrE was the dominant language in Australia. Such
The choice of synonyms 113
changes could be due to the global role US America has taken over the years after the
Second World War.
4.5 Influence of formality of contexts
As suggested by Howard (1988), synonyms may be differentiated by style or level of
formality: a particular synonym can be more formal than the others and therefore,
speakers may choose to use certain lexical items to suit the formality of the context. In
part III, therefore, questions were designed to explore whether the formality of
context and the formality of synonyms correlate.
114 Gloria Yuen Tung Kwan
In questions 11 and 12, two scenarios were created and they differed in degree of
formality and relationship between interlocutors. The synonyms “delicious” and
“yummy” were given in the multiple choice format. The synonym “yummy” was
considered to be more informal because it is a colloquial word and mostly used in
informal contexts while “delicious” was considered to be more formal because its
definition is given in most dictionaries while “yummy” is often excluded. The result
from questions 11 and 12 showed that in more formal situations, such as in question
11, subjects would opt for the synonym with higher formality (i.e. delicious). Results
are even more significant in question 12, where 75% of subjects of both groups opted
for “it’s yummy” in the less formal scenario where the relationship among
interlocutors was closer than in scenario 1.
However, although the formality of contexts did affect interviewees’ choice of the
synonyms, (see also questions 13 and 14, there were a much large number of
interviewees who opted for “spicy” in both formal and informal contexts) this result
could be attributed to the continuity factor that speakers may have a tendency to use
the same word continuously for consistency across different contexts. Similar results
were shown in questions 15 and 16, where a larger number of participants preferred
“junk food” (96% (group 1) and 83% (group 2)) over “trash food”.
5. Conclusion
In conclusion, this study shows a relationship between speakers’ place of abode and
their choice of synonyms: results obtained from speakers from Hong Kong who have
studied in Australia for a long period of time differed from speakers from Hong Kong
who have never studied in a foreign country. In addition, by comparing the level of
Americanization of both AusE and HKE used by the speakers, AusE seemed to be
more highly influenced by AmE than HKE is. This can be explained by the global
status of the AmE as well as the popularity of the US American culture which
provides many accessible means for the people to obtain knowledge and gain
exposure of AmE terms. On the other hand, possibly because of the historical
background and strong preference of BrE by Hong Kong people, this study reflects a
lower preference for AmE vocabularies by the participants from Hong Kong.
Regardless of the strong influence of British English, this study shows that AmE has a
strong impact on AusE and HKE which then affects speakers’ choice of synonyms.
The choice of synonyms 115
Through the questionnaires, we were also able to show that the formality of context
has an effect on speakers’ choice of synonyms: speakers opted for synonyms with
higher formality in more formal situations, although sometimes speakers would prefer
the same words in all contexts because of their own preferences.
Although this study has implications for how the place of abode, Americanization,
and formality of context influence speakers’ choice of synonyms, it is only a
small-scale research. Clearly, a larger number of participants should be invited to
participate, and further research should be done on the influence of Americanization
on AusE and HKE in order to test the findings of this study.
Appendix I
Questionnaire on choice of synonyms
Personal particulars (Please circle the appropriate option)
Age: below 20 / 20 - 24 / over 25
Sex: Female / Male
Educational level: Secondary/ Associate Degree/ Bachelor Degree/ Master degree
Place of birth: __________________________
Have you ever studied or lived in other countries for over 1 year? YES / NO
If yes, which country have you stayed in? _______________________
If yes, how long? ___________________________
Part 1: Please answer the following questions.
1.
How do you normally you call this? _______________________________
116 Gloria Yuen Tung Kwan
2.
How do you normally you call this? _______________________________
3.
How do you normally you call this? _______________________________
4.
How do you normally you call this? _______________________________
5.
How do you normally you call this? _______________________________
The choice of synonyms 117
6.
How do you normally you call this? _______________________________
Part 2: Please fill in the word you would normally use. (Please circle your choice.)
7. This curry dish is very __________.
a. hot
b. spicy
8. The pork belly dish is __________.
a. oily
b. greasy
9. Do you want some __________?
a. biscuits
b. cookies
c. crackers
10. You are walking around with your friends in a shopping mall and you decided to
get a drink, you would say,
a. Do you want orange juice?
b. Do you want orange squeeze?
Part 3: Scenario – Please choose the responses you would normally give for the
following scenarios. (Please circle your choice.)
11. You are invited to a housewarming party and the host has prepared some food for
the guests, you would say,
a. The food is delicious!
b. The food is yummy!
118 Gloria Yuen Tung Kwan
12. You try a new dish cooked by your sister, you would say,
a. It is delicious!!
b. It is yummy!
13. You are having dinner with your mentor in an Italian restaurant, you would say,
a. The food is very hot!
b. The food is very spicy!
14. You are having dinner with your close friends in a food stall, you would say,
a. The food is so hot!
b. The food is so spicy!
15. You are teaching a group of kids about nutritious food, you would say,
a. We should eat less junk food.
b. We should eat less trash food.
16. You are deciding what to eat for lunch and your friend suggested going to
McDonalds, you would say,
a. I really don’t want to go there because they sell junk food!
b. I really don’t want to go there because they sell trash food!
Appendix II
Results
The following tables are the result from the questionnaires.
Table 1: Results from interviewees studying in Australia (first group of subjects)
Number of subjects: 12
Part 1
Results (number of response) (in percentage)
1.
Chips (10) (83%)
2.
Sandwich (12) (100%)
3.
Fries (7) (58%)
4.
Corn (12) (100%)
5.
Smoothies (3) (25%)
Milkshake (9) (75%)
6.
Lollipop (8) (67%)
Candy (3) (25%)
Potato Chips (2) (17%)
Chips (5) (42%)
Lolly (1) (8%)
The choice of synonyms 119
Part 2
Results (number of response) (in percentage)
7. This curry dish is very
__________.
a. hot (5)
(42%)
b. spicy (7)
(58%)
8. The pork belly dish is
__________.
a. oily (9)
(75%)
b. greasy (3)
(25%)
9. Do you want some
__________?
a. biscuits (3)
(25%)
b. cookies (9)
(75%)
10. You are walking
around with your friends
a. Do you want
orange juice? (8)
b. Do you want
orange squeeze? (4)
in a shopping mall and
you decided to get a
drink, you would say,
(67%)
(33%)
c. crackers (0)
(0%)
Part 3
Results (number of response by subjects from
Australia) (in percentage)
11. You are invited to a
housewarming party and the
host has prepared some food
for the guests, you would say,
a. The food is delicious!
(7)
(58%)
b. The food is yummy!
(5)
(42%)
12. You try a new dish cooked
by your sister, you would say,
a. It is delicious!! (3)
(25%)
b. It is yummy! (9)
(75%)
13. You are having dinner with
your mentor in an Italian
restaurant, you would say,
a. The food is very hot!
(0)
(0%)
b. The food is very
spicy! (12)
(100%)
14. You are having dinner with
your close friends in a food
stall, you would say,
a. The food is so hot! (4)
(33%)
b. The food is so spicy!
(8)
(67%)
15. You are teaching a group
of kids about nutritious food,
you would say,
a. We should eat less
junk food. (12)
(100%)
b. We should eat less
trash food. (0)
(0%)
16. You are deciding what to
eat for lunch and your friend
suggested going to
McDonalds, you would say,
a. I really don’t want to
go there because they
sell junk food! (10)
(83%)
b. I really don’t want to
go there because they
sell trash food! (2)
(17%)
120 Gloria Yuen Tung Kwan
Table 2: Results from interviewees studying in Hong Kong (second group of subjects)
Number of subjects: 12
Part 1
Results (number of response) (in percentage)
1.
Chips (6) (50%)
2.
Sandwich (12) (100%)
3.
Fries (3) (25%)
4.
Corn (12) (100%)
5.
Smoothies (1) (8%)
Milkshake (11) (92%)
6.
Lollipop (7) (58%)
Candy (3) (25%)
Potato Chips (6) (50%)
Chips (3) (25%)
French Fries (6) (50%)
Lolly (2) (17%)
Part 2
Results (number of response) (in percentage)
7. This curry dish is very
__________.
a. hot (2)
(17%)
b. spicy (10)
(83%)
8. The pork belly dish is
__________.
a. oily (8)
(67%)
b. greasy (4)
(33%)
9. Do you want some
__________?
a. biscuits (9)
(75%)
b. cookies (2)
(17%)
10. You are walking
around with your friends
in a shopping mall and
you decided to get a
drink, you would say,
a. Do you want
orange juice?
(12)
(100%)
b. Do you want
orange squeeze? (0)
(0%)
c. crackers (1)
(8%)
Part 3
Results (number of response by subjects from
Hong Kong) (in percentage)
11. You are invited to a
housewarming party and the
host has prepared some food
for the guests, you would say,
a. The food is delicious!
(7)
(58%)
b. The food is yummy!
(5)
(42%)
12. You try a new dish cooked
by your sister, you would say,
a. It is delicious!! (3)
(25%)
b. It is yummy! (9)
(75%)
13. You are having dinner with
your mentor in an Italian
restaurant, you would say,
a. The food is very hot!
(3)
(25%)
b. The food is very
spicy! (9)
(75%)
14. You are having dinner with
your close friends in a food
stall, you would say,
a. The food is so hot! (3)
(25%)
b. The food is so spicy!
(9)
(75%)
The choice of synonyms 121
15. You are teaching a group
a. We should eat less
b. We should eat less
of kids about nutritious food,
junk food. (11)
trash food. (1)
you would say,
(92%)
(8%)
16. You are deciding what to
eat for lunch and your friend
a. I really don’t want to
go there because they
b. I really don’t want to
go there because they
suggested going to
McDonalds, you would say,
sell junk food! (10)
(83%)
sell trash food! (2)
(17%)
Appendix III
Glossary for English food synonyms in different English varieties (Cambridge
Learner’s Dictionary, second edition. Cambridge University Press)
American English
Australian English
British English
French fries
Potato chips
Fries
Cookies
Crackers
Corn
Roll (sandwich)
Smoothies
Lolly
Orange Squeeze
Chips
Sandwich
Chips (potato chips)
Milkshake
Lollipop
Biscuits
Orange juice
Sweetcorn
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