Multilingual environments and Cantonese English identity: evidence from the Greater Bay Area in China

From an ecolinguistic perspective, this paper investigates the connection between multilingual environments and Cantonese English identity in the Greater Bay Area through questionnaires and interviews. The findings reveal the following: (1) Affective and behavioural indicators of self-identity varied significantly among different majors, as well as among different environmental groups; (2) Students' social identity remained unaffected by their majors but exhibited significant differences among groups; (3) Cantonese English self-identity and social identity of the students (except for Hong Kong and Macau students) with multilingual backgrounds demonstrated a high correlation. In brief, the identity ratios were as follows: English majors > non-English majors; Hong Kong-Macao students > Pearl River Delta students > New Arrivals. These results suggest and confirm the symbiotic and coordinative interaction between language and environment. Different environments impact learners' cognitive psychology, leading to varying degrees of self-identity in Cantonese English. In other words, the environment determines language, and conversely, language, together with its intralingual environment, imbued with historical and cultural values, emotions, and identity, plays a behavioural role in influencing cognitive psychology, society, and even nature.