AndrewWong Faculty Profile

Photo of Andrew Wong

Andrew  Wong

Professor

What makes me unique

My research focuses on the ways in which ideologies materialize in and through language. Using ethnographic, sociolinguistic, and experimental methods, I have examined the role of ideology in semantic variation and change, the relationship between genre and social change, and the creative use of unconventional spelling in brand names.  My current project explores how linguistic differences between Hong Kong and mainland China have become magnified and ideologized in the post-1997 era.  I am also interested in the applications of linguistic anthropology in marketing and advertising (particularly, brand name development). I previously worked at , where I oversaw its global linguistic and cultural evaluation program.  I am Co-Editor-in-Chief of the .

  • Sociolinguistics and Linguistic Anthropology: Language Politics, Language Ideologies, Language Variation and Change, Language and the Media, Language and Sexuality

    Applied Anthropology: Business Anthropology (Marketing and Advertising)

  • Ph.D. in Linguistics, Stanford UniversityM.A. in Linguistics, Stanford UniversityB.S. in Business Administration, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  • Spring Semester 2026

    Course #SecCourse TitleDaysFromToLocationCampus
    ANTH 30001Anthropology of Global ChangeARRWEB-ASYNCHOnline Campus
    ANTH 34002Language and CultureARRWEB-ASYNCHOnline Campus
    ANTH 34201Language and SexualityARRWEB-ASYNCHOnline Campus
    GLST 49901Senior SeminarARRWEB-ASYNCHOnline Campus

  • Edited Volumes

    2021  Chineseness on the Margins.  Special Issue of Language and Communication.  (Mie Hiramoto, Hsi-Yao Su and Andrew Wong)

    2002  Language and Sexuality: Contesting Meaning in Theory and Practice.  Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.  (Kathryn Campbell-Kibler, Robert Podesva, Sarah Roberts and Andrew Wong)

    Book Chapters and Journal Articles

    Hong Kong and Mainland China

    In Press  Subtitling practices and vernacular counterpublics in participatory media.  Language in Society.  

    2024  Funny words on the screen: Exploring linguistic authority through subtitling practices.  Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 34 (3): 353-375.

    2024  “Gangpu is too funny!”: The mediatization of Hong Kong Mandarin as a jocular register.  Language in Society 53 (4): 707-730.

    2023  The ongoing business of Chinese language reform: A view from the periphery of Hong Kong in the last half century.  Modern China 49 (4): 448-479.  (John Wong and Andrew Wong)

    2021  Found in transliteration: Translanguaging and the polyvocality of Xiqu Centre.  Journal of Sociolinguistics 25 (1): 26-43.

    2021  Chineseness and Cantonese tones in post-1997 Hong Kong.  Language & Communication 76: 58-68.

    2021  Complicating raciolinguistics: Language, Chineseness, and the Sinophone.  Language & Communication 76: 131-135.  (Andrew Wong, Hsi-Yao Su and Mie Hiramoto)

    2019  Authenticity, belonging, and charter myths of Cantonese.  Language & Communication 68: 37-45.

    2016  On the iconization of simplified Chinese.  Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 26 (2): 183-202. 

    Tongzhi, Ideologies, and Semantic Change

    In Prep.  Marginal subjects and peripheral visions.  In Rodrigo Borba, Kira Hall, and Mie Hiramoto, eds.  Language, Gender, and Sexuality: An Anticipatory Retrospective.  Sheffield, UK: Equinox.

    2015  How does oppression work? Insights from Hong Kong lesbians' labeling practices.  In Erez Levon and Ronald Mendes, eds.  Language, Sexuality, and Power: Studies in Intersectional Sociolinguistics.  19-38.  New York: Oxford University Press.

    2013  Media, politics, and semantic change.  In Christine Mallinson, Becky Childs, and Gerard van Herk, eds.  Data Collection in Sociolinguistics: Methods and Applications.  314-317.  New York: Routledge.

    2008  The trouble with tongzhi: The politics of labeling among gay and lesbian Hongkongers.  Pragmatics 18 (2): 277-301.

    2005  The reappropriation of tongzhi.  Language in Society 34 (5): 763-793.

    2000  The linguistic construction of the tongzhi community.  Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 10 (2): 248-278.  (Andrew Wong and Qing Zhang)

    Marketing and Linguistic Anthropology

    2014  Branding and linguistic anthropology: Brand names, indexical fields, and sound symbolism.  Practicing Anthropology 36 (1): 38-41.

    2013  Brand names and unconventional spelling: A two-pronged analysis of the orthographic construction of brand identity.  Written Language & Literacy 16 (2): 115-145.

    2012  Teaching consumer-oriented ethnographic research.  Marketing Education Review 22 (1): 15-19.  (Andrew Wong and Lan Wu)

    2010  My foray into the other side: Preparing students for corporate careers.  Practicing Anthropology 32 (2): 31-35.