Professor Christopher Hutton is chair professor in the School of English at the University of Hong Kong. He studied modern languages and linguistics at Oxford University (BA 1980; DPhil 1988). He also holds an MA in Linguistics and Yiddish Studies from Columbia University (1985), and an LLB from Manchester Metropolitan University (2008). Professor Hutton held a research position at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies from 1985-1986, and was Assistant Professor in the Department of Germanic Languages at the University of Texas at Austin from 1987-1989, before moving to Hong Kong. His research is concerned with the politics of language and linguistics, especially in the context of law, and the history of Western linguistics, focusing on its relationship with race theory. In addition, he has a longstanding interest in slang, jargon and underworld language, having for many years taught a course in which students do project work on special ‘sub-languages’, e.g. the special vocabulary used by taxi drivers, criminals, prisoners or restaurant workers.
Language and the law; history and politics of linguistics; sociolinguistics of slang and jargon
Language and Jargon (ENGL2048)
Saussure and the Politics of Linguistics (ENGL3041)
Law, Meaning, and Interpretation (ENGL2126, LALS 3002, LLAW 3161)
The Law of Signs: Interpretative Controversies in Legal Semiotics
(ENGL2168, LALS3011, LLAW3264)