![]() ![]() Nevertheless, there is no general agreement about what really constitutes Pidgin in Hawaii.”Įmerging linguistic studies of these misunderstood Creole languages are as necessary as they are exciting. Kent Sakoda and Jeff Siegel, authors of Pidgin Grammar: An Introduction to the Creole Language of Hawai’i, argue that “the desire to project a separate local identity will most likely ensure that the language remains distinct from English. In Hawaii, Pidgin is a vehicle for local identity, a badge of honor. Yet Creole languages worldwide are broadly misunderstood, even by those who speak them, and are often the targets of criticism and disparaging connotations. ![]() It is the subject of a growing body of literature, is familiar to our visitors, recognized by the media and even portrayed by Hollywood. ![]() It is heard in our homes and in our places of recreation and commerce (the term “pidgin” supposedly stems from a bastardization of the phrase “business English”). It is more than mere accent (pronunciation), and differs from dialect (by most linguists’ standards, in that dialects are not codified). Here in Hawaii, the culmination of this copiousness is evidenced in our speech specifically, in a special brand that has come to be called, simply, “Pidgin.” But this Pidgin, by definition “Hawaii Creole English” (HCE), is a Creole language unto itself, and whether spoken by those locally born or learned by transplants, it’s much more than a way of speaking. ![]() From “the diverse motions of the tongue, palate, lips and other organs of speech,” writes Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan, Part 1, is birthed humanity’s “most noble and profitable invention of all other… whereby men register their thoughts, recall them when they are past, and also declare them one to another for mutual utility and conversation without which there had been amongst men neither Commonwealth, nor society, nor contract, nor peace… mother of all inventions, taught them, and in the tract of time grew everywhere more copious.” ![]()
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