Hawaiian Pidgin

Hawaiʻi Pidgin English, Hawaiʻi Creole English, HCE, or simply Pidgin, is a creole language based in part on English used by some residents of Hawaiʻi ("Hawaiian Pidgin English" is considered an inaccurate label). Although English and Hawaiian are the co-official languages of the State of Hawaiʻi, Pidgin is used by many locals in everyday conversation and is often used in advertising toward Hawaiʻi residents. The new ISO/DIS 639-3 language code for Hawaiʻi Pidgin (Hawaiʻi Creole English) is hwc. [1]

History

Pidgin (or Hawaiʻi Creole) originated as a form of communication used between native and non-native English speakers in Hawaiʻi. It supplanted the pidgin Hawaiian used on the plantations and elsewhere in Hawaiʻi. It has been influenced by many languages, including Portuguese, Hawaiian, and Cantonese, one of the Chinese languages. As people of other language backgrounds were brought in to work on the plantations, such as Japanese, Filipinos, and Koreans, Pidgin acquired words from these languages. Japanese loanwords in Hawaiʻi lists some of those words originally from Japanese. It has also been influenced to a lesser degree by Spanish spoken by Mexican and Puerto Rican settlers in Hawaiʻi.

Even today, Pidgin retains some influences from these languages. For example, the word "stay" in Pidgin has the same meaning as the Portuguese verb "ficar", meaning "to stay" when referring to a temporary state or location. Sometimes the structure of the language is like that of Portuguese grammar. For instance, "You like one knife?" means "Would you like a knife?". The reason the word "one" is used instead of "a" is because the word "um" in Portuguese has two meanings: "um" translates to "one" and "a" in English. The way people use the phrase "No can" is Portuguese grammar, as well. In Portuguese, the phrase "Você não pode fazer isto!" comes out in Pidgin as "You no can do dat!", and in English as "You cannot do that!".

Portuguese nasal vowels also appear in Pidgin. This can be seen in the idiom "Never mind", pronounced in Pidgin "nevamine", and also the word "kind", pronounced in Pidgin "kine". Words like "dis", "dat", "da", and "den" meaning "this", "that", "the", and "then", respectively; are accents of Portuguese/Spanish origin. In Portuguese it is very common to see words ending in "da". You may also hear "da" at the end of Pidgin words, like "quada" and "brada", which are "quarter" and "brother".

Pidgin words derived from Cantonese are also seen in other parts of America. For example, the word "Haa?" is also used by Chinese Americans outside of Hawaiʻi. The meaning is "Excuse me?" or "What did you say?". Another word is "chop suey", a popular dish throughout America. In Hawaiʻi, it can also mean that someone is a variety of ethnicities.

The Hawaiian language is often used together with Pidgin, and there are also a few Pidgin words of Hawaiian origin such as "alohas" and "mahalos", which are "aloha" and "mahalo".

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Pidgin started to be used outside the plantation between ethnic groups. Public school children learned Pidgin from their classmates, and eventually it became the primary language of most people in Hawaiʻi, replacing the original languages. For this reason, linguists generally consider Hawaiian Pidgin to be a creole language.

Perceptions

Today, most people raised in Hawaiʻi can speak and understand Pidgin to some extent. At the same time, many people who know Pidgin can code-switch between standard American English and Pidgin depending on the situation. Knowledge of Pidgin is considered by many to be an important part of being considered "local", regardless of racial and socio-economic background. For example, the Hawaiʻi-born CEO of one of the largest banks in the state said of the Mainland-born CEO of a competing bank, "Anytime he wants to debate in Pidgin on 'local,' I'm available." [2]

While most linguists agree that Hawaiʻi Pidgin is a full-fledged language with its own grammar, pronunciation, intonation, and domains of use, it is viewed by some to be "substandard", or as a "corrupted" form of English, or even as broken English. As a result, it is widely believed that use of "standard" English is a key to career and educational success, and that use of Pidgin is a sign of lower socio-economic status. Its role in the schools of Hawaiʻi has been a subject of controversy, as critics of Pidgin blame its widespread use for poor results in standardized national tests in reading and writing. In 1987, the state Board of Education implemented a policy allowing only standard English (most particularly General American English) in the schools; this sparked an intense debate. There have been similar debates since then.

Pronunciation

Pidgin has distinct pronunciation differences from standard American English (SAE). Some key differences include the following:

• Pidgin's general rhythm is syllable-timed, meaning syllables take up roughly the same amount of time with roughly the same amount of stress. Standard American English is stress-timed, meaning that only stressed syllables are evenly timed. Some Western languages, including English, are stress-timed, while most Romance and East Asian languages are syllable timed. Many pronunciation features are shared with other colloquial language forms or pidgins/creoles from other parts of the world.
• The voiced and unvoiced th sounds are replaced by d or t respectively—that is, changed from a fricative to an occlusive (stop). For instance, that (voiced th) becomes dat, and think (unvoiced th) becomes tink.
• The sound l at the end of a word is often pronounced o or ol. For instance, mental is often pronounced mento; people is pronounced peepo.
• Pidgin is non-rhotic. That is, r after a vowel is often omitted, similar to many dialects, such as Eastern New England, Australian English, and English English variants. For instance, car is often pronounced cah, and letter is pronounced letta. Intrusive r is also used. The number of Hawaiian Pidgin speakers with rhotic English has also been increasing.
• Falling intonation is used at the end of questions. This feature appears to be from Hawaiian, and is shared with some other languages, including Fijian.

Grammatical Features

Pidgin also has distinct grammatical forms not found in SAE, but some of which are shared with other dialectal forms of English or may derive from other linguistic influences.

Forms used for SAE "to be":

• Generally, forms of English "to be" (i.e. the copula) are omitted when referring to inherent qualities of an object or person, forming in essence a stative verb form. Additionally, inverted sentence order may be used for emphasis. (Many East Asian languages use stative verbs instead of the copula-adjective construction of English and other Western languages.)

Da baby cute. (or) Cute, da baby.

The baby is cute.

• When the verb "to be" refers to a temporary state or location, the word stay is used (see above).

Da book stay on top da table.

The book is on the table.

Da water stay cold.

The water is cold.

For tense-marking of verb, auxiliary verbs are employed:

• To express past tense, Pidgin uses wen (went) in front of the verb.

Jesus wen cry. (DJB, John 11:35)

Jesus cried.

• To express future tense, Pidgin uses goin (going) in front of the verb, a declaratory word or verbum dicendi, common in many forms of slang American English.

God goin do plenny good kine stuff fo him. (DJB, Mark 11:9)

God is going to do a lot of good things for him.

• To express past tense negative, Pidgin uses neva (never). Neva can also mean "never" as in normal English usage; context sometimes, but not always, makes the meaning clear.

He neva like dat.

He didn't want that. (or) He never wanted that.

• Use of fo (for) in place of the infinitive particle "to". Cf. dialectal form "Going for to carry me home."

I tryin fo tink.

or

I try fo tink."

I'm trying to think.

For more information on grammar, also see Sakoda & Siegel (References, below) and the Pidgin Coup paper (External links, below).

Literature and performing arts

In recent years, writers from Hawaiʻi have written poems, short stories, and other works in Pidgin. This list included well-known Hawaiʻi authors such as Lois-Ann Yamanaka and Lee Tonouchi. A Pidgin translation of the New Testament (called Da Jesus Book) has also been created.

Several theater companies in Hawaiʻi produce plays written and performed in Pidgin. The most notable of these companies is Kumu Kahua Theater.

Miscellaneous

Pidgin has its own sign language, called Hawaiian Pidgin Sign Language. Most users of Hawaiian Pidgin Sign Language are between the ages of 70 and 90. Ethnologue lists it as "nearly extinct," as most deaf people in Hawaiʻi use American Sign Language with some local signs. [3]

External links

• The Charlene Sato Center for Pidgin, Creole and Dialect Studies, a center devoted to pidgin, creole, and dialect studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Hawaiʻi. Also home of the Pidgin Coup, a group of academics and community members interested in Hawaiʻi Pidgin related research and education
• Position Paper on Pidgin by the "Pidgin Coup"
• Da Hawaiʻi Pidgin Bible (see Da Jesus Book below)
• Da Kine Dictionary, a project to create a Pidgin dictionary

References

• Da Jesus Book (2000). Orlando: Wycliffe Bible Translators. ISBN 0-938978-21-7.
• Sakoda, Kent & Jeff Siegel (2003). Pidgin Grammar: An Introduction to the Creole Language of Hawaiʻi. Honolulu: Bess Press. ISBN 1-57306-169-7.
• Simonson, Douglas et al. (1981). Pidgin to da Max. Honolulu: Bess Press. ISBN 0-935848-41-X.
• Tonouchi, Lee (2001). Da Word. Honolulu: Bamboo Ridge Press. ISBN 0-910043-61-2.

Further reading

• Sally Stewart (2001-09-31). “Hawaiian English”, Lonely Planet USA Phrasebook. Lonely Planet Publications, 262–266. ISBN 1-86450-182-0.
• Speidel, Gisela E. (1981). "Language and reading: bridging the language difference for children who speak Hawaiian English". Educational Perspectives 20: 23—30.
• Speidel, G. E., Tharp, R. G., and Kobayashi, L. (1985). "Is there a comprehension problem for children who speak nonstandard English? A study of children with Hawaiian English backgrounds". Applied Psycholinguistics 6: 83–96.

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