Sociolinguistic situation

Since its development, Hawai‘i Creole has been used mostly as the informal language of families and friends, and has been considered an important badge of local identity, i.e. the language of people born and bred in Hawai‘i, especially ethnic Hawaiians and descendants of plantation laborers. Attitudes towards the language have always been ambivalent. While recognized as being important to local culture, it has at the same time been denigrated as corrupted or “broken” English, and seen as an obstacle to learning Standard English, the official language of the schools, government and big business.

In recent years, however, there has been a great deal of advocacy for Hawai‘i Creole which has resulted in changing attitudes and use in wider contexts. The turning point may have been in 1987 when the state Board of Education attempted to implement a policy which allowed only Standard English in the schools. Instead of being well-received by the community, there was a strong negative reaction from parents, teachers, university faculty and other community groups. The policy was seen as discriminatory and as an unfair attack on Hawai‘i Creole and on local culture in general (Sato 1989, 1991). The debate generated many letters to local newspapers and much discussion on radio and television, the majority strongly supporting Hawai‘i Creole. Similar debates have erupted since then (the most recent in 1999 and 2002), as educational administrators and some members of the public seek to blame Hawai‘i Creole for poor state results in national standardized tests in reading and writing.

Since 1998, a group of people, mainly from the University of Hawai‘i at Mãnoa, have been meeting regularly to discuss linguistic, sociolinguistic and educational issues concerning Hawai‘i Creole. This group is called “Da Pidgin Coup” (all puns intended). Following the public debate in 1999, the group wrote a position paper, “Pidgin and Education”, as a basis for discussions with education officials and teachers, and for public education efforts as well. The aim was to provide information, backed up by research, about the complex relationship between Hawai‘i Creole and English, and about the equally complex issues surrounding the use of Hawai‘i Creole in education. (The position paper can be accessed at <www.hawaii.edu/sls/pidgin.html>.)

The expanding domains of Hawai‘i Creole have mainly been in the area of literature. Over the past decades, the use of the language in short stories, plays and poetry has increased dramatically. Most notable are the works of Milton Murayama, Darrell Lum, Ed Sakamoto, Eric Chock, Gary Pak, and Lee Tonouchi (e.g. 2001). The novels of Lois-Ann Yamanaka, with their use of Hawai‘i Creole in both narration and dialogue, have been successful outside of Hawai‘i as well. The most remarkable extension of use of the language has been in the translation of the New Testament (Da Jesus Book), published in 2000. Over 11,000 copies were sold in the first year it appeared.

Nevertheless, Hawai‘i Creole remains primarily a spoken language. Speakers range on a continuum from what is called the “heavy Pidgin” or “full-on Pidgin” (the basilect, or variety furthest from Standard English) to a lighter form of the creole (the acrolect, closest to Standard English). The majority of speakers speak varieties in between (the mesolects) and can switch back and forth between lighter or heavier forms of the creole as required by contextual factors such as interlocutor, topic, setting and formality. A large proportion of speakers are also completely bilingual and can switch between the creole and a form of Standard English.

There is a widespread belief that this continuum is a result of “decreolization”, or a gradual change taking place in Hawai‘i Creole which is resulting in it becoming more and more like English. However, evidence exists that such a continuum of variation existed from the earliest days of the language. Furthermore, the desire to project a separate local identity will most likely ensure that the language remains distinct from English. Nevertheless, there is no general agreement about what really constitutes “Pidgin” in Hawai‘i. For some people, it means the basilectal variety, with its grammatical rules that are very different from those of English. For others, it means using only the local accent and some local vocabulary items.

We will focus on the variety that differs most from Standard English, i.e. the basilect, but we will mention significant variants in the mesolectal varieties that are closer to English. It must be kept in mind, however, that with the nature of the creole continuum, there is a great deal of intra- and inter-speaker variation. Furthermore, with the high degree of bilingualism, the Hawai‘i Creole of some speakers is affected by English.