Being born and raised in Hawai’i, I have been exposed to Pidgin my entire life. As a kid, words like bachi, lolo, musubi and malasada were words I knew and understood as being a part of my every day language. Hearing Pidgin on a daily basis, it became difficult for me to know exactly what words came from what origins. To me, it was all a part of one language, not many. It is astounding how so many different languages have come together through a mix of their words, structures and pronunciations to create a creole language unique to Hawai’i.
After reading the article, it was nice to discover that Hawaiian, Hawai’i’s native language, plays such a large role in Pidgin’s vocabulary and structure. Over 100 words in Pidgin come from Hawaiian, more than the 40 or so words from Japanese and the handful of words from languages like Portuguese (Sakoda and Siegel 16). Also mentioned in the article is how important Pidgin is to people in Hawai’i. More and more people are fighting to keep it alive and incorporate it into various forms of media like books, plays and music.
Recently, I read a book by local author, Lois Ann Yamanaka, which was written mostly in Pidgin. Yamanaka has fought to establish Pidgin as a recognizable and important language not only in Hawai’i but overseas as well. Like many people growing up in Hawai’i, Yamanaka feels that Pidgin is a part of her identity. She recognizes, in this article, that Pidgin is “not an ignorant language” but rather a tool that helped her write truthfully. I also found a clip on YouTube of a play called “Once Upon One Noddah Time” written by playwright Lisa Matsumoto. Matsumoto, who recently passed away, was known for popularizing plays performed in Pidgin. As more and more Pidgin speaking people of Hawai’i realize Pidgin’s value and importance, the language will continue to thrive and sustain a crucial role in Hawai’i’s culture.
As a child, it was never, “I speak Pidgin.” What I mean to say is, I never thought to myself that I was speaking Pidgin as opposed to Standard English. But as I have grew older, I found Pidgin was not so readily used and accepted in the academic world of high school. I also met more and more people here who were speaking Standard English as their primary language. The authority and influence of these Standard English speakers is where I developed a view of disdain for Pidgin. Similarly, Yamanaka says, “So sad, you know, the way we hate ourselves in the islands.” She is referring to the way in which people wrongfully feel bad about themselves and Pidgin. But as I thought more and more on it, I came to realize that I have no reason to feel inferior or inadequate over Pidgin. It is a part of me, my parents, my brothers, and my home. It is a language unto itself; just because some people have this negative view unto it, in no way should I feel forced to think the same.
ReplyDeleteI am a foreigner and I did not know what impact have on Pidgin speakers before I take this class. I am very surprised Cantonese contributed a lot to the development of Pidgin with other language, like Portuguese. One time, I asked my local friend whether she speaks Pidgin. She said it is a broken English and she even would not allow her daughter to speak it. It is not useful in the academic field. I believe that Pidgin speaking children can do as well in writing as standard English speaking students. From my perspective, speaking and writing are related to each other. If you can not speak in a standard, you will have a hard time to write it in standard English.
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