“Pidgin: The Voice of Hawaii” was a documentary I watched that was premiered on PBS. This film focused on the history behind Pidgin and included interviews of people who spoke Pidgin. Many of these interviews were done by local people and they explained the importance of Pidgin use in their language, daily life, and culture. While I was watching this, I noticed that there were authors featured in this film that were from the Pidgin articles we read for class, such as Kent Sakoda (Linguist and Pidgin Advocate). In the film he provided a great example of Pidgin. He explained how the word “manapua” developed. According to Sakoda, it was reported that it came from “mea’ono pua’a” or “delicious pig thing,” (mea=thing, ono=delicious, pua’a=pig, ) but he did not know when or how it started. Another example he provided was what he recalled his grandmother saying, “You likee banana, you wikiwiki kau kau, mai tai.” This means, “If you want this banana, you quickly eat it, it will be okay” (You likee=English, wiki wiki=Hawaiian, kau kau=Chinese, mai tai=Hawaiian Pidgin English). After observing what his grandmother said, I found it very interesting for kau kau to be derived from the Chinese language. All this time, I thought it was from the Hawaiian language. I felt that this documentary was very informative and gave the audience a take of what Pidgin really is. It invites people to think and learn more about this “language” and how it is key to the local culture and their identity. “Pidgin in Hawaii is like the air in Hawaii. It focuses on the language and the people who speak it and on what it is about Pidgin that seems to make it so much of the glue that holds Hawaii together” (Marlene Booth, Co-Producer).
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