|
Pidgin is a
language, just as English is a language!
Pidgin is a simplified form of speech that is usually a
mixture of two or more languages, has a rudimentary grammar
and vocabulary, is used for communication between groups
speaking different languages, and is not spoken as a first or
native language. Also called contact language. Here in Maui,
Hawaii many people speak in Pidgin terminology and we all
enjoy the clever adaptations of words, so we design and
manufacture creative pidgin novelty items.
So don't consider Pidgin "broken English" since it is
the Hawaiian language that forms the structure of Pidgin, as
well as providing many of the colorful and descriptive words.
It is also a mistake to assume that anyone speaking Pidgin is
uneducated. Hawaii's Governor speaks Pidgin sometimes, as do
most people who grew up in the islands. It's more appropriate
to consider anyone speaking Pidgin as bilingual, for it is
increasingly recognized as a language in its own right, one
with a very rich and interesting history.
As with other mixed languages, Hawaiian Pidgin
originally developed as a means for people who spoke different
languages to learn to communicate with each other in order to
do business. The first were European and American merchants
who traded iron tools, cloth and other items for supplies of
fresh food and water. Subsequently, contract workers were
brought to the islands from China, Japan, the Philippines and
other places, to work on the sugar plantations. Words and
phrases from each of these languages worked their way into the
language that all understood, the pidgin that has evolved into
Hawaii's unofficial language. |
