The Origins of Pidgin
Japanese
(grammar, vocabulary)
bocha (bathe),
jankenpo
(rock-paper-scissors game),
shibai (lie, play acting),
tako (octopus)
Hawaiian
(grammar, word order, intonation, vocabulary)
Kanani, akamai ‘oe.
E Kanani smart you
“Kanani, you are smart”
pau (done), niele (curious), ohana (family), hemo (remove)
Cantonese
(reinforcing grammar patterns)
Yáuh yāt ga chē jó-jyuh go chēut-háu.
have one car blocking exit-mouth
“There‘s a car blocking the exit.”
English
(vocabulary)
Most Pidgin words are derived from English, but some have shifted meaning
lawnmower (lawnmower, to mow), pear (pear, avocado), broke (broke, broken, tore, torn), cockaroach (steal), stink eye (dirty look), try (please)
Portuguese
(grammar and vocabulary)
estar (stay)
João está alegre.
John stay happy
Malassada (doughnut),
Babooz (idiot)
Pidgin (with a capital P) is the common way of referring to what linguists call Hawaii Creole, the creole language that emerged on sugar plantations in Hawaii during the middle to late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Whats the difference between a pidgin and a creole?
The terms pidgin and creole (note the lack of capitalization) are technical terms that linguists use to distinguish between two very different forms of speech. The terms can be confusing to some people since they are also used to refer to the names of languages (such as Kriol, spoken in Australia), groups of people, foods (such as Louisiana cuisine), and cultures. For linguists, pidgins are simplified languages that develop as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. Many pidgins have been developed around the world because of trade, plantation systems, and maritime activities.
People who speak pidgin also speak another language as their mother tongue. In contrast, creoles are the languages that are developed by the children of pidgin speakers. As the children grow up, they expand the vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar so that they can use it as their main language of communication. For example while pidgins are often limited to a vocabulary of about 300 words, creoles typically have at least 1000 to 3000 words. We consider this generation to be native speakers of the creole language.
The history of Pidgin
In the 19th century, indentured laborers from China, Portugal, Japan, the Philippines, Korea, and many other nations were brought to work on plantations alongside Hawaiians that were owned and operated by Caucasian North Americans. Pidgin Hawaiian was the first pidgin to develop on plantations in the 19th century, for Hawaiian was the main language of interethnic communication in schools and society until 1875, when the Reciprocity Treaty with the United States was signed. The resulting free trade conditions allowed for a great number of Americans to do business on the islands, and during this time, the number of Hawaiians also declined to fewer than 50,000 because of sicknesses and diseases contracted from the foreigners. From 1878-1888, many English-medium schools were built, and as more laborers children attended these schools year after year, the language of plantations more influenced by English, and the pidgin shifted from Pidgin Hawaiian to Pidgin English. During this time, the vast majority of the population was at least bilingual, for they used Pidgin English on plantations and in interethnic interactions, and they spoke ethnic languages such as Hawaiian, Cantonese, Japanese, Okinawan, Tagalog, Ilokano, and Portuguese in their homes and in ethnically-homogeneous communities.
The role of Pidgin English changed, however, in the beginning of the 20th century, when the second generation of locally born speakers emerged and became equal in number to the foreign-born population. Use of Pidgin English also increased as a result of the high numbers of locally born Japanese who began to attend public schools in the early 1900s. It was likely easier for Hawaiian, Chinese, and Portuguese speakers in schools to communicate in Pidgin English with Japanese than to acquire another language. For this second generation, then, Pidgin English was the dominant language of the school, home and community, and as these children grew older, the language developed into the creole that linguists have labeled Hawaii Creole, the language that was and still is referred to commonly as Pidgin. Modern Pidgin carries all the traces of its past. While English forms much of the vocabulary basis of Pidgin, Hawaiian has had a significant impact on its grammatical structures. Cantonese and Portuguese also shape the grammar, while English, Hawaiian, Portuguese, and Japanese influence the vocabulary the most.
Further readings
Roberts, J. M. 1995. Pidgin Hawaiian: A sociohistorical study. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 10, 1-56.
Sakoda, K., & Siegel, J. 2003. Pidgin grammar: An introduction to the creole language of Hawaii. Honolulu: Bess Press.
Siegel, J. 2000. Substrate influence in Hawaii Creole. Language in Society 29, 197-236.
Siegel, J. 2008. The emergence of pidgin and creole languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.