Words R Us

When asked what it would be like if he couldn't speak Pidgin, one Oahu man said "Would take me long time fo' say stuff." Another Oahu man compared speaking Standard English and Pidgin in this way: "When I speak Standard English I gotta tink what I going say... Pidgin, I jus' open my mout' and da ting come out."

wo programs in Hawai`i in the 1980s to early 1990s (Project Holopono and Project Akamai) included some activities to help Pidgin speaking students recognize differences between their language and Standard English. This recognition of the children's home language was further supported with the use of some local literature using Pidgin. Both projects reported success in helping the students develop Standard English proficiency.

When the home language is acknowledged and made use of rather than denigrated at school, it has been found to have these positive consequences: it helps students make the transition into primary school with greater ease; it increases appreciation for the students' own culture and identity and improves self-esteem; it creates positive attitudes towards school; it promotes academic achievement; and it helps to clarify differences between the languages of home and school.

“Thanks to the engines of global commerce, rap is now the most widely disseminated poetry in the history of the world,” he wrote.