It is precisely this process of events that separates Hawaiian plantation pidgin from the pidgin english mainly used in trade and business.

Eventually, pidgin was widely used as a means of communication for the majority of “kamaʻaina” ( locals) throughout the 19th and 20th century, continuously evolving into the present-day vernacular. Pidgin migrated from the plantation camps into the public school classrooms thanks in part to the children that grew up on or around plantation communities. Nativization is “the process whereby a language gains native speakers.” Basically, when pidgin that is used by adults as a secondary language, becomes the primary language of their children, it is known as nativization. It is considered by linguists to be a creole language by way of nativization. With english as the superstrate, the colorful pidgin language of plantation life in Hawaiʻi was born from necessity.

Most plantation owners and managers were english speaking. There were Hawaiians, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Puerto Ricans, Filipinos and Koreans. Plantations across the world normally consisted of foreign laborers, but none as diverse as early Hawaiian plantations. This form of pidgin is usually restricted to business and differs from the plantation pidgin we here in Hawaiʻi have been exposed to. Given the language barrier, pidgin was developed in order for the two groups to conduct business. The etymology of pidgin can be traced to the early Chinese trades with East European merchants. SMALL KINE STORY ON TALKINʻ PIDGIN ( A brief synopsis about Hawaiian Pidgin English) And recently, I became compelled to discover what had led us to speak in Hawaiian Pidgin English. Nevertheless, nothing happens without reason. I accepted it because I heard it all around me. Hawaiian Pidgin English is what we speak. And my personal favorite… “And Wot?! Hah?! Like troʻ?! We go brah?!” was how someone would suggest that we engage in a physical fight. “Ho, I tink dat buggah crack block aʻready” was my cousinʻs reasoning about someone who had lost their mind. “Keoni, go insai dea anʻ peel da lights foʻ Aunty one fass one.” was my Auntyʻs request for me to go into the house and quickly turn off the lights.

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