Chapter 12
Instructor’s Manual
This chapter covers:
A discussion of the complex relationship between race, ethnicity, class, and language use
in Hawai’i
The difference between a pidgin and a creole
Hawai’ian Creole English, the linguistic diversity of Hawai’i, attitudes about Hawai’ian
Creole English, and linguistic discrimination in Hawai’i
A description of the language policies used for the educational system in Hawai’i
An analysis of a 1983 news report on Hawai’ian Creole English that illustrates the steps
of the language subordination process
Sample answers to the questions from the text and the website
From the textbook
1. Is Hawai’ian Creole a language? Be prepared to argue both sides.
2. First, consider this short excerpt from Lois-Ann Yamanaka’s novel, Wild Meat and the Bully
Burgers (1996:13).
But I can‟t talk the way he wants me to. I cannot make it sound his way, unless I‟m
playing pretend-talk haole. I can make my words straight, that‟s pretty easy if I
concentrate real hard. But the sound, the sound from my mouth, if I let it rip right out the
lips, my words will always come out like home.
Then read Pennybacker’s article (March 1, 1999) on Lois-Ann Kamanaka’s satirical novels set in
the Hawai„ian Islands, and written in Pidgin:
Pennybacker, Mindy. “What Boddah You?: The Authenticity Debate (Lois-Ann
Yamanaka).” The Nation. http://www.thenation.com/article/what-boddah-you-
authenticity-debate
Who objected to Yamanaka’s books, and on what basis? Was censorship called for?
3. Reconsider Lois-Ann Yamanaka’s satirical novels set in the Hawai’ian Islands as well as
Pennybacker’s article on Yamanaka‟s work (March 1, 1999), Talmy (2010) and The Southern
Poverty Law Center’s report called “Prejudice in Paradise” which can be found here:
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all–issues/2009/fall/prejudice-
in–paradise. With more context and historical background, do your opinions about Yamanaka’s
work change? In what way?
From the website
Audio
1. Listen to the samples of HCE and AAVE. Chapter 12 discusses research done by Marlow and
Giles (2008) which discusses how many people believe that *SAE should be used in business and
formal situations rather than HCE. It was noted that the discussion of when to use HCE was
similar to research on attitudes about when AAVE should be used. Why do you think these
similarities exist in the language attitudes of speakers of AAVE and HCE?
2. Listen to the samples of English spoken with a Filipino accent and revisit the information in
the case of Manuel Fragante, the Filipino man who was not hired by the DMV in Hawai‟i
because of his accent. Evaluate the DMV‟s motivation for not hiring Fragante – based on the
information about the case provided in Chapters 9 and 12, what do you think the real reason was
behind the DMV‟s decision?
3. Listen to the samples of the language varieties mentioned in Chapter 12 and examine the
following quote from page 242:
We want the children of the United States to have a thorough command of English, but it
is more than that. We are not satisfied with English as it lives and breathes, English with
a Cuban accent, the English spoken off the coast of South Carolina, or Hawaiʻi Creole
English. We want the right English, the one correct English.
Why do you think that so many people want everyone to speak the “right” English? Why would
English with a Cuban accent, the English spoken off the coast of South Carolina, or Hawai‟i
Creole English not be considered the one “right” English?
Video
“Ha Kim Wi Tawk Pidgin Yet?” Parts 1–4
1. What language ideologies about Hawai‟ian Creole English and *SAE are expressed in these
videos?
Suggested activities and discussion questions
1. Examine the following quote from Chapter 12 (p. 235):
Issues of authenticity and authority have everything to do with who may call themselves
Hawai‟ian and who can claim to be Kanaka „Oiwi or Kanaka Maoli; that is, native
Hawai‟ian (Pennybacker March 1, 1999).
Ask the students if there are similarly complex issues of authenticity and authority in any
communities in which they are a part. If so, what role does language play in claiming group
membership?
2. Consider the following quote discussing the Board of Education’s proposal to ban Hawai’i
Creole English from schools (p. 241):
The 1987 proposal by the school board, then, would have taken this well-established
language spoken natively by more than half a million people and banned it from the
school system. Why was this language, of all the many languages spoken in Hawai„i,
singled out for exclusion? While in Arizona legislatures debate bilingual education for
native speakers of Apache and Spanish, in Hawai‟i it occurs to the school board to ban a
language which, on one end of the continuum, is mutually intelligible with English. Why?
3. Ask your students to discuss the proposal to ban HCE from schools in 1987. What arguments
can they think of to support or oppose the proposal? Ask them to connect these arguments to
4. To enhance discussion of this chapter, please visit the companion website and check out the
audio and video clips available for use in your classroom.