28 My proposal is that there should be a single mental complement SOMETHING which may take a de-
terminer such as THE SAME or THIS, but from what I have argued so far, it would not be possible to choose between these two competing syntactic specifications.
I would like to bring in one additional piece of evidence to support my proposal. It seems to me that one should be able to say, in the metalanguage, sentences like:
76 I said something else 77 I wanted you to think something else
78 I didn’t know anything else
Unlike the NSM determiners THIS and THE SAME, which may serve as substantives by themselves, the primitive OTHER occurs only in combination with a substantive. If we allow the combination OTHER
THING i.e., something else as a mental complement, it would seem rather odd not to also allow the combinations THIS THING and THE SAME THING. If we allow these two combinations as mental
complements, then we can reduce our inventory of mental complements by removing THIS and THE SAME. The resulting system would be more economical and symmetric.
2.7.3 Conclusion
In this overview of NSM theory, I have described the three constraints on definitions which form the basis of NSM semantic analysis. I next linked NSM theory to Leibniz’s search for universal semantic
primitives and discussed how NSM has followed Leibniz’s original program and expanded it to include large-scale cross-linguistic verification. I presented a summary of the NSM specification as the tangible
result of progress to date under this paradigm of semantic investigation. I concluded with a criticism of a few aspects of NSM, noting where my proposed changes affect my search for primitive combinations in
HCE. We are now ready to proceed to the proper subject of this study.
29
Chapter 3 Hawai‛i Creole English
3.1 History
Roberts’ 1995 study divides Hawai‛i’s pre-HCE linguistic history into four stages: Stage 1: 1790–1820
The emergence of pidginized Hawaiian PH Stage 2: 1820–1850
The emergence of mixed varieties of PH The emergence of English-based jargon
The establishment of PH in plantations Stage 3: 1850–1876
The acquisition of PH by Chinese plantation workers Stage 4: 1876–1900
The acquisition of PH by large numbers of immigrant workers from various linguistic backgrounds, especially Japanese, Portuguese, and
Filipino The gradual supplanting of PH by mixed PH and pidginized English
According to Roberts p. c., it is difficult to pinpoint an exact time for the emergence of HCE, but HCE was undoubtedly in vigorous use by 1910, at least in certain areas. Sato 1989:193 suggests that
HCE usage reached its peak in the 1930’s. Consequently, one can extend Roberts’ time line in the following manner:
Stage 5: 1900–1930 The emergence and spread of HCE
Sato 1985:265–267 identifies several factors which have contributed to the relatively recent displacement of HCE with SE. At the onset of World War II, the Japanese, Hawai‛i’s largest group of
immigrants, became particularly motivated to speak SE as a token of their loyalty to America. This, together with
the diversification of Hawai‛i’s economy, statehood
1
, the rise of the economic and political status of SE, and pressure from the educational establishment have conspired to bring about the decline of HCE in
Hawai‛i. So, we can tentatively add yet another stage in Hawai‛i’s linguistic development: Stage 6: 1940–present?
Widespread decreolization of HCE Decreolization, however, does not appear to be the end of the story. As we shall see, the
socioeconomic forces which gave rise to decreolization do not remain stationary.
1
There is an amusing anecdote that following statehood, Lippy Espinda a popular local personality and an informant for Labov 1990 set up a sign at his place of business which read “Statehood – Congratulations, we all
haoles now. ” Haole is the vernacular, somewhat pejorative term, for mainland Caucasians.
