Language attitudes Hawai‛i Creole English

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3.2 Language attitudes

Negative attitudes towards HCE have persisted both within and without the HCE speaking community. For many ‘haoles’, HCE was that “unintelligible gibberish which passes for English” which is “born of pure laziness” Perlman 1973:3. It is estimated Grimes 1992 that between 100,000 and 200,000 speakers of HCE have a limited command of Standard English SE. It is therefore not surprising that HCE, like many nonstandard low- prestige languages, has not, in general, endeared itself to the well-intentioned members of the educational establishment. Consider the Department of Education’s 1943, quoted in Chang 1976:1 stand on HCE: Pidgin [i.e. HCE] has NOTHING to offer for the future. Because it is a backward, degenerate, parasitic language, our community should disapprove its use by those who are dependent on it. Students were required to “purge” Perlman 1973:3 HCE from their speech, and prejudicial attitudes towards HCE became institutionalized in Hawai‛i’s school system Sato 1985:264. Thus, HCE became stigmatized as the language of the poor, the low class, and the unintelligent Sato 1989:197. In fact, many locals 2 have succumbed to the notion that HCE is nothing more than “bad English” Sato 1985:267 and are ashamed of the language they speak. Only fairly recently have attitudes begun to shift. Tourism, the wave of foreign investment, the inevitable skyrocketing real estate prices, and the resulting economic pressure on local families already stressed by Hawai‛i’s high cost of living have all contributed the growing perception of ‘haoles’ and foreigners as outside threats to local people. Local people, once again feel a need to assert their identity and solidarity. HCE is, of course, an indispensable part of local culture. In 1987, Hawai‛i’s Board of Education’s attempt to ban HCE from the classroom actually served to solidify and mobilize the growing, albeit dormant, resentment against attacks aimed at local culture Sato 1989:202. The public outcry forced the Board of Education to substantially moderate its intended policy while bringing the issue to the attention of the general public. The recent resurgence of literary readings in HCE and the remarkable success of local plays conducted in HCE also bear testimony to this shift in language attitudes. Sato’s discussion 1989:209 suggests that perhaps there is justification for proposing yet another stage in Hawai‛i’s linguistic history: Stage 7: 1987–present Resurgence of Hawai‛i Creole It is difficult to predict whether current economic and political trends will continue in the long run. It is therefore premature to conclude whether this will be yet another major phase in Hawai‛i’s linguistic history or not.

3.3 HCE and cognition