

LESSON 2: DIALECT, ACCENT, SLANG, and JARGON Many English speaking students and teachers think that knowledge is best displayed when individual students answer questions in front of the entire class. Many Pidgin speakers do not like to be singled out in the classroom and prefer to do things as a group, reflecting the egalitarian nature of the language. Many English speakers expect steady eye contact because, for them, it shows interest and respect. Many Pidgin speakers look away frequently when talking in order to be polite to the other person. Sometimes Pidgin speakers use different types of body language when compared to English speakers, which can lead to misunderstandings in the classroom. Some words and phrases in Pidgin and English have different pronunciations which may lead to other difficulties because of being viewed as ‘lazy speech’. Note: Linguists agree that stay likely comes from Portuguese estar, ‘to be’Īm or is, but implying a continuing state Note: never in English can only mean that something has not ever happened Past tense negation did/have + n’t + verb Note: some English speakers get confused when they hear Pidgin neva because they think it means ‘not ever’ Past tense –ed or irregular verb past tense (often –t) People often feel Pidgin is broken English’ because they are not aware of which structures are Pidgin and which are English.

Therefore, what is grammatically correct in Pidgin may seem like incorrect English. Pidgin and English have different grammars, despite the fact that the words often sound similar. Note: In Rhode Island, ‘grinder’ is used to refer to sub sandwiches (Pidgin get refers to present tense states/facts)ĭo you have a pen? (English have refers to present tense states/facts) Sometimes the same word can have different meanings across the two languages. However, there are some words that are distinctly Pidgin and some that are distinctly English. Sometimes people get confused when thinking about Pidgin as a language that’s different from English because Pidgin and English vocabulary sometimes overlaps.
#Pidgin english hawaii examples pdf
Check OK or Not OK to indicate whether the sentence would be spoken by a Pidgin speaker.Ģ) If the sentence is Not OK, rewrite it so that it is acceptable.ģ) What did you change? What is the grammatical difference between the problematic version and the acceptable version? Write down a brief explanation of the grammar point.ĭownload Activity 1: Pidgin Quiz as a PDF Pidgin grammar compared to English Work with your group to decide if the sentence is an acceptable Pidgin sentence or not. Wen and –ing forms of verbs are not compatible since wen indicates a completed action and –ing marks ongoing actionġ) Read each sentence one at a time. This would create the unambiguous meaning of ‘She is eating the cake.’ For some, it can man ‘She has eaten the cake,’ while others feel it means that ‘She is eating the cake.’ Some people may feel that She stay eating da cake is also acceptable. This sentence is acceptable, though some Pidgin speakers may debate what it means. Like all languages, Pidgin has variation. Not cannot be used before the verb when it is preceded by stay no is used before stay Alternatives are possible, however, such as Da car stay red (which makes use of stay and indicates a change of state or comment about the speaker’s expectations) as well as Red da car (which follows Hawaiian syntax and may be considered a ‘deeper’ form of Pidgin) Pidgin does not always require the ‘to be’ verb. Pidgin wen acts as a past tense marker, making the past tense marking on seen ungrammatical The purpose of doing this assignment is for students to discover that Pidgin does have a grammar and to consider the implications of this.Ĭorrection (if relevant) and grammar point


If they feel a sentence is unacceptable, they have to correct it to acceptable Pidgin (not English!). Note that the students are not supposed to be translating the sentences to English. Lesson 1: Pidgin Grammar Quizĭirections: Distribute the quiz below to groups of 2-4 students and ask them to work together to determine if each of the following sentences is acceptable in Pidgin or not. However, through doing some of these language awareness activities, they should develop a deeper understanding of Pidgin and its role in Hawai‘i as a language of local identification, connection, and even exclusion. Because many students have not considered Pidgin a ‘real’ language before, it is expected that they will, at first, resist the idea of seeing it as a legitimate language. Objective: The objective of all of the activities in Section 1 is to encourage students to reflect on language as a social force that is directly linked to our history, our culture, and our identities.
