Pidgin Grammar: An Introduction to the Creole Language of Hawaii

Rating:
Summary: Pidgin to da Max
Review: Most non-linguists will find the first two chapters and the conclusion pretty fascinating, but may want to skim the rest of the book because it goes into word classes (which are pretty interesting, actually), phrases, sentence structures and da kine. One of the most interesting sections in the book is called "The current situation." If you look around the newsstands and bookstores in the islands, you will discover that there are books and even magazines in pidgin now! In recent years, the authors explain, advocacy of pidgin has developed in Hawai`i. There is a group at the University of Hawai`i called "Da Pidgin Coup" that has written a position paper on "Pidgin and Education," which is available on the Internet. There are currently many flavors of spoken pidgin, from "heavy" to "light" and variations in between. What helps make this book interesting is that the authors stick pretty much to the "heavy" variety in their exploration of pidgin grammar, so much of the content is somewhat exotic for non-pidgin speakers. There is a good pidgin word list and references at the end of the book.