Pidgin: Rhetorical Sovereignty & Language Politics

Pidgin as Rhetorical Sovereignty

• The central theme revolves around exploring Pidgin's role in articulating the rhetorical practices of Indigenous and minority communities within the context of language politics.
• The study focuses on Georganne Nordstrom's perspective.
• The topic is in the context of Hawai'i.

About the Poem

• Noelle Kahanu's poem, "The Question," exemplifies a blend of Standard English (SE) and Hawai'i Creole English (HCE), known as Pidgin.
• It explores the complexities of identity and resistance through language.
• Reading the poem may be initially interpreted as Standard English but the significance of Pidgin enriches the understanding.
• Pidgin speakers used more Hawaiian words prior to English dominance in the language.
• Syntactically, Pidgin closely resembles Hawaiian, especially in structure and inflection.
• Pidgin became a tool for Hawaiian children to resist the English-Only mandates in schools.
• Speaking Pidgin was a form of survival and resistance against linguicide and the loss of nationhood.

Language Politics in Hawai'i

• Pidgin, though associated with immigrant groups, is less examined as an Indigenous linguistic resource.
• Traces the language politics in Hawai'i where the language can be considered both:
  • A minority language identified with the settler Local culture
  • An Indigenous linguistic resource adapted as an act of cultural perseverance (Ellen Cushman).
• Kahanu's poem is published in 'Õiwi, a journal for the revival of Indigenous literary heritage in the Hawaiian archipelago.
• The journal represents rhetorical sovereignty coined by Scott Richard Lyons. Enacting this sovereignty requires Indigenous people to determine communicative modes and goals.
• Kahanu embraces kaona, a Hawaiian rhetorical practice involving aesthetic appeal and survival rhetorics since Western contact. It asserts rhetorical sovereignty.
• The publication venue and incorporation of Hawaiian rhetorical strategies position the text for examining Indigenous and minority rhetorics separately.

Pidgin's Cultural Perseverance

• Language, along with its rhetorical formations, is always part of politics and informs social interactions.
• Examining language use accounts for speakers of 'ōlelo Hawai'i, Creole (Pidgin), and Standard English.
• It will recognize that the rhetorical strategies associated with each language are often intertextual.
• Native people were systematically denied to their language in public and adopt linguistic resources to be heard.
• Reading a text solely through a Western lens, even if the language appears related to English can be remiss.
• Understanding the language politics illustrates why Pidgin is misrepresented as a minority language instead of an Indigenous resource.
• The language's evolution traces back to the plantation era, originating from the need to communicate among ethnic groups and plantation owners.
• Pidgin embodies linguistic resourcefulness for Hawaiians to survive and resist violence.

Rhetorical Sovereignty

• Asserting cultural agency may be notable by adopting a third language to legitimize identity. It makes the language like strategies other Indigenous people have employed.
• Cushman notes that Sequoyah's rejection of Western alphabetic structure is an example of cultural perseverance rather than a lack of English literacy.
• Emphasizing cultural perseverance acknowledges and accommodates change, distinguishing it from cultural or linguistic preservation.
• Broadening Pidgin's scope challenges perceptions of the language as an inferiority marker.
• Using Pidgin resists colonizing efforts and captures a picture of Hawaiian responses to colonialism.
• Reading texts written in Pidgin by Native people is an example of rhetorical sovereignty.
• Locals speaking Pidgin validates their culture and connection to the islands.

Examining the Pidgin Language

• Colonialism in Hawai'i is in terms of the posititionalities of Hawaiians and minority settlers.
• Indigenous rhetorical frames in texts by Indigenous people often unearth counternarratives and thus bring attention to misrepresentations of people and events.
• Minority rhetoric reproduces perceptions of Hawaiians as only victims of Western colonization.
• Indigenous people can be seen as active and politically engaged, who exert rhetorical sovereignty.
• Essential is recognizing how an author is setting the terms of the debate through language use.

Explore Pidgin's role in Indigenous and minority communities' rhetorical practices within language politics, focusing on Georganne Nordstrom's perspective in Hawai'i. Noelle Kahanu's poem exemplifies the blend of Standard English and Pidgin. Pidgin served as a tool for Hawaiian children to resist English-Only mandates, becoming a form of survival and resistance.