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Why does Pidgin predominate in English-speaking countries?
This story weaves a narrative in an unusual fashion. Lisa Kanae only talks about the intricacies of Pidgin English in Hawaii, but she also writes in actual Hawaiian Creole English in which she demonstrates her use of everyday Pidgin of her native Hawaii.
One the right side pages of her writing she reiterates in Standard English, for the most part, what she intends to convey to the reader. On the left side pages of the account, she lays out the actual narration. Her story starts out with a defense of her little four-year old brother, Harold Boy, as she affectionately calls him. Harold Boy suffers from a speech impediment, which has greatly delayed his speech development from the usual age for children of 2-3 years old. As she states not only is her mother concerned that he has developed his speech late but the words will not come out lucidly out of his mouth in the “right” way that can be understood.
The horrific teasing that Harold Boy receives daily is universal in his path. When he boards the school bus, he is amidst other school kids suffering from various sorts of physical and mental disabilities and they try in some way to level their teasing against him. In addition, his teacher, landlady, and even his father, who calls him “short tongue”, unleash unkind criticisms toward this defenseless little boy.
The author stresses the importance of articulation no matter what strain of English you are speaking, whether it be Standard English or just plain slang. The various size and style fonts that she uses emphasize her insight into stressing her levels of expression that she wants to the reader to see from her rendition of Pidgin in Hawaii.
However, there is some relief in Harold Boy’s life when at the end of the day he can enjoy watching “Popeye” and he is able to imitate Popeye’s gestures and his big sister can empathize with him by understanding his form of Pidgin English.
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