Living Pidgin: Contemplations on Pidgin Culture

by Lee A. Tonouchi

Literary Nonficion. Essays. Asian-American Studies. Second Edition. A collection of talks and concrete poems by Hawaii's "pidgin guerrilla," Lee Tonouchi. Included in the book are such essays as "Da State of Pidgin Address" and "That Pidgin Th-ang," which combine insight about Hawaiian Creole English (usually referred to as "pidgin") with Tonouchi's usual verve and wit. A must-buy for anyone interested in Hawai`i, in language, in multicultural America.

55 pages, Paperback

First published October 10, 2002

About the author

Lee A. Tonouchi (born circa 1972) is a Hawaii born writer and editor, who calls himself "Da Pidgin Guerilla" because of his strong advocacy of the Hawaiian Pidgin language.

Tonouchi graduated from Aiea High School in 1990. He promotes the idea that the Creole language known as Hawaiian Pidgin is an appropriate language for both creative and academic writing.[1] He was inspired by the works of Eric Chock in the journal Bamboo Ridge.[2] All of his writing, including his Master's Thesis, is in Pidgin. He was an instructor of English at Kapiolani Community College in 2007.[3] He also taught at Hawaii Pacific University during 2005,[4] and later.[5] His works often address family relationship in a humorous way.[6]

(from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Ton...)

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad to have revisited this book, if only for my current non-fiction/essay book project. What I admire about Tonouchi is not only his consistent use of Pidgin throughout the entire body of his critical writing, but also that he himself is quick to point out the contradictions of being "da Pidgin guerrilla," in which he expresses a healthy, militant pride in having written (a portion of) his MA thesis Pidgin for a degree in English, outing the state's governor (at the time, Filipino American Ben Cayetano) and Senator Dan Inouye as speakers of Pidgin, proposing not only Pidgin classes but Pidgin cultures academic departments, but! And here is where it gets interesting, he tells us also that while many student come to him for letters of recommendation, etc for graduate school and for fellowships, he informs them if he were to write a letter for them, said letter would be in Pidgin. He tells them this as a warning, and he tells us that he is wary of bringing students, bringing others into the battle he's fighting and the movement he is trying to incite.

And in dubbing himself "da Pidgin guerrilla," he clarifies for us not only his political position on language and culture, but also that the other locals (educators, writers) who appear to advocate for Pidgin - well, perhaps they don't push enough. He outs Lois Ann Yamanaka for her "language wheel," which basically places all languages within specific social contexts. Tonouchi argues that with the language wheel, "standard english" still dominates as the proper language to speak in school, in government, etc.

These things he writes in the context of the shame and inferior status given to Pidgin speakers, or rather, people who live Pidgin. It has become that people who live Pidgin who have been made to feel they are inferior and bound not to succeed have internalized the shame and inferiority.

I do see Living Pidgin as a creative work, though it clearly is a body of critical work (writing for publication and writing for oral presentation in academic spaces).

[Louis Cabri]

i.e. Hawai'i Creole English