A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS

OF BLACK ENGLISH AND HAWAIIAN CREOLE ENGLISH

(Sociolinguistics Research)
Tai Lam
California State University, USA
2009

Introduction
All physical aspects of the universe and all the aspects of human life are subject to

change, and there is no exception with language. Individual changes can be unexpected and

obvious, as when new words emerge and become popular. Normally, however, language is

gradually altering, almost imperceptibly, as with the slow alternations in pronunciation, lexicon

or syntax, either when one generation speaks slightly differently from another or when the way

the language is expressed is different from one community from another. Partial linguistic

alternation tends to be the result of two equivalent forms coexisting as variants for some time or

some geographical areas, and one giving way to the other. Two words, for instant, or two ways

of pronouncing the identical word, may coexist in the same speech community, but may be used

by different sub-groups or on different occasions. Owing to historical and geographical

properties, American English has undergone such linguistic trends. American English spoken in

most of the parts in the United States is a set of dialects or varieties of the English language.

Among those are African American Vernacular English (known as Black English vernacular-

BEV) originating from Africa, one of the primary varieties spoken by large population, and

Hawaiian Creole English, based in part on English used by most "local" residents of Hawaii. For

the project research, the article will conduct a linguistic contrastive analysis of these two dialects

in some phonological and syntactic properties.

A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 1/19

Background

Black English Vernacular (BEV)

Black English, is an African American variety or ethnolect of American English spoken

primarily by African Americans. There are many varieties of Black English, including the Krio

of Siera Leone, Caribbean creole, the Gullah dialect on the coast of South Carolina, American

Black English, and others (see Dillard, 1972; McCrum, et al, 1996). For the scope of the research,

the article focuses only on Black English in the North American continent (called African

American English). BEV has a long and complex history. An early theory of the development of

BEV was that it came from the regional dialects of the British slave-owners (variously identified

as Irish, East Anglian, and West Country) (Kövecses, 2000). According to this view, African

slaves learned English as a second language from their colonial masters. Then their children

learned a variety of regional British English from their parents, and Black English is the final

product of this developing process.

Although a BEV speaker's dialect may show signs of regional variation, there are still

many prominent features. The speaker's idiolect could contain all or only a few of these features.

BEV shares several characteristics with Creole English language spoken by people throughout

most part of the world. BEV’s pronunciation, grammatical structures, and vocabulary have

common characteristics with various West African languages. Many features of BEV are shared

with English dialects spoken in the American South. While these are mostly regionalisms (i.e.

originating from the dialect commonly spoken in the area, regardless of color), a number of them,

such as the deletion of copula, habitual resultant state of “be dən” and aspectual marker “bin” are

used much more frequently by black speakers, suggesting that they have their origins in black

speech. The characters of BEV that separate it from Standard American English (SAE) include

changes in pronunciation along definable patterns, many of which are found in creoles and

A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 2/19

dialects of other populations of West African descent; distinctive vocabulary; and the distinctive

use of verb tenses.

Hawaiian Creole English (HCE)

Hawaii has a population of a little over one million people (The most recent census

estimate approximately 1.3 million. Hawaii, the newest of the 50 U.S. states and admitted to the

Union in 1959, is the only state made up entirely of islands. Hawaiian Creole English (HCE) is

an English-based creole language widely used by residents of Hawaii. Although English and

Hawaiian Creole are the coexisting official languages of the State of Hawaii, Creole is used by

many Hawaii residents in everyday conversation and is often used in media toward Hawaii

residents. About 600,000 are estimated to speak a form of Creole language specific to Hawaii.

Hawaii was first visited by Europeans in 1778, and rapidly became an important stopover

for ships involved in whaling operation and trading with Asian countries. At that time, some of

the expressions from the Pacific and Chinese Pidgin English were introduced to this island. The

first sugarcane plantation was established in 1835, and the industry expanded quickly in the last

quarter of the century. During that time, thousands of laborers were brought from China,

Portugal, Japan, Korea, Puerto Rico, Russia, Spain, the Philippines and other countries. With so

many nationalities, a common language was needed on the plantations. Initially, that was

Hawaiian and Pidgin Hawaiian, but later in the century a new variety of pidgin began to arise

and develop. In the late 19th century, immigrant families began to arrive and more children were

born on the plantations. Children learned their parents' languages and picked up English at

school. But the kind of English they spoke on the playground was influenced not only by the

Pidgin English earlier brought to Hawaii, but also by the Hawaiian spoken by their parents, and

by their own first languages, especially Portuguese. By the 20th century, a new Hawaii Pidgin

A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 3/19

English began to emerge with features from all of these sources. This pidgin became the primary

language of many of those who grew up in Hawaii, and children began to acquire it as their first

language. This was the beginning of Hawaii Creole English. By the 1920s it was the language of

the majority of Hawaii's population.

HCE originated as a form of communication used between native and non-native English

speakers in Hawaii and replaced the pidgin Hawaiian used on the plantations and elsewhere in

Hawaii. HCE has been influenced by many languages, including Portuguese, Hawaiian, and

Cantonese, one of the Chinese dialects. As people of other nationalities were brought in to work

in the plantations, Pidgin English acquired words from these languages. Like other creoles and

varieties of American English, Hawaiian Creole English has its own individual system of sounds,

sentences structures and vocabulary.

Black English Vernacular Distinctive Features

Phonological properties

Black English Vernacular (BEV) and Standard American English (SAE) pronunciation

are sometimes quite different. The near uniformity of Black English pronunciation, despite vast

geographic area, may be due in part to relatively recent migrations of African Americans out of

the South as well as to long-term racial segregation. The BEV salient phonological features can

be focused on some of the following aspects:

1. Deletion of /r/

One of the characteristics of BEV is the deletion of /r/. /r/ deletion is common except

when it is followed by a vowel. Thus, the word pairs as examples like: sore – saw, fort-fought,

court-caught, guard-god are pronounced identically. It is this feature that makes BEV non rhotic,

ie. pronouncing /r/ only if it is followed by a vowel sound in the same phrase or prosodic unit,

and thus it is similar to southern, New England, and British English pronunciation.

A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 4/19

 2. Deletion /l/

The /l/ sound is also deleted in Black English under certain phonological circumstances.

This deletion occurs when it is at the word finals and before labial sounds. For examples, the

word pairs like toe - toll, awe - all (/l/ at word final); and hep – help ( /l/ before labial).

3. Consonant cluster simplification

The phonetic process of consonant cluster simplification is another phonological feature

of BEV. This also occurs especially at the wordend and if one of the consonants is alveolar

sound: /t/, /d/, /s/, or /z/. As a result , in BEV, mend is pronounced /mɛn/, past /pæs/, test /tɛs/,

desk /dɛk/. This also occurs for the verb regular past tense endings, as in passed /pæs/, walked

/wɔk/, booked /bʊk/ etc. A final /t/ or /d/ is more likely to be deleted if it is not part of the past

tense -ed than if it is. For example, reduction is more likely to occur in: Bill ran fast (becoming:

Bill ran fas) than in: John passed the teacher in his car.

4. Syllabic /ŋ/ in –ing form is replaced by /n/, such as working / wəkɪn/. This is one of

the best known features of BEV phonology, but it is not unique feature to it. It can be found in

some varieties of Southern and Midland dialects.

5. The pronunciation of “th” sounds

The letters of “th” can represent two different sounds in English: "unvoiced" sound /θ/

as in thought, and a "voiced" sound /ð/ as in that. But in BEV, the pronunciation of this sound

depends on where it is in a word.

- At Initial-position, the voiced sound /ð/ is regularly pronounced as /d/ ('that'

pronounced as dat).

- At medial-position, the unvoiced sound / θ / is often pronounced as /f / (nufn for

nothing) ; While the voiced sound /ð/ may be pronounced as /v/ ( 'brother' becomes

bruvah)

A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 5/19

 - At post-position, “th” is often pronounced as /f/. For instance 'truth' is pronounced as

truf ; 'north' is pronounced norf.

- When “th” is followed by “r” (i.e. thr-), it is possible to pronounce as / f / as in frow

for 'throw'. When the preceding sound of “th”is a nasal (n or m), it is often

pronounced as /t/ as in tent for 'tenth'; mont for 'month'.

6. Nasals consonants and front vowels:

In many varieties of English, the vowels /i/ in pin and /e/ in pen sound different in all

words. But in BEV, pin and pen are pronounced with the same vowel because these sounds /i/

and /e/ are merged before a nasal. This is salient distinctive feature of BEV in the northern

United States.

7. Diphthongs:

A complex speech sound or glide that begins with one vowel and gradually changes to

another vowel within the same syllable, as /ɔi/ in boil, or /ɑi/ in fine is called diphthong. This

means that when the vowel is pronounced, the tongue starts at one place in the mouth and moves

as the vowel is being pronounced. But in BEV, the vowel, for instant, in 'night' or in 'my' is often

not a diphthong. So when pronouncing the words with this diphthong, BEV speakers do not

move the tongue to the front top position. So 'my' is pronounced /ma/.

8. Stress and intonation.

BEV often has heavy initial stress in disyllabic words: pólice for políce, défine for defíne.

Grammar

1. Copula “Be” deletion

In BEV, the copula (verb “to be”) is absent in situations where SAE and many varieties

of English would use it, particularly when it can be contracted in SAE. For example: He Ø nice.

A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 6/19

(He is nice). But in cases where contraction is not possible, full form of copula is used. E.g. How

beautiful you are; Here I am.

2. Subject-verb Agreement in present tense

In BEV, the 3rd person singular is not marked by inflecting –s to the present verb.

e.g. She want to go; He need a book.

3. Aspectual markers

Be

The most distinguishing feature of BEV is the use of habitual “be” as aspect marker. The

use or lack of a form of ‘be’ can indicate whether or not the performance of the verb is of a

habitual nature. In SAE or some varieties of AE, this can be expressed by using adverbs of

frequency such as usually.

For examples: She be late. (She is always/usually/repeatedly late); He goin' (He’s going),

showing the simple progressive form. While “He be goin'” (He goes frequently or habitually.

Better illustrated with "He be goin' Sundays.”) indicating habitual-continuative aspect.

Bin

Another aspectual marker (stressed) “BIN”is used to situate an activity or state in the

remote past. The “going”, for example, in “She BIN going” started at some point in the remote

past and continues up to the moment of utterance (i.e. the point at which the speaker produces

the sentences using BIN), while the “going” event in “She BIN went” ended at some point in the

remote past, thus “went a long time ago”.

A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 7/19

 Dən

African American English uses the verbal aspectual marker dən to denotes that an event

has ended. For examples:

I told him you dən changed. (I told him that you have changed);

People would say that medicine I’m taking dən made me sick. (…medicine I’m taking has

made me sick)

5. Preverb markers “finna” and “ steady”

Finna (including variants fixina, fixna, and finna) indicates that the event is imminent; it

will happen in the immediate future. In SAE, in is indicated with the phrase : “to be going /to be

about “. “Finna” precedes non-finite verbs. (Green, 2002: 70)

e.g. I don’t know about you, but I’m finna leave.

(I don’t know about you, but I’m getting ready/ about to leave)

The marker “steady” (also pronounced as “study”) precedes a verb in the progressive to

convey the meaning that an activity is carried out in an intense or consistent manner. (Green,

2002: 71)

e.g. They want to do they own thing, and you steady talking to them. (attested)

(They want to do their own thing, and you’re continuing to talk to them.

6. Negatives and Multiple Negation

BEV has a number of ways of marking negation. Like other varieties of American, BEV

uses ‘ain't’ to negate the verb in a simple sentence.

e.g. I ain't step on no line. (I don’t step on the/ a line)

I said, "I ain't run the stop sign," and he said, "you ran it!" ( I haven’t run the stop sign…)

I ain't believe you that day, man. (I didn’t believe you that day)

A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 8/19

 The most striking features of African American English grammar is negative concord,

popularly called "double negation" or “ multiple Negation”, as in “I didn't go nowhere”; if the

sentence is negative, all negatable forms are negated. This contrasts with Standard English,

where a double negative is considered a positive (although this wasn't always so). There is also

"triple" or "multiple negation", as in the phrase “I don't know nothing about no one no more ” (I

don't know anything about anybody anymore).

7. Existential “it” and “dey”

“It” and “dey” occur in constructions in BEV that are used to indicate that something

exists, while “there” is used with the verb “to be” in SAE. The following sentences called

existential constructions can be used to mean “ There is some coffee in the kitchen” (Green,

2002):

e.g. – It’s / it got / it have some coffee in the kitchen.

– Dey / Dey got / Dey have some coffee in the kitchen.

Hawaiian Creole English Distinctive Features

Phonological features

Like African American English, Hawaiian Creole English has its own individual

phonological system. Although most of its consonants are similar to many varieties of American

English, the vowels are somehow quite different. The followings are phonological features that

HCE possesses.

1. Deletion of /r/

The 'r' is reduced after some vowels -- for example: baking for 'barking' (pronounced

like bahking) , sked for 'scared' and fo for 'for'. Sometimes, the final 'r' is changed to another

vowel, as in dia for 'dear' and welfea for 'welfare'.

2. Pronunciation of alveolars /t/, /d/, /s/

A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 9/19

 For many speakers, the alveolar 't' sound is usually pronounced as 'ch' before 'r', as in

chri (chree) for 'tree’; and the 'd' sound is pronounced as 'j' before 'r', as in jril for 'drill'. When

in fast speech, the 's' sound is pronounced as 'sh' before 'r' or 'tr', as in groshri for 'grocery' and

shchrit (shtreet) for 'street'.

In words from English, many speakers of HCE pronounced /t/ or /d/ instead of the /th

sounds. E.g. /tink/ for 'think' and /dis / for 'this'.

3. Vowels

For most speakers of HCE, the 'ee' sound in 'seen' and the 'i' sound in 'sit' are pronounced

similarly, or somewhere in between. The sound of the 'u' in 'put' or 'oo' in 'good' is pronounced

similarly to the sound of the 'u' or in 'put' or 'oo' in 'pool'.

4. Intonation

One of the most striking characteristics of Hawaii Creole is in the intonation pattern. It is

the intonation of “yes/No” questions. In SAE or most varieties of American English, the pattern

or such questions are tone-rising, ending at higher pitch or tone of voice. But in HCE, it is falling

patterned, dropping to lower pitch in the last syllable.

In addition, some Hawaii Creole words which come from English differ slightly in

pronunciation because a different syllable is emphasized most, or stressed. In the following

examples, the stressed syllable is shown in bold letters: dikshaneri (dictionary), harakein

(hurricane), aelkahol ('alcohol')

Grammar

Besides phonological distinct features, HCE also has distinct grammatical forms not

found in SAE, but some of which are shared with other dialectal forms of English or may derive

from other linguistic influences.

A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 10/19

 1. Copula “Be" deletion:

Copula “be" is omitted when referring to inherent qualities of an object or person,

forming in essence a stative verb form. Additionally, inverted sentence order may be used for

emphasis. (Many East Asian languages use stative verbs instead of the copula-adjective

construction of English and other Western languages.)

e.g. Da baby cute. (or) Cute, da baby. (The baby is cute)

These constructions also mimic the grammar of the Hawaiian language. In Hawaiian,

"nani ka pēpē" or "kiuke ka pēpē" is literally "cute, the baby" and is perfectly correct Hawaiian

grammar meaning in English: "The baby is cute."

But when the verb "to be" refers to a temporary state or location, the word stay is used.

For example:

Da book stay on top da table. ( The book is on the table.)

Da water stay cold. (The water is cold.)

2. Tense and aspect

- HCE has no subject-verb agreement in present tense.

e.g. Da cat eat da fish (The cat eats the fish)

- To express past tense, wen is used as auxialiary verb before the main verb.

e.g. Dey wen paint his skin (They painted his skin)

- Showing a future event, HCE uses auxiliaries “go”,” gon”, or “gona” before the main

verb. e.g. You gon turn in your paper late? (Are you going to turn in your paper late?)

- Progressive form may be indicated in three different ways by inserting ste (stay) before

the verb, either with or without the -ing ending, or just by the gerund form of the verb (–ing

form).

E.g. Da cat stay eat da fish; Da cat stay eating da fish; Da cat eating da fish.

A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 11/19

 (The cat's eating the fish)

3. Negatives

HCE has four ways of making negatives: using nat (not) while copula is reduced; no

before ste, and modals such as “can” before verbs without any tense/aspect markers; neva (never)

before verbs in past tense negatives; and nomo (no more) for 'there isn't/aren't'.

E.g. : Now you not da head man. (Now you're not the head man)

Da cat no stay in da house. (The cat isn't in the house)

Joe no can play. (Joe can't play.)

Da cat no eat fish. (The cat doesn't eat fish)

I never do em. (I didn't do it). ( om /em is used as accusative pronouns for 'him, her. it')

No more kaukau in da house. (There isn't any food in the house)

4. Other grammatical distinctive features:

- The word “get” , “haed (had)” is used in existential constructions for 'there is/are':

e.g. Get too much tourist nowadays (There are too many tourists nowadays)

- Haed (had) is used for 'there was/were':

e.g. Had dis old green house. (There was this old green house)

Contrastive Analysis

After exploring some of the distinctive features of both English-based “dialects” or

“variations” Black English and Hawaiian Creole English, the following analysis will be

involving the similarity and differences between the two dialects in some of phonological and

grammatical properties. In phonology, both BE and HCE have many distinctive features of its

own. In phonological features, the similarity of the two studied “languages” is the deletion of /r/

when appearing after vowels. But there’s a bit dissimilarity is that, the final /r/ is changed to

another vowel in HCE, e.g. dear /diə > /dia /, while it does not occur in BEV. Another salient

A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 12/19

phonological feature is the pronunciation of the consonant cluster /th/. Both dialects pronounce

voiced /th/ as /d/ when in SAE /ð/, E.g. this / dis/, that /dat/. But in HCE, voiceless /th/ sound

(SAE /θ/ ) is pronounced as /t/, in BEV as /f/. e.g. think /tink/ in HCE, /fink/ in BEV. One can

also observe that HCE pronounces /th/ sound more simply than BEV does. It is the case that in

BEV, the pronunciation of /th [θ]/ sounds can be voiles /f/ or voiced /v/ depending on where it is

in a word as mentioned above (nuf for nothing, bruvah for brother). Hawaiian speakers

pronounce the cluster /tr-/ (as /ch/ and /dr-/ as /j/ ) differently from SAE speakers, while BEV

speakers do not make much different. In word stress, HCE speakers prefer to shift stress to the

back (dictionáry : dikshanéri ), while BEV speakers to the front in disyllabic words (po1lice)

There are some slight distinctive features in vowel alternative pronunciation between HCE and

BEV and between individual dialect to SAE.

In grammatical features, the first common feature is the copula absence. It shows that the

patterns of use of copula absence in HCE parallel those of Black English in terms of the

constraints on the grammatical category. Copula absence has been the center of the debate in

terms of the possible links between BEV and Caribbean creoles, English-based creoles or group

of creoles in the Commonwealth Caribbean, and between HCE and East Asian languages. The

second similarity between the two dialects is that there’ no subject-verb agreement, in both

dialects, the 3rd person singular is not marked by inflecting “–s” to the present verbs. The third

common phenomenon can be seen in existential constructions in both variations. BEV uses “it’s,

it got, it have, ” or “dey, dey got, dey have ” while HCE uses “get” in present tense and “had

[haed]” in past tense. To show a immediate future event or future intention, BEV speakers use

“finna” preceding the main verb; HCE speakers use “go”, “gon”, or “gonna”. A remarkable

similarity is that “stay” is used as preverb marker in progressive form (SAE : be+-ing) in HCE

while “steady” is used in BEV to convey the meaning that an activity is carried out in an intense

A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 13/19

or consistent manner. Negative expressions in individual dialects are also the properties that

cause attention. In BEV, “ain’t” is used to negate the verb in simple sentences, and the most

striking features is “multiple negation” of BEV. In HCE, there are some ways to make negations,

some negative “adverbs” as “nat”, “no”, “neva “(never) and “nomo” (no more) are used in the

sentences. However, BEV uses aspectual markers be, BIN, and dən to indicate specific meaning.

These markers occur in well-defined environments, and they have unique stress patterns. It is this

feature that makes BEV own its particular characteristics. While HCE only uses “wen” as

auxiliary verb employed to express past tense.

Conclusion

Language use is contextual, and speakers have options to choose the variety that fits

whatever context they are in. Due to ethnic varieties, the U.S. is linguistically diverse because of

the multitude of languages spoken in this land, but one can also find diversity within these

languages. All languages have both dialectical variations and registral variations. These can

differ in phonology, lexicon, and/or syntax from the Standard Language that is often thought of

as official language. It depends on by whom, where, and in what situation the dialect is used as

to whether or not it is appropriate. Most people are familiar with regional dialects, such as

Northern, The Coastal South, The Midland , the Western or Southern. Black Americans are

popular with their Black dialects, Hawaiian residents use their Hawaiian creole or pidgin. These

types of variations usually occur because of immigration and settlement patterns. People tend to

seek out others like themselves. Regional variations tend to become more pronounced as the

speech community is more isolated by physical geography, i.e. mountain ranges, rivers.

Linguists have done plenty of studies on regional dialects. Among them was Kurath who was

named the dire tor of an ambitious projects called The Linguistic Atlases of the United States and

Canada (Kovecses, 2000). Many linguists can tell where a person is from just by knowing

A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 14/19

whether a social indicators - the speaker, and often the listener, is not aware that these items are

socially significant in revealing one’s social status, so the speaker makes no attempt to avoid

them when speaking in a more formal style. Using "in" for "ing", as in "goin" is universal across

status groups, but it is found almost twice as often in the lower working class than in the lower

middle class, and almost four times more than in the upper middle class" (Ferguson 61). To sum

up this paper, let me extract a concluding remark from Victoria Fromkin et al (2006) : “All living

languages change regularly and continually through time… In spite of the differences between

languages or dialects, there is a vast number of ways in which languages are alike. That is, there

are language universals as well as differences.”

A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 15/19

 Works cited / References

1. Fromkin, Victoria et al. 2006. An Introduction to Language, 8th Edition. Wadsworth

Publishing. USA.
2. Green, Lisa J. (2002), African American English: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
3. Labov, William (2001), Principles of Linguistic Change, II: Social factors, Oxford: Blackwel
4. Labov , William. 1998. Language Variation and Change. University of Pennsylvania, USA.
5. Rickford, J. Russell et al. 2000. Spoken Soul-The Story of Black English. John Wiley & Sons,
Inc.
6. Rickford, John (1999), African American Vernacular English, Blackwell
7. Sakoda, Kent & Jeff Siegel (2003). Pidgin Grammar: An Introduction to the Creole

Language of Hawaiʻi. Honolulu.

8. Sally Stewart (2001-09-31). "Hawaiian English". Lonely Planet USA Phrasebook. Lonely
Planet Publications. pp. 262–266.
9. Sampson, Geoffrey (1997), Educating Eve: The "Language Instinct" Debate, London:
Cassell.
10. Sidnell, Jack. African American Vernacular English (Ebonics). School of Languages,
Cultures and Linguistic, University of New England (Australia)
11. Speidel, Gisela E. (1981). "Language and reading: bridging the language difference for
children who speak Hawaiian English". Educational Perspectives 20: 23–30
12. Taylor, Hanni (1989). Standard English, Black English, and bidialectalism: A
controversy. New York: Peter Lang.
13. Wardhaugh, Ronald (2002), An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, Blackwell.
14. Winer, Lise (1993). Teaching speakers of Caribbean English Creoles in North American
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A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 16/19

Appendix 1

African American Vernacular English Data Texts

(Adapted from Bengt Loman, Conversations in a Negro Dialect. Washington DC: Center for Applied
Linguistics, 1967.)
Mike: Jo Ann Hayes an' nem not my girl frien'.
Cause I took deir ball an' ney ain' gettin' i' back.
Greg: You took my tennis ba', an' I got dat back too, boy.
Mike: I t'rew your tennis ball up on'ne roof!
You got Harry Lee tennis ba', you do.
Greg: So you th'ow mines up dere an', keep Harry Lee's.
Mike: So, 'pose Harry Lee tell your mother now. (laughs)
Greg: I migh' tell my mother dat you t'row mines up dere on'ne roof.
Mike: Aw Gregory let' talks ... slowly, slowly, Gregory. ...
How did you like Marsha' Hall, Gregory?
Greg: How did YOU like Marsha' Hall? You fell down an' --
Mike: I was scare' when I got in'na scary house.
Greg: I know you scare', you a'ways be scare' you little skinny self.
Mike: --because we were bumpin' up into peopuh.
Greg: So, we bump up to de people, it's fun.
Mike: S'pose you would'a slug your hea' ...
into another man hea', now (laughs)
Greg: 'pose, 'pose a glass break up on your hea'.
What you do abou' da', i' bus' all up.
Mike: S'pose Superman would'a slug your head in!
.......... (some conversation skipped).........
Mike: Gregory. Gregory. How many trophies did you win?
Greg: You didn' win none!
Mike: None! I bet you. (laughs)
I bet you I won a footba'.
Greg: You ain' won no football.
Mike: Yeah I did so! I won a footba'
an' Marsha' t'rew it up on'ne roof. (laughs) Now--
Greg: Who, Michael Smif?
Mike: Marsha'.
.......... (some conversation skipped).........
Greg: Gi' me five. Michael. Jus' fi'.
Mike: Two.
Greg: Da's five. Now le' me gi' you thi'ty.
A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 17/19
 I wou' gi' you thirty, but's your han's so dirty! (laughs)
Mike: You got me that time, didn' you Gregory.
Greg: You could a did dat on me too.
You ain' look out, I'm gon' get you back one mo' time.
Mike: I bet you a nickel da' I be lookin' sharper dan you tonight.
Greg: No you won'.
Mike: You wanna bet?
Greg: No you ain'.
You come here wit your shir' goin' a way down here,
an' your shir' stickin' out. So be quiet, big mouf.

Appendix 2
Eye of Hawaii
Pidgin is a beautiful, expressive language. It was originally created so that the
immigrants, the Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese and Filipinos as well as the Hawaiians
and the Americans could do business. What evolved is a true language. Almost all
people who live here weave some pidgin into their daily conversation, education and
upbringing notwithstanding. The tourist or newcomer should listen and attempt to
understand it, but refrain from speaking it unless very capable of doing so. Here are
some examples of the more common pidgin you will hear on Big Island. I have
attempted to give you a pronunciation, where necessary and an example of usage.

akamai (ah-kah-MY). Smart, intelligent. Actual Hawaiian word as well. Dat Jimmy Boy plenny akamai.
He wen mek one computah.
any kine (enee kyne) . Anything. No listen to dat tita, she say any kine, brah.
an den (en den). What's up or expression of boredom. An den? Coasteeng, brah,
how you?
ass why. That is the reason. Grind too much, ass why you come so momona.
boddah you? Are you disturbed by this? Darlene wen go foa da beach wid me. Wot?
Boddah you?
brah. Brother. Eh, brah, get one nuddah beer?
brok da mout. Broke the mouth. Absolutely delicious. Ho, Tutu's malasadas so ono, brok da mout.
bruddah, braddah. See brah.
buggah. A chap, fellow. Ho, lolo dat buggah, Junior.
bumbye. By and by, eventually. Eh! You get dirty lickins bumbye you no stop dat!
choke. A vast amount. Ho, get choke mangoes dis yeah, brah!
cockaroach. To steal. Eh, who wen cockaroach all da manapua?
da kine. The kind. The ultimate pidgin phrase. Can mean virtually anything. 1)Eh, you get any da kine?
2)Ho, brah, dat's da kine. 3) She wen da kine foa get da kine foa da kine.
da cute. Oh how precious! Did you see Pua's new keiki? Da cute!
foa. For, used in place of "to". Easy foa say, hahd foa do.
geev 'um. Give them. Go for it. Ho, look at Waltuh Boy on dat beeg wave. Eh, geev
'um, brah!

A Contrastive Analysis of BEV & HCE Lam page 18/19

grind. To eat. So what you like grind? We no moa da kine. No worries, brah, I grind any kine.
hana hou. Once more, again. Chee, LaVerne, do dat hana hou!
haole (HOW-lay). Person of Anglo persuasion. Another actual Hawaiian word.Can be explanatory or
insulting. 1)My mom guys all haole, but my dad guys Hawaiian. 2) @#$*@ haole!
hapai (ha-PIE). With child. Charlene wen come hapai, ass why she no moa surfing.
howzit? How are you? Eh, howzit, brah. You get any da kine?
kay den. All right. Kay den, I no show you mine.
like beef? Would you like to fight with me? Not a choice of entrees. Eh, haole boy, you like beef? Kay
den.
lolo. The antithesis of akamai. Not smart. Dat Junior, he so lolo he wen call Dwayne one mahu an he wen
crack him. Now Junior stay all bus up.
mahu. A homosexual. See above.
moke (rhymes with coke). A very big, very local Hawaiian. See Dwayne in definition of lolo.
momona (mo-MO-nah). Actual Hawaiian word, meaning obese or ripe. In pidgin it
always means fat. I thought Charlene stay momona, but she come hapai
no can. Unable to. I like foa go, but no can.
no moa. Completely out of, no more, none. Chee, we get no moa da kine. Bummahs.
one. Used in place of "a". Eh, can get one ride foa da beach, brah?
ono (OH-no). Actual Hawaiian word, meaning delicious. In pidgin can also mean
several other things. Ho, Junior, look at dat Charlene. She so ono, yeah?
pau (pow). Actual Hawaiian word, used constantly, meaning finished or done. Chee, I
thought you pau already!
pau hana (pow HAH-nah). Another actual Hawaiian phrase. Means after work.
Also after work drink. Junior wen bus up his truck. Get too many pau hana.
slippah (SLEE-pah). Thong, slipper. Chee, I wen bus my new slippah in dat
puka.
stink eye. Dirty look. Ho, brah, Pua wen spok me in da cah wid Charlene an
geev me stink eye.
tita (TIT-ah). Usually large, always tough, very local female version of moke. Eh, brah, nevah mess wid
dat tita, she go'n bus you up.
try. Please. Try wait, eh? I come back bumbye. Get plenny customahs.

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