John D. Waiheʻe III on How Hawaiian Pidgin English Reveals the Shared Values of Hawai’i Society

Former Hawai‘i Governor John D. Waiheʻe III believes that Hawaiian Pidgin English expresses the “value systems that each ethnic group contributed to our society.” And while for many years people have pointed to the differences in Hawai‘i culture as its defining factors, Waihe‘e suggests that when we study pidgin and understand the underlying value systems embedded in it, we learn that Hawai‘i society “also [has] a whole lot of communality.” The “language of localism,” he said, “is pidgin.” Waihe‘e shared his thoughts at a Zócalo/Daniel K. Inouye Institute “Talk Story” event titled “Will Pidgin Survive the 21st Century?” which took place at Artistry Honolulu in Honolulu, Hawai‘i.