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Hawai'i Creole English as a literary language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2009

Suzanne Romaine
Suzanne Romaine
Affiliation:
Merton College, University of Oxford, Oxford OXI 4JD, England
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Abstract

This article deals with the use of Hawai'i Creole English (HCE) as a written language in a literary or poetic function. It is argued that HCE's lack of what Kloss 1967 calls Abstand ‘autonomy, distance’ presents certain technical problems for writers, and acts as a barrier to further Ausbau (also Kloss's term, ‘elaboration’) in the literary domain, particularly in the novel. Because it has no writing system of its own, HCE is represented as if it were a deviant or non-standard variety of English. In other words, HCE is forced to be a literary dialect rather than a literary language. Some practical problems connected with the elaboration process are examined, such as standardization and related theoretical issues associated with narrative technique. The article concludes by considering the likelihood of successful resolution of these problems within the current political situation in the Hawaiian Islands. (Hawai'i, pidgin, creole, minority language, standardization, Abstand, Ausbau, orthography, literature, narrative, genre)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , September 1994 , pp. 527 - 554
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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