“We Pau ?”: Culturally Responsive Language Assessment of Pidgin (Hawaiʻi Creole)–Speaking Children

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this tutorial is to introduce speech-language patholo- gists to the salient characteristic of the creole language of Hawaiʻi. This lan- guage variety is called Hawaiʻi Creole by linguists, but speakers of the language variety generally call it Pidgin. Conclusions: This tutorial reviews the available literature on this understudied language variety to provide a brief overview of Pidgin’s historical development and social context and its clinically salient linguistic features. Suggestions for culturally and linguistically responsive assessment of Pidgin-speaking children as well as suggestions for further reading on Pidgin are also provided.