Public sociolinguistics is my wording for an approach to language in society that explores how to engage everyday people in activities, discussions and reflections about language. Since I research multilingual practices and teach in the Department of Second Language Studies, my approach to public sociolinguistics centers multilingual people. Public sociolinguistics has overlaps with participatory and community-based research in applied linguistics that aims to engage real-world stakeholders outside of academia in reflections about language, for the purpose of improving understandings and addressing social problems. It also has overlaps with linguistics for social justice, critical applied linguistics, and engaged linguistics. Through public sociolinguistics, I consider how those of us in academia can design and carry out projects that will consider “the public” as the main stakeholder in the purpose and impact of this research. Below, I list the public sociolinguistics work I have done over the years, often with students.
2026. Writing for the public. In June of 2026, students in a sociolinguistics course (SLS 680U: Public Sociolinguistics), researched and wrote a community voice article for Civil Beat, a newspaper in Honolulu, to advocate for an ASL Interpreter Training Program at the University of Hawaiʻi. Six students worked together to research the history of this issue and to interview multiple stakeholders. They also produced a video outlining the key issues and need for an ITP, which is also a part of the article. The State of Hawaiʻi legislature has funded the first phase of the ITP, but more advocacy is needed to ensure continued development of this program.
2023-present. Hi-signs.net, a website for crowd-sourced linguistic landscape images of multilingualism in Hawaiʻi, featuring Hawaiian, Pidgin, English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Ilokano, Tagalog, and more. Anyone is welcome to upload images of multilingualism in Hawaiʻi through the site, as long as the image is geo-located in Hawaiʻi. Images include hand-written signs, government-produced signs, highway signs, bumper stickers, and more.
2020-present. Multilingual Hawaiʻi, a digital space for documenting and analyzing language. This site invites the public to participate in documenting and analyzing the use of multilingualism in Hawaiʻi's public spaces by providing a repository for crowd-sourced images of signs, links, and videos. The site serves as an invitation to participate in citizen science and as a resource for anyone looking to better understand how Pidgin, Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Ilokano, Samoan, Korean, and other languages are used in society.
2018-present. Resemiotizing the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Through researching the history of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus, interviewing faculty, staff, and students, and collecting relevant archives from the university and state archives, Kapua Adams (MA, 2019) and I worked to design proposed multilingual signage for the UHM campus and to create an accompanying walking tour. The signage invites users to ask themselves, "Aia kākou i hea?" (ʻwhere are we?') as they reorient themselves to the campus through Hawaiian language, geography, and history in the form of moʻolelo, or histories and stories about the campus.
Since 2019, I have partnered with Punihei Lipe at the Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement Office to lead walking tours, or huaka'i, of the campus while new signage is being designed and discussed. These tours offer an embodied version of the semiotic landscape as we draw participants' attention to the natural geography of the campus in addition to the contributions of Hawaiian scholars, educators, and leaders. Ha Nguyen, a doctoral student in SLS, is researching how international students understand UHM as a university striving to become a Hawaiian Place of Learning for her dissertation.
Through researching the history of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus, interviewing faculty, staff, and students, and collecting relevant archives from the university and state archives, Kapua Adams (MA, 2019) and I worked to design proposed multilingual signage for the UHM campus and to create an accompanying walking tour. The signage invites users to ask themselves, "Aia kākou i hea?" (ʻwhere are we?') as they reorient themselves to the campus through Hawaiian language, geography, and history in the form of moʻolelo, or histories and stories about the campus.
Since 2019, I have partnered with Punihei Lipe at the Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement Office to lead walking tours, or huaka'i, of the campus while new signage is being designed and discussed. These tours offer an embodied version of the semiotic landscape as we draw participants' attention to the natural geography of the campus in addition to the contributions of Hawaiian scholars, educators, and leaders. Ha Nguyen, a doctoral student in SLS, is researching how international students understand UHM as a university striving to become a Hawaiian Place of Learning for her dissertation.
2018. ʻŌlelo Paʻiʻai- ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, Pidgin-Hawaiian Summit, UH-Mānoa (October 25, 2018)
Many teachers and students of the Hawaiian language make regular use of
Pidgin in the classroom. In addition, residents of the state often comment
on the similarities between Pidgin and Hawaiian grammar. Scholars of
ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi point out the importance of understanding Pidgin and
Pidgin Hawaiian in researching ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. And, scholars and members
of the community regularly note a strong connection between speaking
Pidgin and identities that are rooted in Hawaiʻi. This talk story conference
invited conversations about these topics and more. Featuring talks by:
Dr. Jason (Iota) Cabral, Ka Haka ʻUla o Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian
Language, UH-Hilo
Dr. Laiana Wong, Dr. Kekeha Solis, Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian
http://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/?p=1654 Language, UH-Mānoa
Pidgin in the classroom. In addition, residents of the state often comment
on the similarities between Pidgin and Hawaiian grammar. Scholars of
ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi point out the importance of understanding Pidgin and
Pidgin Hawaiian in researching ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. And, scholars and members
of the community regularly note a strong connection between speaking
Pidgin and identities that are rooted in Hawaiʻi. This talk story conference
invited conversations about these topics and more. Featuring talks by:
Dr. Jason (Iota) Cabral, Ka Haka ʻUla o Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian
Language, UH-Hilo
Dr. Laiana Wong, Dr. Kekeha Solis, Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian
http://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/?p=1654 Language, UH-Mānoa
2017. Eh, Get Pidgin? Summit on Pidgin and Education, Farrington High School (October 11, 2017)
The Charlene Junko Sato Center is organizing the first-ever summit on Pidgin
and Education for educators in the State of Hawai`i. While an estimated
500,000 residents in the State of Hawai‘i speak Pidgin (also known as Hawai‘i
Creole) as one of their languages, very little attention has been paid to the role
of this language in educational contexts. To start a dialogue about this language
in educational policy and in teacher education in Hawai‘i, we will host a one-
day summit on Pidgin and education will be held on Wednesday, October 11,
2017, during the Department of Education’s Fall Break. More details and free
registration at link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/get-pidgin-summit-on-
pidgin-and-education-in-hawaii-tickets-37256077932?aff=ehomecard
and Education for educators in the State of Hawai`i. While an estimated
500,000 residents in the State of Hawai‘i speak Pidgin (also known as Hawai‘i
Creole) as one of their languages, very little attention has been paid to the role
of this language in educational contexts. To start a dialogue about this language
in educational policy and in teacher education in Hawai‘i, we will host a one-
day summit on Pidgin and education will be held on Wednesday, October 11,
2017, during the Department of Education’s Fall Break. More details and free
registration at link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/get-pidgin-summit-on-
pidgin-and-education-in-hawaii-tickets-37256077932?aff=ehomecard
2016. Get Pidgin? Outreach at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (April and October, 2016)
At this event, Da Pidgin Coup gave away free t-shirts and reusable canvas bags in exchange for a brief activity about Pidgin. We asked people what their experiences were with Pidgin growing up, and what they expected the future of Pidgin to hold. Click here to watch the video-recorded interviews. We also tested their knowledge of good Pidgin grammar and facts about Pidgin. We also invited people to share their favorite Pidgin word and to place it on the map of Hawaiʻi.
2011. Pidgin: How was...How Stay. A permanent installation about Pidgin in Hawaiʻi at the Hawaiʻi Plantation Village Museum, Waipahu, Oʻahu.
In 2011, The Charlene Sato Center for Pidgin, Creole, and Dialect Studies received a small grant to install a new and expanded exhibit on Pidgin at the Hawaiʻi Plantation Village Museum in Waipahu, on the island of Oʻahu. The installation involved archival research at the Bishop Museum and the Hawaiʻi State Archives. The purpose of the exhibit was to show the origins of the language from its early days as a pidgin language (first as Pidgin Hawaiian, and later Pidgin English) through its development as a creole in the early 20th century. The installation also drew attention to more contemporary issues around attitudes towards Pidgin in schooling and beyond. The exhibit showcases both past and contemporary use of Pidgin through a video installation and an exhibit of local kine t-shirts, novels, and comedy performances featuring Pidgin.
In 2011, The Charlene Sato Center for Pidgin, Creole, and Dialect Studies received a small grant to install a new and expanded exhibit on Pidgin at the Hawaiʻi Plantation Village Museum in Waipahu, on the island of Oʻahu. The installation involved archival research at the Bishop Museum and the Hawaiʻi State Archives. The purpose of the exhibit was to show the origins of the language from its early days as a pidgin language (first as Pidgin Hawaiian, and later Pidgin English) through its development as a creole in the early 20th century. The installation also drew attention to more contemporary issues around attitudes towards Pidgin in schooling and beyond. The exhibit showcases both past and contemporary use of Pidgin through a video installation and an exhibit of local kine t-shirts, novels, and comedy performances featuring Pidgin.
|
|
Ha Kam Wi Talk Pidgin Yet? A film about Pidgin, by students at Searider Productions, Waiʻanae High School (2009).
This 20-minute film was produced as a collaboration between Searider Productions and the Charlene J. Sato Center for Pidgin, Creole, and Dialect Studies. Students produced a documentary film that asked "Why is Pidgin still spoken?" as a way to explain the perspectives that people have about Pidgin, the creole language of Hawaiʻi. While Pidgin is increasingly understood as a legitimate language with its origins in the plantation history of the islands, it remains marginalized in society vis-a-vis the hegemony of "proper" English. See: Higgins, C., Nettell, R., Furukawa, G., & Sakoda, K. (2012). Beyond contrastive analysis and codeswitching: Student documentary filmmaking as a challenge to linguicism in Hawai`i. Linguistics and Education, 23(1), 49-61. |
Talking Story about Language is a website I created to provide teachers in K-12 settings with resources for making use of Pidgin in language arts and social science curricula. This website draws on Ha Kam Wi Talk Pidgin Yet? and other materials to engage students in studying language as a means of studying language, history, and more. http://www.sls.hawaii.edu/Pidgin/
