In the 1870s, 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 by the Pidgin English earlier brought to Hawaii, by the Hawaiian spoken by their parents, and by their own first languages, especially Portuguese. By the turn of the century a new Hawaii Pidgin 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. 

With so many nationalities, a common language was needed on the plantations. This was the beginning of Hawaii Creole English. By the 1920s it was the language of the majority of Hawaii's population. At first, this was Hawaiian and Pidgin Hawaiian, but later in the century, a new variety of pidgin began to develop. While the foreign population of Hawaii, mainly American, increased to about 20% of the total population in 1853, the Hawaiian population was reduced to 70,000. This mixed people played the significant role in the creolization of English in Hawaii.

A creole language, Hawaiian Pidgin (Hawaii Creole English) is more commonly spoken in Hawaii than Hawaiian. Some linguists, as well as many locals, argue that Hawaiian Pidgin is a dialect of American English. 

 • the pitch of the voice (varying     
   between low and high)
•  length of sounds (varying
    between short or long)
•  loudness, or prominence 
   (varying between soft and loud)
•  timbre or voice quality (quality 
    of sound)

Prosodic Variation

2) Prosodic Variation