Pidgin Language Recognized by U.S. Census
Recent data from the United States Census Bureau includes Hawaiian Pidgin and Pidgin as recognized “at home” languages.
The U.S. Census received its data from the American Community Survey, which tracked all languages spoken in the United States between 2009 and 2013.
In the State of Hawai’i, 1,275 census respondents reported that they speak Pidgin, while another 335 reported that they speak Hawaiian Pidgin “at home.” Of the individuals who reported that they speak some form of Pidgin, 185 identified as speaking English “less than ‘very well’.”
A total of 1,287,075 people were polled in the state, with 960,182 saying that they speak a language other than English at home.
The data was released last month, showing the top languages spoken “at home” in Hawai’i other than English were: Tagalog (58,345), Ilocano (54,005), Japanese (45,633), Spanish (25,490), and Hawaiian (18,610).
Individuals ages five and above were included in the census data. Of those who spoke a language other than English “at home,” 159,467 reported that they speak English “less than ‘very well’.”