4. Frequency and Occasion of speaking HCE

From time to time, people make choices on the code they use deliberately. Their choices are subjected to the settings and the formality of the contexts. From the data collected, it is found that some values have been encoded to the creole, revealed by the situations in which people use (or do not use) the language. First, the general frequency of using HCE was 2.5 (SD = 1.34) for local HCE speakers and 1.61 (SD = .65) for non-local speakers. The larger standard deviation for the former group showed a greater range in terms of the general frequency of using HCE, which may be related to how they perceive the language which has been discussed in previous articles.

New generations of the local Hawaiians picked up HCE as their first language. Therefore the creole is native to them and they tended to use the language more. For non-local speakers, HCE was not acquired as the first language. The creole to them was basically learned for practical daily use, as well as they can master the language better. It is not native to them and they can only insert some HCE into their daily speech given their lower proficiency in the language. This explains the discrepancy of the overall usage between the two racial groups of HCE speakers.

More importantly, the five selected situations are all daily scenarios. For the sake of discussion, we are putting them into two categories. There are the more formal occasions: Work/Study, Wedding and Classroom; and the more casual occasions: Family Gathering and Chat with Friends. As revealed in the questionnaire results section, local Hawaiians showed a very slightly more frequent use than non-local speakers, and that the language is generally more spoken in casual rather than formal situations.

As another prominent finding in terms of the occasions of speaking HCE, speakers tend to speak more of creole during casual situations. The situational difference about the use of HCE reflects that there are some factors that motivate the speaker to switch their code (here from HCE to Standard English, vice versa). The research result reflects that the factor is likely to be the setting and speech events. (Bassiouney 2006). As mentioned, the choice of language in a multilingual society is associated with the situation in which the language is used; it is not arbitrary (Finegan 2011). From the result, it is obvious that HCE is a language associated with the informal situation where the alternative, Standard English, has a linkage to formal situation. This could provide some insights to people's perception of the languages.

First, in these formal scenarios (Work/Study, Wedding, Classroom), contents are likely to be technical and solemn and the choice of language should be align with a high degree of politeness and the general social norms. Under this circumstance, language users tend to shift to the higher end of on the register spectrum, which is a scale of formality. Here, HCE is not regarded as an appropriate language given the nature of creole. In various short interviews conducted after participants had filled out the questionnaire, they commented HCE as a broken language, showing the unintelligence and lack of education of the speaker. This explains the avoidance of HCE in formal situations in which people should linguistically behave more politely and show more respect. This then reflects HCE does not have great association with these elements required by the formal situations.

On the other hand, there are fewer constraints imposed onto the speakers during casual moments of speech. Language users have less control over their speech and flow of communication is spontaneous. Slangs are common while technical lexical items are rare. Due to the background of speech, speakers are inclined to shift to the lower end of the formality scale. HCE is likely to be found in the utterance as it incorporates rich resources of slangs and nonstandard linguistic items. Through the use of HCE, a low-register variety of language, solidarity and in-group identification are achieved. This is also reflected in some interviews in which interviewees expressed that they may speak HCE when hanging out with friends or having fun (Listen to Interview 5: https://soundcloud.com/linghawaii2013/interview-5), and in the results of the statement response test, where participants agreed on the statement claiming that people speaking HCE are more likely to be considered as part of the local community. This somehow reflects how people perceive the language as their choice of language is closely related to their ideas on the language, especially the appropriateness of the language in different situations.  

References

Bassiouney, R. (2006) Functions of code switching in Egypt: Evidence from monologue. Netherlands: Brill Academic Publisher

Finegan, E. (2011). Language: Its structure and use. US: Wadsworth.