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Article: Hawaiian writer Lois-Ann Yamanaka draws praise, criticism for her novel using pidgin English.(Originated from Orange County Register)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- February 28, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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As if storm clouds suddenly have swept onshore, poet and novelist Lois-Ann Yamanaka's normally buoyant tone turns steely as she talks about efforts to stamp out pidgin, the English dialect spoken by many working-class Hawaiians.
``Linguistic identity and cultural identity are skin and flesh,'' Yamanaka says from San Francisco, where she is promoting her first novel, ``Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers.'' ``When you sever one from the other, you make it not OK to be who you are.
``You cannot discuss your grandmother, people who suck fish eye, the customs in your family. You cannot discuss your mother, your father, your religious practices. That stuff is all ...