Da Word by Lee A. Tonouchi + Author Interview [in aMagazine: Inside Asian America]
Da Pidgin Guy: Lee Tonouchi reclaims his native language
They call him “Da Pidgin Guerrilla.” Bekuz o’ da way he talk. And da fak dat he determined to keep duh langwage of da Locals alive. He no giv up. Evuh. Lee Tonouchi, 28, is an expert in language. As a fourth-generation Hawai’i local with a master’s in English, who teaches at a local Honolulu community college, he champions Pidgin, also known as “hybolics,” as a bonafide form of linguistic expression, specific to the Hawai’i community. Besides writing his graduate thesis in Pidgin, he conducts his every day life in Pidgin. He’s even got a magazine, appropriately titled Hybolics, devoted to reclaiming, preserving, and celebrating Pidgin. His writings have won him an Academy of American Poets Award and two playwrighting contests at Kumu Kahua, the nation’s second oldest Asian American theater company, based in Honolulu. Just arrived on the mainland is Da Word (Bamboo Ridge Press, 144 pages, $15), Tonouchi’s entertaining collection of short stories composed entirely in his native tongue. And he’s not letting anyone correct his English.
Full interview: http://smithsonianapa.org/bookdragon/da-word-by-lee-a-tonouchi-author-interview/