Charlene J. Sato's Impact on Society and Education in Hawai'I and Beyond

Abstract

During her lifetime, Charlene Sato remained actively dedicated to decreasing the social, socio-political, and economic discrimination faced by speakers of Hawai'i Creole English (HCE), whose L1 continues to be placed in a lower status group than the current language of power, Standard English (SE). Much of her work was aimed at heightening awareness and increasing understanding ofthe problems faced by members ofthis Hawaiian linguistic community. In this paper, two of the works published by this much respected researcher will be reviewed. These publications, whose titles are'Linguistic inequality in Hawaii: The post-creole dilemma" and "sociotinguistic variation and language attitudes in Hawaii," were published respectively in 1985 and 1991. In this present endeavor, an attempt will be made to describe three aspects oftheir impact on the field of sociolinguistics, namely their longJasting implications for societal and cultural issues, legal issues, and educational practices in Hawai'i. Although these two articles were written for somewhat dimerent purposes and are separated by a span of several years, it is surprising to see how well they compliment one another. while the earlier article provides an excellent summary ofthe historical processes which have shaped and led HCE to its current status in Hawai'i, the latter details the current battles being waged for the soul of HCE in the courtrooms, the classrooms, and the society at large.