Pidgin English Officially Recognized as Language by U.S. Census Bureau

Following a five year survey (from 2009 to 2013) of Hawaii residents on Languages Other than English Spoken at Home, the U.S. Census Bureau has included “Hawaiian Pidgin” in their list, officially recognizing it as a language.

Of the 1,287,075 Hawaii residents (over 5 years old) polled, 960,182 speak only English at home. 326,893 speak a language other than English at home, which included Hawaiian Pidgin.

Out of 97 languages, Hawaiian Pidgin came in at #39 with 335 documented number of speakers. Tagalog topped the list with 58,345 number of speakers, followed by Ilocano with 54,005 and Japanese with 45,633. See the entire list below:

  1. Tagalog – 58,345
  2. Ilocano – 54,005
  3. Japanese – 45,633
  4. Spanish – 25,490
  5. Hawaiian – 18,610
  6. Chinese – 17,360
  7. Korean – 17,276
  8. Samoan – 12,795
  9. Vietnamese – 9,418
  10. Cantonese – 7,890
  11. Marshallese – 6,930
  12. Mandarin – 5,650
  13. German – 4,615
  14. Trukese – 4,475
  15. French (incl Patois, Cajun) – 4,450
  16. Micronesian – 3,965
  17. Tongan – 3,860
  18. Bisayan – 3,005
  19. Laotian – 2,279
  20. Thai – 1,920
  21. Portuguese – 1,915
  22. Pidgin – 1,275
  23. Russian – 1,169
  24. Indonesian – 880
  25. Chamorro – 820
  26. Ponapean – 715
  27. Italian – 655
  28. Formosan – 620
  29. Palau – 580
  30. Kusaiean – 515
  31. Polish – 513
  32. Persian – 476
  33. Arabic – 446
  34. Dutch – 445
  35. Hindi – 410
  36. Swedish – 375
  37. Czech – 360
  38. French Creole – 348
  39. Hawaiian Pidgin – 335
  40. Hebrew – 290
  41. Mon-Khmer, Cambodian – 274
  42. Sebuano – 260
  43. Paleo-siberian – 230
  44. Kru, Ibo, Yoruba – 220
  45. Danish – 210
  46. Norwegian – 205
  47. Greek – 192
  48. Bantu – 190
  49. Telugu – 185
  50. Burmese – 170
  51. Pangasinan – 170
  52. Serbian – 155
  53. Yapese – 155
  54. Romanian – 145
  55. Carolinian – 145
  56. Hungarian – 139
  57. Bulgarian – 105
  58. Nepali – 100
  59. Bengali – 95
  60. Finnish – 90
  61. Ukrainian – 85
  62. Armenian – 82
  63. Marathi – 75
  64. Pampangan – 70
  65. Maori – 70
  66. India (not elsewhere classified) – 65
  67. Fijian – 65
  68. Marquesan – 65
  69. Uncodable – 65
  70. Malay – 60
  71. Gujarati – 57
  72. Mongolian – 55
  73. Foothill North Yokuts – 55
  74. Afrikaans – 50
  75. Latvian – 50
  76. Amharic – 50
  77. Mande – 50
  78. Urdu – 45
  79. Lithuanian – 45
  80. Fulani – 45
  81. Estonian – 45
  82. Jamaican Creole – 40
  83. Turkish – 40
  84. Ulithean – 40
  85. Swahili – 40
  86. Yiddish – 39
  87. Croatian – 35
  88. Rarotongan – 35
  89. Upper Chinook – 35
  90. Sinhalese – 30
  91. Malayalam – 30
  92. Tamil – 30
  93. Icelandic – 25
  94. Irish Gaelic – 25
  95. Hmong – 23
  96. Pashto – 15
  97. Navajo – 13

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