Community-Oriented Language Revitalization

Hawaiʻi Public Radio

Michelle Kamigaki-Baron, a Ph.D. student in linguistics at the University of British Columbia, is exploring the relationship between ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and Pidgin for her dissertation. The Honolulu native is studying how Pidgin speakers might have an advantage in learning ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. Kamigaki-Baron actually moved to Canada to study with linguists like Jen Hay, who published a similar study comparing Māori and Māori-accented English ...

Linguist Explores If Pidgin Speakers Have an Advantage in Learning ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi

Moana Nui Podcast

Michelle Kamigaki-Baron discusses about Pidgin with Micah Mizukami, Mark Vincent Villegas, and Ali Rozet.

The Value of Pidgin

While Kānaka Maoli on and off island may have a different perception about paradise, we unpack these ideologies from different perspectives of Kānaka and generational locals who understand Hawai'i as home (and maybe paradise).

Let's talk about "Paradise"

Green College UBC

In this talk, Mitchi (Michelle) Kamigaki-Baron will discuss what linguistics research has to say about learning a new language. Surprisingly, the various ways languages are related can make speech processing easier, whether the languages are related socially, contextually or linguistically.

Learning a New Language by Utilizing Your First Language; The Hawaiian Context as a Case study

In this talk, Mitchi Kamigaki-Baron will outline her research and facilitate a discussion on how other language communities abroad are affected by similar histories.

Language as Colonialism in Hawai'i, British Columbia and Abroad

Field Notes Podcast

This very special episode is with Michelle Kamigaki-Baron. Michelle is a PhD student in the department of Linguistics at the University of British Columbia. Her research primarily involves speech production and perception, how these processes are changed in the context of bilingualism or bidialectalism of languages that exist in diglossia, and the continuous nature of language.

Michelle Kamigaki-Baron on Pidgin & Secwepemctsín Language Research

FlossDawg Radio

Parts 1 & 2 Discussing Hawaiʻi, Being Black in America, plantation parallels, and Covid-19

Part 1

Part 2

Parallels Between Indigenous Languages and Creoles

What can we learn from the past and apply to the future? A public talk at the University of British Columbia.

UBC Vancouver Language Sciences

Kānaka Maoli in the Diaspora

Access to ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi education for Kānaka Maoli in the diaspora- challenges based on mental health and linguistic evidence.
Most Impactful Paper Award – International Conference on Language Documentation & Conservation (2025)
With V. Pauahi Souza

Meeting with leaders in Activism for ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and Pidgin

Consultation with leadership, including Kumu Larry Kimura, grandfather of the language revitalization movement and professor of Hawaiian studies at Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani and Kumu Kent Sakoda, Cofounder of Da Pidgin Coup, Professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Author of Pidgin Grammar (pictured here).

Meeting with Leaders and Community Members from Niʻihau, and the Diaspora

Understanding how to commit to the movement through pilina and responsibility.

Meeting with Hawaiian language students and teachers

Identifying community needs to inform linguistics research.

Inter-community Discussions

Meeting with language leaders from Secwépemc and Hawaiian communities in Hawaiʻi.

ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi

Exploring the Psycholinguistic Connections Between Pidgin and ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi” at Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language at Hilo, Hawaiʻi

Secwepemctsín

Understanding Stress and Schwa in Secwepemctsín” at Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc at Kamloops, British Columbia

Interactive Picture Book with Integrated Audio in Secwepemctsín

A sample of interactive educational materials shared with the community following discussion and fieldwork, this interactive picture book, with integrated audio in Secwepemctsín, was created in collaboration with the Secwepemc community and designed for use by Elders.

Spipyúy7e ne Secwepemc-ul̓ecw

E hāʻawi manawaleʻa ma ka pūnaewele

Participating in this research you could get the option of donating your research reward to the ʻAha Pūnana Leo Hawaiian language immersion schools.

So far, this research has raised $800 USD to ʻAha Pūnana Leo.

E hāʻawi manawaleʻa ma ka pūnaewele