This article is on the process of decreolization in individuals and in social context. It focuses on decreolization from linguistic and sociolinguistic aspects ofthe Hawai'i creole continuum. Sato begins her article by defining the main concept 'decreolization' as "the process through which a creore language gradually merges with its lodfier ranguage, i.e., the standard language ofthe community, as a result ofcreole speakers' increased access to and 'targeting' ofthe latter" (sato, 199r, p. r22). The study of this process is useful because it can reveal the consequences of language contact and the nature of language change
