Courtney Tavares
Professor Johnson
English 1111-18
20 October 14
The Hawaiian Language What happens when a language dies? Is it possible to create a community of new speakers without altering the language in any way? Language evolution is a natural process among native speakers. A wide variety of languages are slowly becoming extinct as their speakers begin to die out or assimilate to other cultures. Of the 6,000 spoken today, it is said that approximately 50% of those will have become forgotten by the year of 2100. The history of each and every one is a part of each speaker’s culture, values, and traditions. As the voice of the people is lost, so is their identity. The loss of languages has harmed cultural diversity around the world. It is crucial to prevent this loss by protecting the endangered languages around the world.
Though it is one of the smallest regions of the United States, Hawaii is famous for it’s resort environment and exotic beauty. Dreams of vacation on bright beaches and clear water fill young people’s heads. From the towering volcanoes to the mirroring cities, the very image of Hawaii is paradise. One of the strongest components of this culture is the language, Hawaiian, or “Olelo Hawai’i”. Hawaiian language has an ancient history rooted in Polynesian languages. The number of native Hawaiian speakers has begun dwindling; it has been slowly displaced by English language.
Hawaiian is a Polynesian member of the Austronesian language family. Austronesian is a family of languages spoken throughout the islands of Southeast Asia, Madagascar, and the Pacific. Other Polynesian languages such as Marquesan, Tahitian, Mãori, and Rapa Nui retain strong commonalities with Hawaiian. Lexicostatistics were used to demonstrate the genetic history of Hawaiian and compare different dialects. This approach is done by determining the number of cognates, or genetically shared words, among different varieties of communication. Basic words such as “water”, “face”, “eye”, and “the”, are used because they are universally spoken words. For example, Hawaiian and Tahitian have about 152 cognates (of the 200 words on the so-called “basic vocabulary” list). This means they are estimated to be 76 percent genetically related.
Hawaii is found in the in the tropical North Pacific archipelago. British explorer James Cook officially named the island in English in 1778. It was written as “Owhyhee”. In Hawaiian, the name of the island is spoken as “O Hawai’i’”, meaning “This is Hawaii.” Hawaiian began to be written for the first time when European explorers and businessmen were brought to the Hawaiian islands to learn the language. The sounds of Spanish, Russian, French, and German arrived in Hawaii over approximately 40 years. Although there were not enough of these Hawaiian-speaking explorers, they still maintained a pronounced existence. One boy in his teens, Obookiah, had a major impact on the development of Hawaiian. He traveled to New England where he inspired others to partake in a Christian Mission to Hawaii.
With help from Obookiah, protestant missionaries from New England went to Hawaii and began to learn the language in 1820. They were eventually able to form relationships with the locals, become familiar with the native tongue, and even publish a Hawaiian Bible. They were successful in creating an alphabet by 1826, teaching Hawaiians to read and write their language, and publishing many educational books. These books included a vocabulary in 1836, grammar in 1854, and dictionary in 1865. Although the language was at it’s peak in 1881, some still worried of extinction.
As the increase in travel to and from Hawaii took place in the 19th century, a number of fatal illnesses killed many native speakers of Hawaiian. These diseases include smallpox, influenza, and leprosy. Speakers of English, Chinese, Japanese, and Portuguese continued to immigrate to Hawaii causing the percentage of Hawaiian speakers to decrease. Many of Hawaiian’s native speakers played a roll in the diminishment of the language as well; they wanted their children to speak English so that they could become successful in their continuously changing environment. In 1885, schools in Hawaii began to instruct children in English only. After Hawaii became a territory of the United States in 1898, Hawaiian was officially banned from schools and the government. Students were punished for speaking the language in both public and private schools. Some teachers would arrive to the offending childs’ homes and advise parents to stop speaking their language altogether. Even the all-Hawaiian Kamehameha Schools did not teach Hawaiian. The number of native speakers of Hawaiian fell from 37,000 in the twentieth century to about 1,000 today.
Although Hawaiian was banned, people were still allowed to speak it in their homes on a daily basis. Newspapers such as Ka Lama Hawaii, were still printed in Hawaiian. Ka Lama Hawaii was the first newspaper to be printed in February of 1834.
In recent decades, there have been many efforts to revise the language. Hawaiian “immersion” schools opened to introduce children to the language. The Punana Leo, or “nest of language”, opened in Hilo, Hawaii in 1984. It was an immersion preschool for children ages two to five. The Kula Kaiapuni was later opened as a continuation of the Punana Leo. This system of immersion schools included grades from elementary to high school. Sudents greet each other with “Aloha kakahiaka,” instead of “Good morning,” and start their day by giving a short speech that reflects Hawaiian values and tradition. The University of Hawaii offers a Bachelor’s degree in the Hawaiian language and developed the first teacher preparation program to prepare Kula Kaiapuni teachers. There are 11 Punana Leo preschools and many students in kindergarten through grade twelve.
It is clear that Hawaiian has been greatly displaced by English. The number of native speakers of Hawaiian is under 0.1 percent of the state’s population. Of this percentage, second language speakers outnumber the native speakers by 1,000 or more. Second language speech fundamentally differs from native speech due to the way people express themselves in the new language. This has led to the development of Neo Hawaiian, which has been consistent among more recent speakers. Neo Hawaiian represents a noticeable shift in the language. It is spoken today in Niihau, Hawaii. This small island is the only area today where Hawaiian is the first language. Niihau is located off the southwest coast of Kauai. It has been privately owned for over 100 years, and visiting by outsiders has been rarely allowed. Today, there are about 1,000 native Hawaiian speakers and around 8,000 people who can understand the language. Nevertheless, this does not compare to the nearly 800,000 speakers in it’s early years. Most speakers today may not have the exact same speech, traditions, or practices as the native Hawaiians, however it is a good start at reviving this dying language. The Hawaiian language now has a chance at a resurrection and a new life. Ethnic speakers of this native tongue can now preserve the memories of their culture and language for the future of our generation.