Hawaiian Language

Olelo Hawaii

The Hawaiian language or “Olelo Hawaii” is one of the oldest living languages in the world. Since the introduction of the Westerner into Hawaii in 1778, the number of people who speak Hawaiian fluently has dropped dramatically. Today, only about 1% of the people who live in Hawaii speak its native tongue.

The Hawaiian language has had a tumultuous history. There has been a resurgence of the language over the past thirty or so years. Many people are learning the language again. Today, it is being taught in Hawaiian language immersion schools, and one can even get a Masters Degree in the Hawaiian language from the University of Hawaii, Hilo.

History of the Hawaiian Language

Before the arrival of Captain Cook, Hawaiian was strictly an oral language. Cook and his men recorded the Hawaiian language for the first time in 1778. They immediately realized that the language was similar to those that they encountered with the Maori and Tahitians.

When the missionaries arrived in Hawaii, they needed to convert the oral Hawaiian language to a written language. They taught the Hawaiian people to read this written Hawaiian so that they could convey the message of the Bible.

The missionaries developed the “Hawaiian Alphabet,” which consists of twelve letters. Later, two punctuation-like symbols, the “okina” and the “kahako” were added.

The Hawaiian Language Banned

Hawaiian was the primary language in Hawaii for many years. After the annexation of Hawaii as a territory of the United States in 1898, the language was officially banned from schools and the government. Use of the Hawaiian language was even banned at the Kamehameha Schools – a private school system reserved only for children of Hawaiian descent.

It is important to note that this ban of the Hawaiian language was not made against the language in general. People were still allowed to speak Hawaiian on a daily basis. In fact, there were fourteen separate newspapers that were printed in Hawaiian. Notables are the Ka Lama Hawaii and Ke Kumu Hawaii, which began as early as 1834 and the Ka Nupepa Kuoka, which had a 66-year-run from 1861 to 1927.

Resurrection of the Hawaiian Language

In 1978, the Hawaiian language was recognized as the official language of the state of Hawaii. Federally funded language immersion programs began in 1989. Many students are choosing to study Hawaiian as their required language in college.

Today, there are about 1,000 Native Hawaiian speakers plus over 8,000 people who can speak and understand the language fluently. It is a far cry from the original 500,000 Native Hawaiian speakers that were on the island during the time of Captain Cook, but it’s a good start at resurrecting a dying language. The numbers are continually growing.

Hawaiian Language at a Glance

The Hawaiian alphabet consists of 13 letters – five vowels, seven consonants and the ‘okina, which is called a "glottal stop" in the English language. An okina indicates a break in the sound when the word is spoken. Even though it doesn't look like a real letter, the okina is considered a letter because it takes up space in a word. Also, an okina that is missing can change the meaning of a word, as the following example illustrates:

ulu = to grow
‘ulu = breadfruit

The Hawaiian alphabet is as follows:
A, E, I, O, U, H, K, L, M, N, P, W,‘

There are four basic rules in the Hawaiian language:

• All words end in a vowel.
• Every consonant is followed by at least one vowel.
• Every syllable ends in a vowel.
• Two consonants never appear next to each other.

The okina or "glottal stop" is only found between two vowels. It can also appear at the beginning of a word. Native and traditional speakers use the okina whenever they speak or write Hawaiian. The okina is not always used in print and on the Internet. It is, however, used in major Hawaiian newspapers and many books on Hawaiiana.

For example, the word Lanai without the use of the okina would actually be pronounced “Lah-nigh.” If we write it out with its okina, it reads Lana‘i and is pronounced “Lah-nah-ee.”

Another example is the word Molokai. If we write it without the okina, it is pronounced “Moh-loh-kai” (kai like sky). If we write it with the okina, it reads Moloka‘i and is pronounced “Moh-loh-kah-ee.”

Both pronunciations are acceptable, but you should be wary that sometimes an okina can actually change the meaning of a word.

Another grammatical mark in the Hawaiian language is the kahako, a symbol that looks like a dash (-) that is placed over a vowel. When you see this, it means that it is a long vowel – simply drag the vowel out a bit longer than you normally would. It is a subtle difference that can be difficult to get the hang of. And even though it's not considered a letter, the absence or presence of it can also change the meaning of a word.

The vowels are pronounced differently than they read in English.

A is pronounced “ah”
E is pronounced “eh”
I is pronounced “ee”
O is pronounced “oh”
U is pronounced “oo”

Traditionally, the W in the Hawaiian language sounds like the letter “V” in the English language.

When consonants are paired with the vowels, they join the vowel sound. For example, the letter “H” paired up with the vowels would sound like this:

Ha would sound like “Hah”
He would sound like “Heh”
Hi would sound like “Hee”
Ho would sound like “Hoh”
Hu would sound like “Hoo”

While you are in Hawaii, listen to chanting during hula and see if you can hear the okinas and kahakos in the song.