There has never been a formal survey of the number of Hawaiian speakers today, but the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo says that there are approximately 7,500 people learning to speak the language today. Most of these 7,500 people speaking Hawaiian are not native speakers therefore it is very difficult for the language not to change.
Hawai‘i is the only place on the map where ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i is spoken by a large number of people. There are other places where the language is spoken by individuals who have learned and moved away, but Hawai‘i is the only place where the language is being used a sufficient amount of people.
Hawaiian language belongs to an Eastern branch of the Polynesian family, and it is closely related to languages such as Māori, Tahitian and Marquesan. These languages display very obvious relationships in their vocabulary and sound structure. The word for man in Māori is tangata, kanaka in Hawaiian and ta‘ata in Tahitian. From this you can see the similarities and differences among these languages. Many of the languages throughout Polynesia are very similar as we have studied in class, but these are the ones that are most connected.
One of the best sources to research the Hawaiian language is the Hawaiian Dictionary by Mary Kawena Pukui. Mrs. Pukui’s gives detailed explanations about the language in the introduction of the book that are very helpful when learning the language. Another book that can be helpful throughout this period of the language changing is a book entitled Mamaka Kaio. This source provides the newer additions to the Hawaiian language so that speakers of the language have words for new things of this time. I believe that the best written works beneficial to researches and those with interest in Hawaiian are the Hawaiian language newspapers. On the site nupepa.org,
One interesting grammatical feature of Hawaiian is that there is no real differentiation between he and she as far as male and female. In English we know that “he” means male and “she” means female but in Hawaiian we say ‘o ia meaning he or she and kona/kāna meaning him or her. If you want to say “He went to the store,” then it would translate to Ua hele ‘o ia i ka hale kū‘ai. The way that you know if the speaker is referring to a male or female is by looking at its context.
In 1978, Hawaiian was re-established as an official language of the state of Hawai‘i after being outlawed as a language of education in 1896. In 1987 there was a revival of the use of Hawaiian in schools, but even before that the first Pūnana Leo preschool was opened in Kekaha, Kaua‘i in 1984. Today, the Hawaiian speaking community is increasing rapidly with 19 Hawaiian language immersion schools in the Ka Papahana Kaiapuni Hawai‘i program. The youth of the language have begun to create ways in which Hawaiian speakers can be in their element in all facets of this modern day including the creation of Maoliworld. This is a place very similar to Myspace and Facebook that allow Hawaiian speakers to have the same kind of fun but in Hawaiian instead of English. There are also many resources on the web for Hawaiian language speakers on ulukau.org.
The lady with the hat is a mānaleo or native speaker. I took this picture when I was this past summer in American Samoa for the Festival of the Pacific Arts.
Works Cited
"‘Aha Pūnana Leo: Learn Hawaiian." ‘Aha Pūnana Leo: Language Nest. 12 Feb. 2009
"Google Image Result for http://www.kellyworld.com/Photos/2008/200801Hawaii/hawaii-map-2.gif." Google Image Search. 12 Feb. 2009
"Ke Kula Kaiapuni Hawai'i." 12 Feb. 2009
Kualono | Ke Kahua Pa‘a O Ka Hale Kuamo‘o, Kulanui o Hawai‘i ma Hilo. 12 Feb. 2009
Pukui, Mary Kawena, and Samuel H. Elbert. Hawaiian Dictionary : Hawaiian-English, English-Hawaiian. New York: University of Hawaii P, 1986.
"Vol. 1, No. 1: 1." Nupepa. 12 Feb. 2009
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