Hawaiian Language - Simple English Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

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• Beginning
• 1 Related languages
• 2 Letters
• 3 Dialects
• 4 Syllables
• 5 Learning
• 6 References

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Hawaiian
ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi
Region	Hawaii: concentrated on Niʻihau and Hawaii, but speakers throughout the Hawaiian Islands and the U.S. mainland
Ethnicity	Native Hawaiians
Native speakers	2,000 (1997)[1] to 24,000+(2006–2008)[2]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Polynesian Eastern Polynesian Marquesic Hawaiian
Writing system	Latin (Hawaiian alphabet), Devanagari, Hiragana, Katakana, Hangul, Mongolian/Manchu, Cyrillic
Official status
Official languagein	Hawaiʻi (with English)recognized as minority language in parts of:U.S. Mainland
Language codes
ISO 639-2	haw
ISO 639-3	haw
ELP	Hawaiian

The Hawaiian language (Hawaiian: ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi) is the language of native Hawaiians. Aloha and mahalo are probably its most recognized words. The words lanai and wiki are also used in English. (That is different from Lanaʻi, the name of one of Hawaii's islands.)

Related languages

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There are related languages in the Marquesas, Raratonga, Samoa, some islands of what is now Fiji and New Zealand. Their languages have changed a lot over the last two thousand years or so. However, native speakers of all these languages can still understand each other.

Letters

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The language has only 12 letters (A, E, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, U, W). There are 13 if you count the ʻokina. The ʻokina is a real letter and came from some "K" sounds in old Polynesian languages. The ʻokina is pronounced as a glottal stop, like the break in the middle of the word "Uh-oh". The ʻokina is written as a backward apostrophe (small numeral 6 above and before a vowel).

Dialects

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The Niʻihau dialect still uses some T, S, R and "hints" of B sounds. People who live on that island are the only people who still speak Hawaiian only and their dialect is the truest to its roots.

Syllables

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Every Hawaiian syllable ends with a vowel. There are some who think that makes the language sound "musical". Some think that final vowels helped the speakers remember chanted traditional stories and genealogies. Most linguists, however, think it is because of internal phonological processes.

There are two forms of each of the five vowels. One is regular, where the vowel is pronounced as a Spaniard would say it. The other is extended, in written form, where a horizontal bar called a kahako is over the vowel. The meanings (and pronunciations) of words spelled the same but with or without the appropriate kahakos or ʻokinas can be very different, sometimes even embarrassing.

Learning

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One might think that learning the language would be relatively easy, but that only applies to na keiki (children) who have never learned the 26 letters that English speakers use. There is a children's rhyme that goes on for a couple of minutes (and written, probably a couple dozen lines) that consists of nothing but both versions of the letters a, i and the ʻokina. It talks of him (ia) eating (ai) his (iaia) fish (iʻa).

When the missionaries made a written form of Hawaiian Language, they did not write the kahakos or ʻokinas; leaving it to the context to make the meanings evident.

Since the intent was to translate the Bible ("Paipala"), natives forgave some of the confusion created. They still learned how unintended "double entendres" could be funny in written form. When Hawaiian language newspapers started, native-speaking writers and editors were careful to avoid these (the type that was available to "set" did not include such "specialty" characters).

References

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1. ↑ Lyovin (1997:258) harvcoltxt error: no target: CITEREFLyovin1997 (help)
2. ↑ U.S. Census (2010) harvcoltxt error: no target: CITEREFU.S._Census2010 (help)

Hawaiian edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

v t e State of Hawaii
Honolulu (capital)
Topics	Geography Seamount Government ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian Language) USS Arizona	Seal of Hawaii
Society	Culture Demographics Economy Education
Main islands	Hawaiʻi Kahoʻolawe Kauaʻi Lānaʻi Maui Molokaʻi Niʻihau Oʻahu
Communities	Hilo Honolulu Kahului Kāneʻohe Līhuʻe Pearl City Waipahu
Counties	Hawaiʻi Honolulu Kalawao Kauaʻi Maui

Authority control databases
National	Germany Japan Czech Republic Israel
Other	Yale LUX

Retrieved from "https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hawaiian_language&oldid=10176175" Categories:

• Polynesian languages
• Hawaii

Hidden categories:

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• Languages with ISO 639-2 code
• Language articles missing Glottolog code
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