Hawaiian language facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Hawaiian |
|
|---|---|
| ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi | |
| Region | Hawaiʻi: concentrated on Niʻihau and Hawaiʻi, but speakers throughout the Hawaiian Islands and the U.S. mainland |
| Ethnicity | Native Hawaiians |
| Native speakers | 2,000 (1997) to 24,000+ (2006–2008) |
| Language family |
Austronesian
|
| Writing system | Latin (Hawaiian alphabet) |
| Official status | |
| Official language in | Hawaiʻi (with English) recognized as minority language in parts of: U.S. Mainland |
The Hawaiian language (Hawaiian: ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi) is the traditional language of the Native Hawaiians. You might already know some Hawaiian words! Aloha (hello/goodbye/love) and mahalo (thank you) are two of the most famous. The word lanai (a type of porch or balcony) is also used in English.
Contents
Hawaiian Alphabet
The Hawaiian language has a very small alphabet. It uses only 12 letters: A, E, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, U, W.
The ʻOkina
There is also a special mark called the ʻokina. It's like a 13th letter! The ʻokina looks like a small backward apostrophe (ʻ). It makes a sound called a glottal stop. This is the sound you hear in the middle of "uh-oh." The ʻokina came from "K" sounds in older Polynesian languages.
Vowels and Kahako
Every Hawaiian word or part of a word (syllable) ends with a vowel. This makes the language sound very musical to some people.
Hawaiian has five vowels (A, E, I, O, U). Each vowel can be pronounced in two ways:
- Regular: Like a Spanish speaker would say it.
- Extended: This is shown by a horizontal bar called a kahako (Template:Macron). The kahako is placed over the vowel.
It's important to use the correct kahakos and ʻokinas. Words spelled the same can have very different meanings if these marks are missing or wrong. Sometimes, the meaning can even be funny!
Learning Hawaiian
Learning Hawaiian can be tricky, especially for English speakers. This is because English uses 26 letters, which is double the Hawaiian alphabet.
There's a children's rhyme that shows how simple Hawaiian can be. It talks about "him" (ia) "eating" (ai) "his" (iaia) "fish" (iʻa). This rhyme uses only the letters A, I, and the ʻokina!
Hawaiian in Writing
When Christian missionaries first created a written form of the Hawaiian language, they didn't include the kahakos or ʻokinas. They thought people would understand the meaning from the rest of the sentence.
The missionaries wanted to translate the Bible into Hawaiian. Native Hawaiians understood some of the confusion this caused. But they also found it funny when words had unintended "double meanings" in writing!
Later, when Hawaiian language newspapers started, writers and editors were very careful. They tried to avoid these funny mistakes. The printing machines they used didn't have the special characters for kahakos or ʻokinas.
Related Languages
The Hawaiian language is part of a larger language family. It is related to languages spoken in other Pacific islands. These include the Marquesas, Raratonga, Samoa, some islands of what is now Fiji, and New Zealand.
These languages have changed a lot over the past two thousand years. However, people who speak these languages can still understand each other to some extent.
Images for kids
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Headline from May 16, 1834, issue of a newspaper published by Lorrin Andrews and students at Lahainaluna School
See also
In Spanish: Idioma hawaiano para niños
