Hawaiian | |
---|---|
ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi | |
Native to | Hawaiian Islands |
Region | Hawaiʻi (Niʻihau)[1] |
Ethnicity | Native Hawaiians |
Native speakers | Native: 2,000 Used at Home: 18,000[4] (2007)[5] |
Early forms | |
Dialects |
|
Official status | |
Official language in | ![]() |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 | haw |
ISO 639-3 | haw |
Glottolog | hawa1245 |
ELP | Hawaiian |
Linguasphere | 39-CAQ-e |
![]() Hawaiian is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Hawaiian (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, pronounced [ʔoːˈlɛlo həˈvɐjʔi])[6] is a Polynesian language and critically endangered language of the Austronesian language family that takes its name from Hawaiʻi, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the US state of Hawaiʻi.[7] King Kamehameha III established the first Hawaiian-language constitution in 1839 and 1840.[8]
In 1896, the Republic of Hawaii passed Act 57, an English-only law which subsequently banned Hawaiian language as the medium on instruction from publicly funded schools and promoted strict physical punishment for children caught speaking the Hawaiian Language in schools. The Hawaiian language was not again allowed to be used as a medium of instruction in Hawai’i’s public schools until 1987, a span of 91 years.[9] The number of native speakers of Hawaiian gradually decreased during the period from the 1830s to the 1950s. English essentially displaced Hawaiian on six of seven inhabited islands. In 2001, native speakers of Hawaiian amounted to less than 0.1% of the statewide population. Linguists were unsure if Hawaiian and other endangered languages would survive.[10][11][failed verification]
Nevertheless, from around 1949 to the present day, there has been a gradual increase in attention to and promotion of the language. Public Hawaiian-language immersion preschools called Pūnana Leo were established in 1984; other immersion schools followed soon after that. The first students to start in immersion preschool have now graduated from college and many are fluent Hawaiian speakers. However, the language is still classified as critically endangered by UNESCO.[12]
A creole language, Hawaiian Pidgin (or Hawaii Creole English, HCE), is more commonly spoken in Hawaiʻi than Hawaiian.[13] Some linguists, as well as many locals, argue that Hawaiian Pidgin is a dialect of American English.[14] Born from the increase of immigrants from Japan, China, Puerto Rico, Korea, Portugal, Spain and the Philippines, the pidgin creole language was a necessity in the plantations. Hawaiian and immigrant laborers as well as the luna, or overseers, found a way to communicate among themselves. Pidgin eventually made its way off the plantation and into the greater community, where it is still used to this day.[15]
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