Hawaiian language (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi)

Overview.
Hawaiian (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi) is an Eastern Polynesian language of the Austronesian family, historically the indigenous language of the Hawaiian Islands and the Hawaiian people. It is written with a Latin alphabet adapted in the 1820s and uses two important diacritics: the ʻokina (a glottal stop written as ʻ) and the kahakō (macron indicating vowel length). Hawaiian is co-official with English in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi and has been the focus of a vigorous language-revival movement since the late 20th century.

Classification and related languages

• Family: Austronesian → Malayo-Polynesian → Oceanic → Polynesian → Eastern Polynesian → Marquesic (the subgroup that includes Hawaiian).

• Closely related languages: Marquesan (Marquesas Islands), Tahitian (Society Islands), Māori (Aotearoa/New Zealand), Rapa Nui (Easter Island), and other Eastern Polynesian languages. Hawaiian shares a common ancestor in Proto-Polynesian and, more distantly, Proto-Austronesian.

• Mutual intelligibility: Hawaiian is related to these sister Polynesian languages, and the degree of intelligibility is partial and asymmetrical. Speakers of closely related Polynesian tongues can often recognize cognate words and some grammatical patterns, especially in songs and chants, but full conversational mutual intelligibility is low without prior exposure. For example, Māori and Tahitian speakers will notice many familiar roots and grammatical features but cannot generally carry on an unprepared conversation in Hawaiian. (See discussions of Eastern Polynesian subgrouping and comparative studies of Polynesian lexical correspondences.) Wikipedia+1

Origins, settlement and historical development

Hawaiian developed from earlier Central-and-Eastern Polynesian speech varieties brought to the Hawaiian archipelago by voyagers from other parts of Polynesia. Archaeological and linguistic evidence places the initial human settlement of the Hawaiian Islands within the first millennium CE, with successive waves and contacts from the Society Islands, Marquesas and other islands shaping local dialects. Over centuries the language underwent regular sound changes (including heavy consonant loss and compensatory vowel lengthening) that produced the small consonant inventory and the distinctive vowel sequences of modern Hawaiian.

Missionary contact in the early 19th century brought a written orthography (the Latin-based alphabet with the ʻokina and later the kahakō), rapid literacy, and a large corpus of printed material in Hawaiian (sermons, newspapers, school texts). During the 19th century Hawaiian remained widely used in government, education and the press; the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi adopted Hawaiian-language constitutions and official documents. Beginning in the late 19th century and accelerating after the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, English became politically dominant; laws and school policies (notably the English-only Act of the 1890s) suppressed Hawaiian use in schools and many public settings, producing a severe decline in native speakers through the 20th century. From the 1970s onward a Hawaiian Renaissance sparked cultural and linguistic revitalization (immersion preschools, university programs, new broadcasting and publishing in Hawaiian), and the language has been officially re-established and promoted at the state level.

Where it is spoken and numbers of speakers

• Primary area: the Hawaiian Islands (especially the island of Niʻihau historically and in recent times niche communities and immersion-school families elsewhere). Hawaiian is also learned and used by students and cultural practitioners worldwide.

• Number of speakers: estimates vary by measurement (home use, native L1 speakers, and learners/second-language speakers). Census and state reports from the past two decades put the number of people who use Hawaiian at home in the low tens of thousands, with the number of fully fluent native speakers much smaller (hundreds to a few thousand native L1 speakers, larger numbers of L2 speakers and those with some proficiency). Recent state material and language organizations also report growing numbers of learners and household use since revival efforts began. (See state data and Hawaiian language program reporting for precise counts.)

Major literary and cultural works (famous texts, chants, songs)

Hawaiian literature is rich in mele (songs/poems), moʻolelo (histories/legends), and chants (kumulipo-style cosmogonic chants). Important and frequently cited works and genres include:

• Mele by Queen/Princess Liliʻuokalani — Liliʻuokalani (1838–1917), the last reigning monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, was a prolific composer of mele. Her best-known composition in Hawaiian is “Aloha ʻOe” (circa 1878), which became internationally famous and is widely cited as a Hawaiian cultural emblem. She also collected and worked with Hawaiian chants and material later rendered into English and scholarly editions.

• Modern literature and media — in the 20th and 21st centuries Hawaiian has been used in newspapers, academic publications, school materials and new creative writing (poetry, drama) and broadcasting (radio segments, TV features and Hawaiian-language news). The ʻAha Pūnana Leo immersion movement and university programs have produced new generations of written Hawaiian materials.

Timeline of Key Figures in Hawaiian Language Preservation

19th Century

• Queen Liliʻuokalani (1838–1917): Composer of mele such as Aloha ʻOe. Advocated for Hawaiian cultural continuity during the kingdom’s overthrow and annexation.

Early–Mid 20th Century

• Mary Kawena Pukui (1895–1986): Gathered proverbs (ʻŌlelo Noʻeau), co-authored the Hawaiian Dictionary and Hawaiian Grammar, created a permanent scholarly foundation for Hawaiian studies.

• Samuel H. Elbert (1907–1997): Collaborated with Pukui, contributing modern linguistic analysis and producing essential reference works.

Late 20th Century

• Larry Kimura (b. 1946): Co-founded ʻAha Pūnana Leo (1983), “father of Hawaiian language revitalization,” created Hawaiian radio programs and university curricula.

• ʻAha Pūnana Leo founders (1983–): Grassroots parents and educators built the first immersion preschools, restoring intergenerational language transmission.

• Haunani-Kay Trask (1949–2021): Activist, poet, professor — her advocacy linked Hawaiian sovereignty and cultural identity to the survival of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi.

21st Century

• Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua (b. 1971): Scholar and activist advancing Hawaiian education, language policy, and sovereignty studies.

• Modern haku mele (composers): Figures like Kealiʻi Reichel and numerous kumu hula compose and perform new mele in Hawaiian, blending traditional aesthetics with contemporary contexts.

• ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi educators and immersion graduates: A new generation now teaches, writes, and broadcasts in Hawaiian, ensuring its survival into the future.

Grammar (brief reference)

• Basic typology: Hawaiian is predominantly VSO (verb–subject–object) in neutral declarative sentences, though word order is fairly flexible and affected by topicalization, negation and focus particles. Hawaiian is also a pro-drop language (subjects are often omitted when recoverable from context). Tense/aspect is commonly marked by preverbal particles (e.g., ua for perfective/past, e for progressive/imperative) rather than by verb inflection. Possession is marked by two main possessive classes (often called o-possession and a-possession) that reflect alienable vs. inalienable relationships and a complex semantics of control/relationship.

• Particles: Hawaiian makes extensive use of grammatical particles (negator ʻaʻole, tense/aspect ua/e/i etc.), prepositions, and directional particles (e.g., aku “away from speaker”, mai “toward speaker”) integrated with verbal morphology.

• Pronouns and number: Hawaiian distinguishes singular, dual and plural in the first person and has inclusive vs exclusive we forms (a common Polynesian pattern): e.g., māua (we two, exclusive), kāua (we two, inclusive), mākou (we plural, exclusive), kākou (we plural, inclusive).

Phonology (summary)

• Consonants: Hawaiian has one of the world’s smaller consonant inventories. Canonically there are eight consonant phonemes: /p, k, ʔ (ʻokina), m, n, l, w, h/ (orthographically p, k, ʻ, m, n, l, w, h). The glottal stop (ʻokina) is phonemic and can distinguish words. There is documented variation (for example some free variation between /k/ and /t/ historically or between /w/ and /v/ allophones in certain dialects).

• Vowels: Five primary vowel qualities /a, e, i, o, u/ occur; vowel length (kahakō: ā, ē, ī, ō, ū) and diphthongs are phonemically important and affect stress. Hawaiian syllable structure is (C)V(V) and codas and consonant clusters are largely absent in native vocabulary.

• Orthography: The modern orthography marks the glottal stop with the ʻokina (ʻ) and long vowels with the kahakō (macron). These marks are essential: e.g., moa “chicken” vs mōa (may differ), and kai “sea” vs kaʻi “to lead/flow” (illustrative).

Vocabulary and examples

Hawaiian vocabulary is built from Polynesian roots and has many cognates across Polynesia. Loanwords (mainly from English and other languages) appear, especially for new technology and introduced concepts, often adapted to Hawaiian phonology.

Common lexical items and sample sentences (orthography with basic glosses and translations):

1. Aloha. — “Hello; love; farewell.”
   Aloha. — “Hello / love / farewell.”

2. ʻO wai kou inoa? — “What is your name?”
   ʻO wai kou inoa? — ʻO (copula/topic marker) wai “who” kou “your” inoa “name?” → “What is your name?”

3. Makemake wau i ka iʻa. — “I want fish.”
   Makemake (want) wau (I) i (object marker) ka iʻa (the fish).

4. Ua hele ʻo Kimo i ke kahakai. — “Kimo went to the beach.”
   Ua (perfective marker) hele (go) ʻo Kimo (topic/subject Kimo) i (to) ke kahakai (the beach).

5. Aloha ʻoe. — the chorus line of the famous song “Aloha ʻOe” by Liliʻuokalani: “Farewell to thee.”

(These examples illustrate basic syntax and common particles; a thorough description of morphology and syntax is large and specialized; useful reference grammars include Pukui & Elbert and modern reference grammars available online.)

Orthography, transcription and pronunciation notes

• The ʻokina (written as ʻ) marks a glottal stop and is a full consonant in Hawaiian; omission changes meaning and makes pronunciation nonstandard. The kahakō (macron) marks long vowels. Correct orthography is culturally and linguistically important; public institutions in Hawaiʻi increasingly adopt correct marking.

Revitalization, education and contemporary use

From near-extirpation as a community language in the mid-20th century, Hawaiian has experienced active revitalization: immersion preschools (ʻAha Pūnana Leo, founded 1983–84), bilingual programs in K–12, university courses, broadcasting, signage, and new literature in Hawaiian. The state legislature recognized Hawaiian as an official state language in 1978, and federal and local policies since the 1980s have supported revitalization efforts. These programs have increased numbers of L2 speakers and household use, though many scholars still classify Hawaiian as endangered or critically endangered (with continuing efforts to expand intergenerational transmission).