ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi Iia Wolak Language History • Austronesian Language Family Features • Most have around 4-5 vowels and 16-20 consonants • Hawaiian has 5 vowels and 8 consonants • Only 13 phonemes • Agglutinative – form words attaching roots to create new meanings • Use of reduplication to mark grammatical relations • Nouns not marked for gender • No distinction between 3rd person singular pronouns • Word order depends on subgroup • Polynesian is VSO Language Beginnings • Samoan, Marquesan, Tahitian, Maori, Rapa Nui, and Tongan • Marquesans colonized the Hawaiian archipelago around 300 CE with immigration from Society Islands and Samoa-Tonga • Marquesian people are thought to originate from Samoa • Left due to overpopulation and war • Traveled to Hawaii, Tahiti, Rapa Iti, and Easter Island Writing System • Created in the early 18th century • Missionaries decided to use the Latin script • The Apostrophe represents the glottal stop • The line above vowels represents a long vowel • There are accounts of light rock-carvings on almost every Hawaiian island, however they never came to become writing • Strictly Oral • Islands quickly became literate Proving Linguistic Relationships • Lexicostatics • Compared cognates Sound Change • 1. Loss of all word-final consonants • 2. Shift of consonant /t/ to /k/ in word-intial and word-medial position • 3. Shift of /p/ in PAN to /h/ in Hawaiian Phonological Features - Consonants • 8 Consonants – p, k, ‘, h, l, m, n, w • Glottal stop is the second most Common consonant in Hawaiian • Glottal stop is used before a, e, and i, Unless in the middle of an utterance ‘Aloha vs. ua aloha [love, compassion] [he does have compassion] Also used in words borrowed from English that begin with a vowel Allophones • T and K are allophone of the same phoneme • Used interchangeably, free variation • [k] is mostly always at the beginning of words • [t] is more common before i • Some dialects use [k] or [t] more, and some sound change has been noted that the glottal stop was shifted from some [k] sounds • Example: story an elder spoke said [kela] (that) 26 times. He said [kela] 11 times, [tela] 14 times, and [tera] once. • W and V are allophones of the same phoneme • Both can be used interchangeably, however the [w] usually is pronounced after rounded vowels u and o, and [v] after unrounded vowels i and e • Word initially and after the a vowel, the [w] and [v] are interchangeable • Example: iwa [iva] nine, ‘o wai [ʔowai] who, wahine [wahine] or [vahine] woman Phonological Features - Vowels When stressed, short /e/ and /a/ tend to become [ɛ] and [ɐ], while when unstressed they are [e] and [ə]. /e/ also tends to become [ɛ] next to /l/, /n/, and another [ɛ], as in Pele [pɛlɛ] Vowel length is very important because they are not considered the same phoneme Kanaka – man Kānaka – men Long vowels and Kohola – reef Koholā – whale dipthongs are due to deletion of intervocalic Nana – to plait Nāna – by him consonant phonemes Nanā – to snarl Nānā – to look (at) Morphological Features • Hawaiian, unlike other • Articles Austronesian languages, is • Ke – a-, e-, o-, and k- analytic • ke kanaka (the person) • No inflection for verbs • Ka – elsewhere • Declension for a- and o- stem • Ka honu (the turtle) genitive case personal pronouns • Nā – plural definite • Inclusive and exclusive “we” • Nā honu (the turtles) • Have singular, plural, and dual • Kekahi is used to show part of a nouns group • Kekahi pipi (one of the cows) • Mau is used to pluralize • Kekahi mau pipi (some of the cows) Morphological Structures Cont. • Mark for aspect, tense, and • Pepeke ʻAike He "A is a B“ mood • This thing is this thing • Ke +verb + nei is a marker for • He haumana ke keiki. present tense • [is] student the child • Ke kali nei au. • This child is a student. • wait now I • I’m waiting. • Pepeke ʻAike Na • Doesn’t have the meaning of • This belongs to that “to be” or “to have” • Na Mary ke keiki. • [belongs] Mary the child. • The child is Mary’s. Reduplication • Several different forms of reduplication • Complete – ‘aki, ‘aki-’aki • First syllable – ‘aki, ‘a-’aki • Everything but the first syllable – āloha-loha • Double first syllable – hiki, hi-hi-hiki • Meanings • Frequency – hoe – “to paddle”, hoe-hoe “to paddle continuously” • Increase – make – “death, to die”, ma-make “many deaths” • Plural action – nīnau – to ask, nina-ninau – “to ask many questions” • Diminutive – mana – “branch”, mana-mana “tiny branch” Naming Conventions • Unisex • Names were thought to be • Put thought into the names for the powerful children • Parents changed names to • Could be from a vision or dream something bad if their child god sick to ward away spirits • Name related to social class and family gods • Common names • Keli’i (chief) –lani (sky) reserved for • Kalua – the second child chiefs • Kamaka – the eye • Kauwā could only take natural • Kealoha – the love object names • Unique name was the rule, not the exception • Surnames did not exist until missionaries came Dialects and Study of Change • Unfortunately, differences between dialects are not highly studied • There are some dialectal differences noted by island • [t] used more than [k] in Ni’ihau • Niʻihau is the only area in the world where Hawaiian is the first language and English is a foreign language. Because of many sufficiently marked variations, Niihau people, when visiting or living in Honolulu, substitute the Oahu dialect for their own – apparently easy to do – saying that otherwise people in Honolulu have trouble understanding them. Niihau people speak very rapidly; many vowels and entire syllables are dropped or whispered. • — Samuel Elbert and Mary Pukui, Hawaiian Grammar (1979) Attempts to Stay Alive! • Native speakers – 26,205 • Immersion preschools in 1984 • Students of these schools have now graduated college and are fluent speakers • Still considered critically endangered by UNESCO Mahalo! References • https://www.omniglot.com/writing/hawaiian.htm • http://www.coffeetimes.com/language.htm • http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/?wid=3719 • Elbert, S. H., Pukui, M. K., (1979) Hawaiian Grammar. Honolulu, Hawaii: The University Press of Hawaii.