The Hawaiian language continues to be revitalized through state initiatives and within BYUH
The Hawaii State Department of Education information encourages schools to celebrate February as “Mahina Olelo Hawaii,” or Hawaiian Language Month, a designation made official by the State Legislature in 2013. However, controversy arose at a recent City Council hearing. An uproar followed after a witness responded to testimony in the Hawaiian language and said, “I’m not sure what language it was. I’m assuming it was Hawaiian, and that is a dead language, so it would not work on a translator.”
Is the Hawaiian language alive?
According to the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hawaiian is the most studied Native American language and “it is the only Native American language that is used officially by a state government.”
Ban of Hawaiian language
The University of Hawaii Foundation (UH Foundation) shares online the timeline of when the Kingdom of Hawai‘i instituted Hawaiian medium education in 1,100 schools in 1841. “Later that century, the Hawaiian literacy rate was estimated to be more than 90 percent,” says UH Foundation information. Three years after the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian islands, in 1896, the government banned education in public schools in the Hawaiian language, shares the Hawaii State Department of Education information.
The 1896 Act 57 states, “The English language shall be the medium and Basis of Instructional at all public and private schools… Any schools that shall not conform to the provisions of this section shall not be recognized by the Department.”
Alohalani Housman, dean of the Faculty of Culture, Language & Performing Arts, said in the 1980s there were only 1,500 people in the state of Hawaii who were fluent in the Hawaiian language and the majority of the speakers were elders aged 60 years or older.
Revitalization of the Hawaiian language
According to Kamehameha Schools Research and Evaluation Division information, despite the displacement of the Hawaiian language by English, Hawaiian was preserved by some native families, and they became a big part of the Hawaiian immersion movement.
In 1984, the Aha Punana Leo Preschool was opened, followed by more sites over the next two decades, according to the Aha Punana Leo website. Housman shared the Hawaiian language was not something she only studied, but her family also committed to speaking the Hawaiian language at home. With her knowledge of the Hawaiian language, she said, “I was asked to teach the very first Hawaiian language immersion class on the island of Oahu at Waipahu Elementary School in Pearl City.” Housman shared she understood the responsibility she has to learn and perpetuate the Hawaiian language so it is never lost.
Malelega Lauano, a junior from Laie majoring in Hawaiian studies, shared she grew up attending a Hawaiian Immersion school, and that the Hawaiian language was her first language. She shared stories of her ancestors being punished for speaking in their own tongue, so it is very special to her to be able to speak Hawaiian freely.
Tia Mo‘o, a senior from Laie majoring in chemistry and Hawaiian studies, said she is a native Hawaiian but was unable to go to a Hawaiian Immersion school and comes from a family that does not speak Hawaiian.
Along Mo‘o’s journey of learning the Hawaiian language, she said she recalled learning it felt very complex. She said there were moments where she felt she couldn’t keep up with the pace. However, one day as her class was listening to tapes of native speakers, Mo‘o said she gradually began to comprehend and grasp the story they were telling. She said, “I recognized the vast knowledge I could learn from knowing Hawaiian. It opened doors for me to access knowledge and gain new perspectives.”
Perpetuating the Hawaiian language at BYUH
When she began studying the Hawaiian language, Housman said her friends discouraged her to do so because Hawaiian is a “dead language.” However, because of her commitment to study and teach, Housman said she has positively impacted Native Hawaiian youth and adults and have inspired them to learn it as well. She shared she taught within the Hawaiian Immersion schools for 14 years and now teaches up to 400 level classes here on the BYUH campus, encouraging Hawaiian students to use their native tongue.
Lauano shared seeing the growth of the Hawaiian language, despite the trials and challenges, is something she is proud to see her people do. She shared a quote from her kupuna (ancestors) that states, “E paepae hou ‘ia ka pohaku i pa‘a maila ke kahua hale hou,” meaning, “Let’s reset the large stones in place to complete the new house foundation.”
Lauano said in relation to the Hawaiian language, this is an act of rebuilding or laying a solid foundation for something new, something so stable that it will never fall. “We make sure when our kupuna laid the foundation, we gotta build it and make it strong,” she said. Lauano shared “E kaupe aku no i ka hoe a ko mai” meaning “put forward the paddle and draw it back.” She shared, “Hanauna (generations) today and future ones to come should be able to move forward with the task that was started and to finish it and make sure we puka me ka lanakila (we win).”