1 Comment so far

1. anne on June 26, 2008 1:24 pm

   the ‘okina and the _ kahako are modern additions to the Hawaiian language of Olelo. THese were introduced by Mary Kawena Puku’i to re-introduce the Hawaiian Language to local people who had not had the opportunity to hear the original language spoken, or written.
   Once you learn the language, the use of the okina and kahako is unnecessary. These marks were never used in the Hawaiian language newspapers before, because people were fluent in reading and writing Hawaiian and had no need of them.
   THe Hawaiian Language was first translated into a written language with help from a Tahitian ex patriat trained in a missionary school. Many new words had to be created for the bible concepts to be explained to the Hawaiian people, after the concept of reading was introduced to them. This changed the language forever, and introduced the idea of the “Hawaiianized” words, such as “Iesu Kristo” for Jesus Christ taken from the latin term.
   THis was the same all over polynesia, micronesia and melanesia, where the native languages had to be changed to accommodate the new ideas put forth by christian missionaries that had never been heard of before by the indigenous poeples. In Hawaii, the pursuit of the written word was an absolute obsession with the Hawaiian pepople, who wrote in the sand, on rocks, on anything they could get their hands on in order to become literate. The population was 95 percent literate at the height of the Hawaiin Language Newspaper frenzy. At one time there were no fewer that 75 Hawaiian Language publications in print.
   Prior to the written Hawaiian word, Olelo was a completely oral language.
   Petroglyphs were not a means of writting the language or history down, but a pictograph memory enhancer for those who had to recite and memorize long histories, chants and data. It was also a record keeping mathmatical document as well, recording births, deaths and major events as well as the pupulations of certain areas, geneological lines, and warriors, classes and types of ali’is.
   THe Hawaiians had a very rich oral history, intricate, and full of “kauna”, or hidden meanings sometimes three and four layers deep. THe original form of the language was highly poetic and tricky, and full of riddles and twists and turns.
   It is absolutely impossible to translate the beauty of original oral spoken moolelos into a written format. Hawaiian must be spoken to be truly appreciated. With great events like the Hawaiian Newspaper Online project, however, everyone can see how perfectly informed Hawaiians were about their politics, governments, the rest of the world and everything else that was affecting their lives at the time. Far from ignorant and uncomrehending as to what was occuring the Hawaiians were very much aware of what was going on. So, when discussing the language, which i am always happy to see people do, I am hoping that history can be put in its proper perspective with regards to the language.

   mahalo
   A Punohu