Menu:
Language in Hawaii
Just like its unique tropical nature and climate, and multi ethnic society, the youngest state of the USA, Hawaii is unique in its linguistic preferences too. Unique to the entire American culture, Hawaii has two official state languages- English and Hawaiian.
As a state of USA, English is the main spoken language. And it is English that is the chief medium of communication in education and business. The governmental works are also carried on mostly in English language. The tourists can mostly communicate through English, though it will be prudent to learn a few common Hawaiian expressions, as common people mix Hawaiian words in their day to day conversation. The majority of the street names are also in Hawaiian language.
In general, English makes for the language of business in Hawaii, while the Hawaiian makes for the language in which common people romanticize. The religious chants and the Hula recitations are some of the places where you are most likely to come across this ancient language!
Interesting Hawaiian language facts
It is the Calvinist missionaries that documented the Hawaiian grammar for the first time in Hawaiian history. Here are some of the interesting features of Hawaiian language:
- Hawaiian alphabet has twelve letters in total, five of them are vowels.
- In Hawaiian language there is no use of the letter--‘s’.
- Consonants are always followed by vowels and thus syllables are always made with two letters.
Here are a few Hawaiian expressions that may come to your help when you are having a vacation with your family in Hawaii. This will help you to interact with local people as and when necessary.
ae: yes
‘a‘ole: no
A hui hou: Goodbye
Aloha: hello and goodbye, welcome or farewell, romantic love, affection, or best wishes
Aloha ahiahi: Good evening
Aloha kakahiaka: Good morning
Kane: man
Wahine: woman
Kokua: help
Lua: toilet
Mahalo: thank you
olu‘olu: please
The right Hawaiian language- reflecting multiethnic spirit of Hawaii
However, none of the official languages of Hawaii mentioned earlier rightly reflect the multiethnic spirit of Hawaii as the Pidgin language does. The multi cultural and multi racial characteristics of Hawaii can be found in the languages spoken by its people: it is developed by different immigrant communities for an easy communication between people having different linguistic backgrounds. This is Pidgin English which is generally learnt in Hawaii as the second language.
How was this unique language evolved? Right from the surge in the whaling industry and sugar plantation, the Chinese or Pacific Pidgin expressions were included in the spoken languages of immigrants. By the turn of new century there were already thousands of laborers in the islands who came from as diverse places as Russia, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Japan and Korea. With so many workers from different cultural background a need for common language of expression started to be badly felt and they started to communicate in a simplified version of English mixed with Hawaiian and their own language. This unique language of communication received further spread with the children of the immigrants who combined their parent’s language with the one they learn at school to communicate with other children at play grounds. Thus over a century a new Hawaiian Pidgin English evolved incorporating the features of many languages. The typical Hawaiian Pidgin English is also called Creole.
Today’s Hawaiian society is characterized by the peaceful coexistence of Hawaiian, English and Pidgin. Various cultural movements are on to preserve the old Hawaiian language. So far as English and Pidgin are concerned; they exist side by side and mutually enriching.