Often the viewer of American films had to hear the greeting “aloha”, hailing from Hawaii. This usually ends with knowledge of the Hawaiian language. Let's find out a little more about him.
Hawaiian Islands
To understand what language in the Hawaiian Islands and where it came from there, we turn to geography. Hawaii - an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, which consists of eight major islands, many small islands and atolls. They are located in the middle of the ocean and are practically the most remote inhabited islands in the world. The territory belongs to the United States and is their 50th state.
The first people in Hawaii were the Polynesians, who are supposed to have arrived here from the Marquesas Islands. Therefore, the Hawaiian language and culture is closest to the culture of Polynesia. Later, immigrants from Tahiti made their contribution, bringing with them new religious beliefs and the social structure of society. Europeans learned about Hawaii only in 1778 from the explorer James Cook, who called them Sandwich by the name of their patron.
Origin and history
Hawaiian belongs to the Polynesian group of languages, with which it belongs to the Austronesian family. These are recognized languages that are common in Oceania, in the area between New Zealand, Easter Island and Hawaii. The ancestral home are the islands of Tonga. The closest to Hawaiian are the Marquis, Tahitian and Maori.
Hawaiian language originally existed only on the islands of the same name. After joining the United States, its distribution area expanded slightly. At the same time, in Hawaii itself, it was actively replaced by English. Now both languages are officially accepted in the state.
The language received the modern alphabet in Latin in 1822. Through the efforts of some Europeans and Americans, the press is published in Hawaiian, church sermons are held, official documents are filled out. Prior to this, only local poetic art and folklore existed as a way to preserve it.
Hawaiian language: words and features
At first glance, the language is quite simple, because its alphabet consists of only twelve letters, which are represented by five vowels (a, e, i, o, u), seven consonants (p, k, h, m, n, l, w) and one additional sound ('). The last sound often refers to the consonants, denoting a guttural bow-sound, the same, for example, is present in the English word “oh”.
Vowels always stand after each consonant and always end the words (palaoa - bread, mahalo - thank you). Two consonants simply cannot be near, so the Hawaiian language is very melodic. Its pronunciation is soft, because there are no coarse hard and hissing sounds.
Despite the small number of letters, each of them has several separate meanings. This feature makes the language figurative, and all words can be perceived at different semantic levels. The word aloha already known to us means greeting, farewell and compassion, can be interpreted as "glad to see you, I love you."
Vocabulary and dialects
How to learn Hawaiian? It is not so easy to find a phrasebook on it, although it is possible to get to know it minimally using Internet resources. Hawaiian words can consist of only two or three letters, for example, the fish will sound like i`a, tea - ki, and water - wai. Some, on the contrary, consist of a dozen letters, meaning a fairly broad concept. Thus, the name of the triggerfish in Hawaiian is interpreted as "a small fish with blue fins" and pronounced as humuhumunukunukuapuaa.
The dialects of the language are practically unstudied, although it is known about its dialects. The main and most common is traditional Hawaiian. On the island of Niihau there is its own version of Hawaiian, as well as spoken language. Both of them are significantly different from the classic version.
The influence of Americans on the islanders contributed to the formation of a new language - "pidgin". This phenomenon often occurs when two ethnic groups are forced to interact closely with each other, but the linguistic differences between them are too great. The Hawaiian pidgin is a mixture of English and Hawaiian interspersed with Japanese and Portuguese vocabulary.
Native speakers
The Hawaiian Islands are home to approximately 1.4 million inhabitants. Of these, only 27 thousand speak Hawaiian. It is mainly used by ethnic Hawaiians, who are descendants of the indigenous inhabitants of the islands. Many use their native language as a second, and in everyday life they often speak English.
The first acquaintance of the islanders with the Europeans had a positive effect on the development of the language, while in 1898 it was banned. All the efforts of the missionaries involved in its promotion in all spheres of public life came to naught.
Restoration of the language began in 1989. Now he is studying at the University of Hawaii in Hilo, language schools. In addition to the islands, Hawaiian has spread to other states of the country, even to Alaska, and the local culture is actively promoted in the cinema, take at least the cartoon “Lilo and Stitch” or the Hawaiian party in the movie “Runaway Bride”.