Hawaiian language: history and features

Often the viewer of American films had to hear the greeting of "Aloha", originally from Hawaii. This knowledge of the Hawaiian language usually ends. Let's find out more about it.

Hawaiian Islands

To understand what language in Hawaii and where it came from, let's turn to geography. Hawaii is an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, which consists of eight main 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 Polynesians, who are supposed to have come here from the Marquesas Islands. Therefore, the Hawaiian language and culture is closest to the culture of Polynesia. Later, the migrants from Tahiti brought their contribution, bringing with them new religious beliefs, the social structure of society. The Europeans about Hawaii learned only in 1778 from the seafarer James Cook, who called them the Sandwich brothers by the name of their patron.

Origin and history

Hawaiian refers to the Polynesian group of languages, with whom he enters the Austronesian family. These are generally recognized languages that are common in Oceania, in the area between New Zealand, Easter Island and Hawaii. Ancestral home are the islands of Tonga. The closest to Hawaiian are the Marquess, Tahitian and Maori.

Hawaiian language originally existed only on the islands of the same name. After accession to the USA, the distribution area of its distribution expanded slightly. At the same time, Hawaii itself was actively replaced by English. Now both languages are officially accepted in the state.

Modern language in Latin alphabet was in 1822. Efforts of some Europeans and Americans in Hawaiian language are published by the press, church sermons are being conducted, official documents are being filled. Before that, as a way of preserving it, there was only local poetic creativity and folklore.

Hawaiian: words and features

At first sight, the language is rather 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 latter sound often refers to consonants, denoting a guttural sound-bow, the same, for example, is present in the English word "oh".

Vowels necessarily stand after each consonant and always end words (palaoa - bread, mahalo - thanks). Two consonant sounds simply can not be near, so the Hawaiian language is very melodic. The pronunciation of it is soft, since there are no rough hard and hissing sounds.

Despite the small number of letters, each of them has several separate meanings. This feature makes the language imaginative, and all words can be perceived at various semantic levels. Aloha already known to us means greeting, farewell and compassion, can be interpreted as "happy to see you, love you."

Vocabulary and dialects

How to learn Hawaiian? Phrase book on it is not so easy to find, although it is possible to get to know it with the help of 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 spinor in Hawaiian is treated as "a small fish with blue fins" and is pronounced as humuhumunukunukuapuaa.

The dialects of the language are practically not studied, although it is known about its dialects. The main and most common is the traditional Hawaiian language. On the island of Niikhau, there is its own version of the Hawaiian, as well as the spoken language. Both of them differ significantly from the classical version.

The influence of Americans on the islanders contributed to the formation of a new language - "pidgin." This phenomenon often arises when two ethnic groups are forced to work closely with each other, but the linguistic differences between them are too great. Hawaiian pidgin is a mixture of English and Hawaiian with interspersed Japanese and Portuguese vocabulary.

Native speakers

The Hawaiian Islands are home to approximately 1.4 million inhabitants. Of these, only 27,000 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 language, and in everyday life they speak English more often.

The first acquaintance of the islanders with the Europeans positively affected the development of the language, until in 1898 it was banned. All the efforts of missionaries engaged in his promotion in all spheres of public life have come to naught.

The restoration of the language took up in 1989. Now he is studying at the University of Hawaii in Hilo, language schools. In addition to the islands, the Hawaiian has spread to other states of the country, even to Alaska, and local culture is actively promoted in the cinema, let's take at least the animated film "Lilo and Stitch" or the Hawaiian party in the film "The Runaway Bride."