- Official language in
- United States
- Script
- Latin
Where it's spoken
Hawaiian is an official language of the State of Hawaii, alongside English. Article XV, Section 4 of the Hawaii State Constitution, headed "Official Languages," establishes Hawaiian and English as the official languages of the State — a status specific to the State of Hawaii rather than to the United States as a whole.
Sources
- Constitution of the State of Hawaii (Hawaii State Legislature) — Art. XV, §4, "Official Languages"
Script & pronunciation
Hawaiian is written in the Latin alphabet, with two diacritics that mark sounds plain Latin letters do not: the ʻokina, a glottal stop, and the kahakō, a macron that lengthens and adds stress to the vowel it marks. Where these marks are placed can change a word's meaning entirely: pau, depending on the placement of its ʻokina and kahakō, can mean "completed," "smudge," "moist," or "skirt."
This app's romanization field breaks each Hawaiian word into syllables with hyphens while keeping the ʻokina and kahakō in place, as in ʻōlelo, shown as ʻō-le-lo.
Sources
- University of Hawaiʻi — "Hawaiian Diacritical Marks" — ʻOkina and kahakō definitions; pau example
Grammar essentials
In a Hawaiian sentence, the predicate — the verb, or, when a descriptive word stands in for one, an adjective — normally comes before the subject rather than after it. This app's cards show the same order, as in Maikaʻi au, mahalo. ("I'm fine, thank you."), where the descriptive word maikaʻi ("fine") precedes the subject au ("I"), and Pehea ʻoe? ("How are you?"), where pehea ("how") precedes ʻoe ("you").
Negation is formed with ʻaʻole: when the subject is a pronoun, it stands directly after ʻaʻole and before the predicate. This app's cards follow the same order, as in ʻAʻole au makemake i ka palapala hoʻokaʻa. ("I don't need a receipt") and ʻAʻole au ʻike i ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. ("I can't speak ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi").
Hawaiian pronouns also distinguish a "we" that includes the person being spoken to from a "we" that excludes them. This app's card E ʻai kākou! ("Let's all eat!") uses the inclusive kākou, so the invitation includes whoever hears it.
Sources
- Alexander, W. D. (1920). A Short Synopsis of the Most Essential Points in Hawaiian Grammar. Honolulu: Thomas G. Thrum — §6, §8, §27 (predicate–subject order; negation with aole); §36 (maua/makou vs. kaua/kakou)
Politeness & etiquette
Requests are softened with ʻoluʻolu, glossed in the Pukui–Elbert Hawaiian dictionary as "pleasant, nice, amiable, satisfied, contented, happy, affable, agreeable, congenial, cordial, gracious; please." Combined with the imperative particle e, it literally asks the listener to be pleasant; this app's card E ʻoluʻolu is used for "Please."
Gratitude is expressed with mahalo, glossed in the same dictionary as "Thanks, gratitude; to thank." This app's card Mahalo, shown as Ma-ha-lo, is used for "Thank you."
Sources
- Pukui, Mary Kawena; Elbert, Samuel H. (1986). Hawaiian Dictionary: Hawaiian–English, English–Hawaiian, Revised and Enlarged Edition. University of Hawaii Press — entry ʻoluʻolu
- Pukui, Mary Kawena; Elbert, Samuel H. (1986). Hawaiian Dictionary: Hawaiian–English, English–Hawaiian, Revised and Enlarged Edition. University of Hawaii Press — entry mahalo