Participants in "He 'Ōlelo Ola" visit Ke Kula 'O Nāwahīokalani'ōpu'u, a Hawaiian language immersion school in Kea'au, Hawai'i. Photo courtesy Ke Kula 'O Nāwahīokalani'ōpu'u

Native language revitalization efforts learn from Hawai'i

By T. Ilihia Gionson / Ka Wai Ola Loa

Native eyes – and ears – turned to Hilo recently, when people active in native language revitalization came to Hawai'i Island's east side to see firsthand the resurgence of the Hawaiian language – which was itself on the brink of extinction three decades ago.
On March 16 and 17, attendees of the First International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation participated in "He 'Ōlelo Ola," an extension of the conference showcasing the successes of restoring Hawaiian as a living language in the community.

"Hawai'i is the big leader in language revitalization," said Leanne Hinton, linguistics professor at the University of California at Berkeley. "We all look to it as a model."

Hinton studies Native American languages and helps tribes doing language revitalization through the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival. The Advocates help pair native speakers with students and also teach tribes how to resurrect their dead languages from what documentation exists. Of the 100 or so native languages of California, only about 50 still have speakers. And those remaining speakers are few and far between, not to mention advanced in age.

The rapid decline in native languages seen in California is unfortunately familiar with native peoples worldwide. Languages with dwindling speaker bases represented at the conference hailed from every populated continent and islands in nearly every ocean.

Indeed, the Hawaiian language was once in the same sinking boat. But thanks to the Hawaiian language revitalization movement that started in the early 1980s, keiki today have the opportunity to grow up in the language – an opportunity not available not so long ago. And today, children of early graduates of Hawaiian immersion schools are attending the schools.

Hilo is now well known for the amount of Hawaiian that can be heard in public. Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikōlani, the college of Hawaiian language at UH Hilo, estimates that there are about 800 Hawaiian speakers in the Hilo area, 500 who use the language daily. Hawaiian speaking households are also on the rise. The college counts 50 people, all under the age of 30, who were raised in the Hilo area speaking Hawaiian as their first language.

"The (Hawaiian language) school programs are just fabulous, and the fact that so many people are using the language at home is so wonderful," Hinton said. "We always think of Hawai'i as a model for the rest of us, something to aspire to even if in a smaller way."

But that's not to say that the Hawaiian language is out of the woods yet, says Professor Larry Kimura of Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikōlani.

Hawaiian usually isn't considered a small language because of its geographical base across Hawai'i, and because of the number of Hawaiian speakers. It's even an official language of the state. But considering a total population of nearly half a million Hawaiians, when you look at the small percentage of those who speak the language, Hawaiian is still an endangered language, Kimura said.

"So is Hawaiian a small language like one from a small valley in Taiwan? No. But Hawaiian is still on the brink of extinction," Kimura said.

"Native people with truly small languages are impressed with the successes of the Hawaiian language revitalization movement, but it's a very different environment from their homes in Nepal or Taiwan or Wisconsin. We Hawaiians can be reminded of the still limited reach of the Hawaiian language," Kimura said. "We have a ways to go before we can truly say the Hawaiian language lives."