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Hawaiian

Hawaiian

Summary

Hawaiian is natively spoken by about 2,000 people, primarily in Hawaii, where it is an official language alongside English. It is integral to Native Hawaiian cultural identity, known for its oral traditions, hula dance, and reverence for the land and sea. Written in the Latin alphabet with diacritical marks, Hawaiian grammar features a verb-subject-object (VSO) word order and a system of particles to indicate grammatical relationships.

Stats

  • Language Family: Austronesian

  • Writing System: Latin

  • Writing System Type: Alphabet

  • Writing Direction: L to R

  • Tones / Pitch Accent: N

  • Morphology: Analytic

  • Cases: 3

  • Grammatical Gender / Noun Class: 0

  • Number of Verb Tenses: 3

  • Word Order: VSO

  • Number of Vowels (Monophthongs): 10

  • Number of Consonants: 8

Areas Where Spoken

  • United States of America (> 0.0006%) (> 2 k)

Resources

Apps

 Duolingo https://www.duolingo.com/

  • Difficult to know the "why" of what you are learning (see Hawaiian Goodness website for lesson guides)

  • Shorter than other Duo language sets (~700 words)

  • Fun!

Mango https://mangolanguages.com/available-languages/hawaiian/

  • More explanation of what you are learning than Duolingo

  • Less cute/fun than Duolingo

  • One of a handful of free languages on Mango!


Books

Reference Grammar of the Hawaiian Language https://hawaiian-grammar.org/current/

  • Searchable PDF

  • Quite extensive!

  • Made by volunteers (non-native speakers), based on coursework

Noʻeau https://www.noeau.org/

  • 52 free childrenʻs books with audio!


Websites

Dictionary: Wehewehe Wikiwiki https://hilo.hawaii.edu/wehe/ Quickest Hawaiian dictionary

  • The Pukui-Ebert entries are the most up-to-date and contain ʻokina and macrons

Dictionary: Wehewehe https://wehewehe.org/?l=en

  • Original/less quick form of Wikiwiki above.

  • Allows you to choose which dictionary to search, and can also peruse the dictionaries cover to cover via small link at bottom of homepage

Hawaiian Goodness https://useduforce.wixsite.com/hawaiiangoodness

  • 30 day starter schedule

  • Duolingo guides that actually explain what you are learning!

  • Vocabulary lists

  • and more!

ʻŌlelo Online https://oleloonline.com/

  • Lots of free info: pronunciation, grammar, etc.

  • Extensive, well organized video lessons with accompanying text ($6 USD per month)

  • Live Zoom lessons, absolute beginner through advanced (8 week/8 class session costs $80 USD)

  • If your library has the "Instant Immersion" or "Hawaiian: Proven Techniques to Learn and Speak Hawaiian" audio discs, this website has very helpful accompanying text.

Resource list by Kapiʻolani Community College 

https://guides.library.kapiolani.hawaii.edu/olelo/home

  • Huge and varied list!

  • Tabs at top for 1st year or 2nd year


Videos

Hawaiian Goodness YouTube Playlists https://www.youtube.com/@hawaiiangoodness/playlists

  • Gathered lessons

  • TV shows

  • Radio shows

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