Often, the viewer of American films had to hear the greeting "aloha", originally from Hawaii. This is where knowledge of the Hawaiian language usually ends. Let's find out a little more about him.
Hawaiian Islands
To understand what language is in the Hawaiian Islands 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 almost 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 believed 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 also made their contribution, bringing with them new religious beliefs, the social structure of society. Europeans learned about Hawaii only in 1778 from the navigator James Cook, who named them Sandwich after his patron.
Origin and history
Hawaiian belongs to the Polynesian group of languages, together with which it is included inAustronesian family. These are generally recognized languages that are spoken in Oceania, in the area between New Zealand, Easter Island and Hawaii. The ancestral home is the islands of Tonga. Marquesas, Tahitian and Maori are closest to Hawaiian.
The 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, English was actively replacing it in Hawaii itself. Both languages are now official in the state.
The language received the modern alphabet in Latin in 1822. Through the efforts of some Europeans and Americans, the Hawaiian language is published in the press, church sermons are held, and official documents are filled out. Before that, only local poetry and folklore existed as a way to preserve it.
Hawaiian: 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 is often related to consonants, denoting a guttural bow sound, such as is present in the English word "oh", for example.
Vowels always come after each consonant and always end words (palaoa - bread, mahalo - thank you). Two consonants simply cannot be together, so the Hawaiian language is very melodic. Its pronunciation is soft, as there are no rough hard and hissing sounds.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, and can be interpreted as “glad to see you, love you.”
Vocabulary and dialects
How to learn Hawaiian? It is not so easy to find a phrase book on it, although you can get acquainted with it minimally using Internet resources. Hawaiian words can be as short as two or three letters, for example, fish would sound like i`a, tea would sound like ki, and water would sound like wai. Some, on the contrary, consist of a dozen letters, meaning a rather extensive concept. So, the name triggerfish in Hawaiian is interpreted as "a small fish with blue fins" and is pronounced as humuhumunukunukuapuaa.
The dialects of the language are practically not studied, although its dialects are known. The main and most widely spoken is the traditional Hawaiian language. The island of Niihau has its own variety of Hawaiian, as well as a 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 with Japanese and Portuguese vocabulary.
Medialanguage
The Hawaiian Islands have approximately 1.4 million inhabitants. Of these, only 27,000 speak Hawaiian. It is mainly used by ethnic Hawaiians, who are descendants of the original inhabitants of the islands. Many people use their native language as a second language, and in everyday life they speak English more often.
The first acquaintance of the islanders with Europeans had a positive impact on the development of the language, until it was banned in 1898. All the efforts of the missionaries involved in its promotion in all spheres of public life came to naught.
Restoration of the language started in 1989. Now it is being studied at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, language schools. In addition to the islands, Hawaiian has spread to other states of the country, even to Alaska, and local culture is actively promoted in the cinema, take, for example, the cartoon "Lilo and Stitch" or the Hawaiian party in the movie "Runaway Bride".
