“USING HAWAIIAN WORDS”

THIS HELPFUL SESSION has been conducted by volunteer speakers since April, 1974 as the easiest and fastest way to find out how to cope with saying and writing individual Hawaiian words. It’s complete in a single sitting that lasts just one hour — not a series of classes for learning conversational Hawaiian.

The informal lecture ranks as the first and still the foremost presentation of its kind for the general public, explaining the structure of our Hawaiian place names in the Aloha State and encouraging people to preserve them in speech and printed matter for generations to come.

Participants become acquainted with all the basic guidelines for standard spelling, pronunciation and usage of traditional terms people encounter everywhere throughout The Islands.

Such knowledge is essential for professionals who use Hawaiian words frequently —- especially persons employed in the visitor industry, public relations, advertising, writers and editors, broadcasters and recording artists.

BACKGROUND

FOR OVER A QUARTER OF A CENTURY volunteer speakers contributed hundreds of hours toward the development of this presentation. At the outset, 1974—1977, different explanations and examples were tested, evaluated and revised by lecturers who continually refined their material while carefully retaining its informal style and reliable content.

Those pioneering efforts were given without an admission charge to more than eighty audiences at the following locations:

Roosevelt High School, Honolulu
(Three sessions in one day during April, 1974)
Hawaiian Mission Elementary School, Honolulu
Wai’anae Intermediate School, O’ahu
KITV—4 News Staff, Honolulu (For television newscasters only)
Aloha Airlines Cabin Attendants, Honolulu International Airport
Ma’ili Elementary School, O’ahu (Faculty only)
Tourism Industry Employees’ Class, Visitors Bureau, Waikiki
Waialua Elementary School, O’ahu
Leilehua High School, Wahiawa, O’ahu
Waimea Elementary School, Kaua’i
Kapa’a Intermediate School, Kaua’i
Kaua’i High School, Lihu’e (Four sessions)
Hui Ho’ofilu ‘Olelo Hawai’i, Hilo (Hawaiian Language Club)
The Henry Opfikaha’ia School, Hilo
(One private evening session for students, teachers, parents)
Hilo High School (Two sessions)
Waiakea Intermediate School, Hilo
Kapi’olani Elementary School, Hilo
Hawaiian Civic Club, Na’alehu, Big Island
(One evening session for members and friends)
Thelma Parker Memorial Library, Kamuela, Big Island
(Afternoon session)
Pu’uhonua O Honaunau, National Historic Park, Kona
(Evening session)
Kona Rotary Club, Kailua—Kona (Dinner meeting for members)
Our Lady Of Sorrows School, Wahiawa, O’ahu
Kalakaua Intermediate School, Honolulu (Three sessions)
Hawai’i School For Girls, Diamond Head (Two outdoor sessions)
Committee For The Preservation & Study Of Hawaiian Language, Art & Culture, Bishop Museum, Honolulu (Invitational)
Tenney Theater, Saint Andrew’s Cathedral, Honolulu
(Eight evening sessions for the general public)
Waimea Falls Park, O’ahu (Evening session for staff and guests)
Windward School For Adults, Kailua, O’ahu (Evening session)
Arcadia Retirement Residence, Honolulu (Evening session)
Waikiki Public Library, Honolulu
(Thirty—eight consecutive Saturday afternoon sessions)
Halekulani (Four private sessions for hotel staff and guests)

ADVISORY

PLEASE UNDERSTAND that sessions of Using Hawaiian Words are conducted by volunteer speakers without a vast knowledge of the Hawaiian Language. Ability in conversational Hawaiian is not required because our primary goal is simply to cover the basic guidelines of how to write and say individual Hawaiian words. Your presenter will be following a standard procedure, step-by—step, without departing from what we’ve learned works best, from our experience before thousands of listeners. So please refrain from interrupting the speaker to ask questions that may come to mind —- because every question which occurs to you probably will be answered when we reach the point where that material is illustrated best in its relationship to other fundamental factors. Thus, all the essentials can be covered within the time limitation for this single session, and nOne of the key elements will be left out.

LEARNING WORDS ONE—BY-ONE ON YOUR OWN

SINGLE TERMS or simple combinations of words comprise most of the Hawaiian Language the average person is apt to encounter throughout the major islands of the Hawaiian Archipelago where about eighty—five percent of the place names are traditional ones which many people consider Fiftieth State Treasures.

Hawaiian place names have beautifully melodious sounds when they’re pronounced accurately. But unfortunately we have two prevalent problems regarding Hawaiian terms here in Alohaland —— mispronunciation and careless typography.

Newcomers arrive daily, bringing foreign language backgrounds with them. So there are all sorts of peculiar ways somebody might say Hawaiian words. But everyone surely agrees there’s only one way to say Hawaiian words right and that’s the true Hawaiian way, of course. Anything else sounds like a false note in the ears of those who know the difference. And with the current increase of popular interest in Hawaiian culture, there are growing numbers of people who do know the difference. In fact, it has become a status symbol these days to be able to write and say Hawaiian words with confidence as “somebody who belongs here.” There’s really only one reason people are unconcerned about preserving Hawaiian place names — they just can’t be bothered. However, it’s not difficult to learn the correct usage of ONLY the particular Hawaiian terms which you encounter frequently in the conduct your daily life. You’ll need to learn merely those FAMILIAR WORDS comprising your own Personal Hawaiian Vocabulary. If we consider how often we see, hear and say certain Hawaiian terms, it will be an easy matter for anyone to compile a list of words which can be regarded as immediate features of one’s local environment. Thus, different individuals will make different lists, according to their own situation and the range of their activities. Start with ten place names or street names —- and you’re on your way!

PERSONAL HAWAIIAN VOCABULARY

WORD MEANING SOUND PATTERN

WHEN YOU NEED MORE LINES obtain a notebook and transfer your first ten words into it. As your list becomes longer, it will be helpful to begin organizing your Hawaiian terms into major categories for quick reference, according to basic topics such as Proper Names or Street Names or Town Names or Botanical Names or Names Of Channels Between Islands, etc.

ALWAYS LOOK UP THE MEANING of any word you include. If there’s no literal translation, insert the notation: (meaning lost).

SOUND PATTERNS that first appeared in the 1965 publication Instant Hawaiian Pocket Dictionary have been incorporated into this program because these easy phonetic renderings in English, indicating how to say a Hawaiian word right, can be applied to any Hawaiian term. This is a valuable aid to pronunciation which you’ll be able to construct by yourself after attending today’s session. Each syllable is shown as a unit of sound separated by dashes. Syllables needing stress appear in CAPS while unstressed syllables are in lower case. Keep watching how this is done so you can apply helpful SOUND PATTERNS to your own Personal Hawaiian Vocabulary. It’s the key item for quick reference, indicating exactly how to say a word -— without having to figure it out all over again!

The Program To Preserve Hawaiian Place Names

A STATEWIDE PUBLIC SERVICE SINCE 1974

STANDARD REFERENCES FOR HAWAIIAN WORDS

HAWAIIAN DICTIONARY
Hawaiian-English and English—Hawaiian
By Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel H. Elbert
University Of Hawai’i Press, 1986, Revised and Enlarged Edition Cloth, 600 pages
[The result of decades of compilation, research and analysis, this book is the definitive and authoritative reference for Hawaiian vocabulary. It consists of 26,000 Hawaiian—English entries and 12,500 English—Hawaiian entries, together with a bibliography of references.]

NEW POCKET HAWAIIAN DICTIONARY
With A Concise Hawaiian Grammar
By Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel H. Elbert,
With Esther T. Mo‘okini and Yu Mapuana Nishizawa
University Of Hawai’i Press, 1992
Paperback, 272 pages
[This condensed version of the unabridged Hawaiian Dictionary contains the most frequently used 6,000 Hawaiian words, plus 4,800 English words, as well as 750 “Hawaiianized” English names. A condensed grammar outlines in clear and simple terms the structure of the language and the position of Hawaiian within the Polynesian language family.]

PLACE NAMES 0F HAWAI’I
By Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel H. Elbert and Esther T. Mo‘okini
University Of Hawai‘i Press, 1974, Revised Edition
Paperback, 310 pages with maps
[This valuable work consists of an inventory, interpretation and informative analysis of more than 4,000 Hawaiian place names that reward the reader with interesting facts on geography, mythology, history, linguistics and poetry.]

POCKET PLACE NAMES OF HAWAI’I
By Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel H. Elbert and Esther T. Mo‘okini
University Of Hawai‘i Press, 1989
Paperback, 96 pages with maps
[Abridged and updated version of Place Names Of Hawai‘i]

MAMAKA KAIAO: A Modern Hawaiian Vocabulary
Created & Compiled By Kamike Hua’olelo with support from
Hale Kuamo’o & ‘Aha Pfinana Leo
University Of Hawai’i Press, 2003
Cloth, $42.00 / Paperback, $15.95 / 414 pages
[The title translates as “carrying forward into a new era.” Published in both Hawaiian and English, this companion to the Hawaiian Dictionary contains more than 1,000 new and contemporary Hawaiian terms essential to the continuation and growth of the Hawaiian Language. These words were created, collected and approved by the Hawaiian Lexicon Committee, from 1987 through 2003. Members of the committee generally meet four to six times each year to discuss terms related to new fields of knowledge which are not found in the Pukui & Elbert standard dictionary. Useful words from other languages are “Hawaiianized” into suitable terms. Also certain Hawaiian words are updated and revised for accuracy, and elements are included from similar Polynesian Languages.]

REFERENCE MAPS OF THE ISLANDS 0F HAWAI’I
By James A. Bier
University Of Hawai’i Press, folded paper sheets
[These five full-color shaded relief maps of six islands include large—scale insets of towns and also show detailed networks of roads, the locations of parks and beaches and hiking trails, cultural sites, and natural points of interest such as waterfalls, ridges and peak elevations. More than 5,000 place names are given in the complete set. All the words on these excellent charts are printed with the macrons and glottal stops of complete Hawaiian spelling to facilitate correct pronunciation and accurate interpretation. Each map is fully indexed.]

O’AHU, 7th Edition, 2007, 28x25 inches

HAWAI’I, 8th Edition, 2010, 24x30 inches

MAUI, 8th Edition, 2008, 24x18s inches

KAUA’i, 7th Edition, 2004, 22x14s inches

MOLOKA’i & LANA’I, 5th Edition, 2002, 21x18 inches

THE WEB SITE http://www.ulukau.org was announced in the spring of 2004 as the first Hawaiian/English e—library. The site’s dictionaries allow the user to type in any Hawaiian word to receive its English equivalent.