Reid Ginoza at 21:07, 9 April 2006

2006-04-09T21:07:09Z

Jennifer Wada at 10:42, 8 March 2006

2006-03-08T10:42:10Z

New page

reduced the complexities of Polynesian
morphology not found in European
languages (for example, the loss of
reciprocal verb forms and indefinite
possessive pronouns, such as,
respectively, Tongan--fekainga'aki,
"be related to each other," and
haku--"one of my"). Depending on
whether one emphasizes consonants and
morphology (as many earlier schools of
American language scholars did) or
vowels and syntax (as is becoming more
popular in modern linguistics)
Hawaiian at initial Western contact
was either a simple or complex
language. Like all Polynesian
languages, however, Hawaiian has an
elegant and pragmatically-balanced
grammatical structure that eliminates
many of the ambiguities of English.
The pronominal, verbal, possessive,
und demonstrative systems are
particularly well-developed compared
to English (as shown in Table 63).
Dr. Samuel E. Elbert, one of the
pioneers of Hawaiian and Polynesian
linguistics, has even proposed that
the pronunciation and structure of
Hawaiian makes it a good candidate for
a language of international
communication like Esperanto.
Vocabulary and Written Form
The vocabulary of Hawaiian relating
to traditional Hawaiian culture and
the natural history of Hawai'i is
extensive (over 25,000 words have been
recorded in the Puku'i-Elbert
dictionary). Contact with the rest of
the world in 1778 created a need for
an expanded vocabulary to describe new
artifacts, technologies, diseases, and
activities. The process of expanding
vocabulary was already well
established in the language and it
was readily applied upon the arrival
of the first Western ships. For
example, ships were termed moku, a
poetic term for a large exposed sea
rock or small island; guns became pu,
a term referring to large trumpet
shell horns; and 9/philii became knowr
as kaokao, probably ar analogy with
hakaokao, a description of rottin-:
taro.
For some forty yeirs Hawaiians
rapidly developed vorafciiary to
describe new things with which the\
came into contact, by adapting
traditional vocabulary and for ft i :r,
terms to Hawaiian. Early vocabulary
expansion was particularly great in
matters relating to Western sailing
vessels and technolooy. Hawaiian men
were recruited in large numbers as
crew members by visiting traders and
whalers, with Some commanding vessels
for foreign owners as well as vessels
acquired by the Hawaiian court.
It was not until forty-four years
after the first Western contact that
an attempt was made by Westerners to
participate in the expansion of
Hawaiian vocabulary. Calvimst
missionaries from New England arrived
in Hawai'i in 1320, with the
altruistic intention of egotistically
imposing their religion and culture on
a people considered inferior and
deprived, because of a religion and
culture incomprehensible to
Calvinists. It took approximately two
years and the guidance of John
Pickering's Essay on a Uniform
Orthography for the Indian Languages
of North America before the
missionaries were able to start
teaching Hawaiians a method of writing
and reading their native lanauage.
The experimental orthography that they
used was most stable in its use of
five vowel symbols (a_, e_, i_, o_, and u_)
and the exclusion of the English
consonantal symbols c, q_, and _x»
Hawaiian language possessed sour, is
for which there were no consonant
symbols in the English language. The
confusing result was frequent
interchange of consonant symbols that
{{p|186}}

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 reciprocal verb forms and indefinite
 possessive pronouns, such as,
-respectively, Tongan--fekainga'aki,
+respectively, Tongan--<u>fekainga'aki</u>,
 "be related to each other," and
 haku--"one of my"). Depending on
@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 many of the ambiguities of English.
 The pronominal, verbal, possessive,
-und demonstrative systems are
+and demonstrative systems are
 particularly well-developed compared
 to English (as shown in Table 63).
@@ Line 30: / Line 30: @@
 a language of international
 communication like Esperanto.
 Vocabulary and Written Form
 The vocabulary of Hawaiian relating
 to traditional Hawaiian culture and
@@ Line 45: / Line 47: @@
 was readily applied upon the arrival
 of the first Western ships. For
-example, ships were termed moku, a
+example, ships were termed <u>moku</u>, a
 poetic term for a large exposed sea
-rock or small island; guns became pu,
+rock or small island; guns became <u>pu</u>,
 a term referring to large trumpet
-shell horns; and 9/philii became knowr
+shell horns; and syphilis became known
-as kaokao, probably ar analogy with
+as <u>kaokao</u>, probably ar analogy with
-hakaokao, a description of rottin-:
+<u>hakaokao</u>, a description of rotting
 taro.
-For some forty yeirs Hawaiians
-rapidly developed vorafciiary to
+For some forty years Hawaiians
-describe new things with which the\
+rapidly developed vocabulary to
 came into contact, by adapting
-traditional vocabulary and for ft i :r,
+traditional vocabulary and foreign
 terms to Hawaiian. Early vocabulary
 expansion was particularly great in
@@ Line 64: / Line 67: @@
 were recruited in large numbers as
 crew members by visiting traders and
-whalers, with Some commanding vessels
+whalers, with some commanding vessels
 for foreign owners as well as vessels
 acquired by the Hawaiian court.
 It was not until forty-four years
 after the first Western contact that
 an attempt was made by Westerners to
 participate in the expansion of
-Hawaiian vocabulary. Calvimst
+Hawaiian vocabulary. Calvinist
 missionaries from New England arrived
-in Hawai'i in 1320, with the
+in Hawai'i in 1820, with the
 altruistic intention of egotistically
 imposing their religion and culture on
@@ Line 81: / Line 85: @@
 Calvinists. It took approximately two
 years and the guidance of John
-Pickering's Essay on a Uniform
+Pickering's <u>Essay on a Uniform
 Orthography for the Indian Languages
-of North America before the
+of North America</u> before the
 missionaries were able to start
 teaching Hawaiians a method of writing
@@ Line 89: / Line 93: @@
 The experimental orthography that they
 used was most stable in its use of
-five vowel symbols (a_, e_, i_, o_, and u_)
+five vowel symbols (<u>a</u>, <u>e</u>, <u>i</u>, <u>o</u>, and <u>u</u>)
 and the exclusion of the English
-consonantal symbols c, q_, and _x»
+consonantal symbols <u>c</u>, <u>q</u>, and <u>x</u>.
-Hawaiian language possessed sour, is
 for which there were no consonant
 symbols in the English language. The

Template:Nhsc-v1-186 - Revision history

Reid Ginoza at 21:07, 9 April 2006

Jennifer Wada at 10:42, 8 March 2006