Reid Ginoza at 21:41, 14 April 2006

2006-04-14T21:41:47Z

Jennifer Wada at 10:55, 8 March 2006

2006-03-08T10:55:07Z

New page

let violations pass. This occurred
even during the late period of the
monarchy when custom required the
death of a child defiling an ali'i
with urine unless the child belonged
to the ali'i. A story is told of a
turn of the century ali'i holding a
child while visiting a country area
and the child urinating on her. The
immediate reaction of the ali'i was to
claim the child as her own and then
give it back to the parent "to raise
for her" with a special commemorative
name from the visit.
&_/ An example of confusion between
the Western concept of etymology and
the Hawaiian concept of word power can
be seen in the two volume set of Nana
I Ke Kumu, one of the most important
Hawaiian cultural resources in
English, but edited with some
English-speaking preconceptions. The
author, the venerable and strongly
traditional Mary K. Puxu'i, applies
the concept of word power to each term
described in the volumes. This is
firmly part of the Hawaiian tradition
and is used beautifully to draw
attention to different aspects of
various Hawaiian practices. For
example, the word 'ohana (family) is
related by Puku'i to the somewhat
similar sounding 'oha (side shoots of
the taro). This she poetically
develops" into a beautiful expression
of word power stressing the
genealogical links of Hawaiian nuclear
and extended families and the
connection with Haloalaukapalili, a
taro plant who was the older brother
of the first Hawaiian in traditional
genealogies. This explanation is a
tribute to the poetic genius of Puku'i
and not an etymology, as it is treated
by the editor, or even a poetic image
that has been recorded from other
traditional Hawaiians. By presenting
Puku'i's use of word power in such a
way as to suggest that it is the same
as etymology in the Western sense,
these influential volumes actually
stifle the creative use of word power
in Hawaiian culture. Thus, a native
speaker of Hawaiian who wanted to use
the word 'ohana to strengthen the
concept of working together with hana
(work) could be subject to criticism
for not knowing the "true" origin of
the word 'ohana as shown in Nana" I Ke
Kumu; this certainly not being the
intention of the author.
Another unfortunate aspect of the
editing in Nana I Ke Kumu is the
spelling of the Hawaiian words.
Rather than follow the spelling used
in the Hawaiian Dictionary that Puku'i
herself authored, the editor
haphazardly spelled Hawaiian words,
possibly because the spelling of words
used together by Puku'i within the
Hawaiian concept of word power
differed subtly from each other, as in
fact they do in pronunciation, e.g.,
'ohana and 'oha. The unfortunate
result of the sloppy spelling is that
those who do not know the Hawaiian
language well will try to pronounce
words as they are written in the
books, thus again weakening the
Hawaiian language and culture.
There are numerous other cases
especially involving place names, in
which a Hawaiian speaker using the
concept of word power has been
interpreted as giving an etymological
derivation, or worse yet an actual
"correct" pronunciation of the name.
An example is the pronunciation of the
island Kaua'i in normal Hawaiian
conversation by all native speakers of
the language. It has been claimed as
"correctly" pronounced Kau'ai (related
to the word 'ai, "food") or Kau'aT
(related to the word 'a'l, "neck") by
individuals who assumed that a
Hawaiian speaker making a point about
the island using word power actually
meant that these were pronunciations
that had been used for generations by
Hawaiian speakers.
218

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 even during the late period of the
 monarchy when custom required the
-death of a child defiling an ali'i
+death of a child defiling an <u>ali'i</u>
 with urine unless the child belonged
-to the ali'i. A story is told of a
+to the <u>ali'i</u>. A story is told of a
-turn of the century ali'i holding a
+turn of the century <u>ali'i</u> holding a
 child while visiting a country area
 and the child urinating on her. The
-immediate reaction of the ali'i was to
+immediate reaction of the <u>ali'i</u> was to
 claim the child as her own and then
 give it back to the parent "to raise
 for her" with a special commemorative
 name from the visit.
-&_/ An example of confusion between
 the Western concept of etymology and
 the Hawaiian concept of word power can
-be seen in the two volume set of Nana
+be seen in the two volume set of <u>Nana I Ke Kumu</u>, one of the most important
 Hawaiian cultural resources in
 English, but edited with some
@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 attention to different aspects of
 various Hawaiian practices. For
-example, the word 'ohana (family) is
+example, the word <u>'ohana</u> (family) is
 related by Puku'i to the somewhat
-similar sounding 'oha (side shoots of
+similar sounding <u>'oha</u> (side shoots of
 the taro). This she poetically
 develops" into a beautiful expression
@@ Line 53: / Line 53: @@
 in Hawaiian culture. Thus, a native
 speaker of Hawaiian who wanted to use
-the word 'ohana to strengthen the
+the word <u>'ohana</u> to strengthen the
-concept of working together with hana
+concept of working together with <u>hana</u>
 (work) could be subject to criticism
 for not knowing the "true" origin of
-the word 'ohana as shown in Nana" I Ke
+the word <u>'ohana</u> as shown in <u>Nana I Ke Kumu</u>; this certainly not being the
 intention of the author.
 Another unfortunate aspect of the
-editing in Nana I Ke Kumu is the
+editing in <u>Nana I Ke Kumu</u> is the
 spelling of the Hawaiian words.
 Rather than follow the spelling used
@@ Line 72: / Line 72: @@
 differed subtly from each other, as in
 fact they do in pronunciation, e.g.,
-'ohana and 'oha. The unfortunate
+<u>'ohana</u> and <u>'oha</u>. The unfortunate
 result of the sloppy spelling is that
 those who do not know the Hawaiian
@@ Line 79: / Line 79: @@
 books, thus again weakening the
 Hawaiian language and culture.
 There are numerous other cases
 especially involving place names, in
@@ Line 91: / Line 92: @@
 the language. It has been claimed as
 "correctly" pronounced Kau'ai (related
-to the word 'ai, "food") or Kau'aT
+to the word <U>'ai</u>, "food") or Kau'a'i
-(related to the word 'a'l, "neck") by
+(related to the word <u>'a'l</u>, "neck") by
 individuals who assumed that a
 Hawaiian speaker making a point about
@@ Line 99: / Line 100: @@
 that had been used for generations by
 Hawaiian speakers.
+{{p|218}}

Template:Nhsc-v1-218 - Revision history

Reid Ginoza at 21:41, 14 April 2006

Jennifer Wada at 10:55, 8 March 2006