Reid Ginoza at 01:31, 15 April 2006

2006-04-15T01:31:43Z

Jennifer Wada at 10:56, 8 March 2006

2006-03-08T10:56:19Z

New page

memorization that early visitors
considered remarkable. It is also
recorded, however, that many Hawaiians
applied the traditional attitude
towards memorization to reading, and
memorized whole sections of books in
the form of chants. It is still bad
form in Hawaiian culture to hold a
script before you when chanting, in
the manner of sheet music in Western
culture. Therefore, the tradition of
using one's memory is still alive
today even though writing exists as a
means for preserving old chants. The
greatest stumbling block to exercising
the memory in reciting Hawaiian chants
today is not wri ting, but the
inability of chanters to speak
Hawaiian.
21/ Mentally, long vowels appear
to be actually two adjacent short
vowels; e.g., <f is a written
representation of what is mentally aa.
We have evidence for the mental
reality of double vowels in the
occurrence of long vowels when a word
with an initial short vowel is
doubled; e.g., awa, "harbor," awawa,
"valley." Hawaiians themselves
writing in the nineteenth century
sometimes wrote awawa as awaawa rather
than awawa, as was standard missionary
practice. The writing of awawa as
awaawa, however, can lead to confusion
with the missionary spelling of
'awa'awa (sour), because the
missionary orthography does not
indicate the 'okina.
22/ The use of the apostrophe to
represent an 'okina appears to have
grown out of a mistaken etymology in
the Bible. In the Bible the elision
of an a_ is indicated by an apostrophe;
e.g., e ola ai (by which one is saved)
is often written e ola'i in the Bible
to indicate a pronunciation e_ olai in
which one a^ has been elided.
First-person singular possessive words
like na'u (for me) were always written
with an apostrophe in the Bible,
apparently based on an idea that they
represent an elision (i.e., £j£, "for,"
plus au, "I, me," gives na 'u). The
spelling of these common words with ax
apostrophe became fixed in Hawaiian
speakers' minds and since the
apostrophe was located in a place
where an 'okina was pronounced in
actual speech, the apostrophe came to
be associated with the 'okina. As
time went by, Hawaiian speakers came
to use the apostrophe more and more to
represent the 'okina and less and less
to represent the predictable elision
of a_ before another vowel.
23/ A lax attitude toward the
spelling of Hawaiian words is commonly
found among English speakers in
Hawai'i and even among Hawaiian
speakers who have attended only
English medium schools. English
speakers often brush aside criticism
of their sloppy treatment of Hawaiian
spelling in comparison with their
insistence on high standards in
English spelling with a remark that
Hawaiian is an oral language and not a
written one like English. This shows
ignorance of both the histories of
Hawaiian and English. Hawaiian
speakers have a history of one of the
world's highest literacy rates.
English itself has a history of
missionary introduction of the Latin
alphabet to the British Isles. It is
interesting to note that one of the
most remote and least-Westerninfluenced
part of Polynesia, the
Kingdom of Tonga, is the area in
Polynesia with the most careful
spellers of an indigenous language.
All signs, personal names, and reading
material in Tonga is printed with the
kahako and 'okina and school children
use them consistently, properly, and
as easily as any other part of the
writing system, just as they are
pronounced in the spoken language.
221

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 greatest stumbling block to exercising
 the memory in reciting Hawaiian chants
-today is not wri ting, but the
+today is not writing, but the
 inability of chanters to speak
 Hawaiian.
 / Mentally, long vowels appear
 to be actually two adjacent short
-vowels; e.g., <f is a written
+vowels; e.g., <u>a</u> is a written
-representation of what is mentally aa.
+representation of what is mentally <u>aa</u>.
 We have evidence for the mental
 reality of double vowels in the
 occurrence of long vowels when a word
 with an initial short vowel is
-doubled; e.g., awa, "harbor," awawa,
+doubled; e.g., <u>awa</u>, "harbor," <u>awawa</u>,
 "valley." Hawaiians themselves
 writing in the nineteenth century
-sometimes wrote awawa as awaawa rather
+sometimes wrote <u>awawa</u> as <u>awaawa</u> rather
-than awawa, as was standard missionary
+than <u>awawa</u>, as was standard missionary
-practice. The writing of awawa as
+practice. The writing of <u>awawa</u> as
-awaawa, however, can lead to confusion
+<u>awaawa</u>, however, can lead to confusion
 with the missionary spelling of
-'awa'awa (sour), because the
+<u>'awa'awa</u> (sour), because the
 missionary orthography does not
-indicate the 'okina.
+indicate the <u>'okina</u>.
 / The use of the apostrophe to
-represent an 'okina appears to have
+<u>22</u>/ The use of the apostrophe to
 grown out of a mistaken etymology in
 the Bible. In the Bible the elision
-of an a_ is indicated by an apostrophe;
+of an <u>a</u> is indicated by an apostrophe;
-e.g., e ola ai (by which one is saved)
+e.g., <u>e ola ai</u> (by which one is saved)
-is often written e ola'i in the Bible
+is often written <u>e ola'i</u> in the Bible
-to indicate a pronunciation e_ olai in
+to indicate a pronunciation <u>e olai</u> in
-which one a^ has been elided.
+which one <u>a</u> has been elided.
 First-person singular possessive words
-like na'u (for me) were always written
+like <u>na'u</u> (for me) were always written
 with an apostrophe in the Bible,
 apparently based on an idea that they
-represent an elision (i.e., £j£, "for,"
+represent an elision (i.e., <u>na</u>, "for,"
-plus au, "I, me," gives na 'u). The
+plus <u>au</u>, "I, me," gives <u>na'u</u>). The
-spelling of these common words with ax
+spelling of these common words with an
 apostrophe became fixed in Hawaiian
 speakers' minds and since the
 apostrophe was located in a place
-where an 'okina was pronounced in
+where an <u>'okina</u> was pronounced in
 actual speech, the apostrophe came to
-be associated with the 'okina. As
+be associated with the <u>'okina</u>. As
 time went by, Hawaiian speakers came
 to use the apostrophe more and more to
-represent the 'okina and less and less
+represent the <u>'okina</u> and less and less
 to represent the predictable elision
-of a_ before another vowel.
+of <u>a</u> before another vowel.
 / A lax attitude toward the
 spelling of Hawaiian words is commonly
 found among English speakers in
@@ Line 85: / Line 88: @@
 alphabet to the British Isles. It is
 interesting to note that one of the
-most remote and least-Westerninfluenced
+most remote and least-Western-influenced
 part of Polynesia, the
 Kingdom of Tonga, is the area in
@@ Line 92: / Line 95: @@
 All signs, personal names, and reading
 material in Tonga is printed with the
-kahako and 'okina and school children
+<u>kahako</u> and <u>'okina</u> and school children
 use them consistently, properly, and
 as easily as any other part of the
 writing system, just as they are
 pronounced in the spoken language.
+{{p|221}}

Template:Nhsc-v1-221 - Revision history

Reid Ginoza at 01:31, 15 April 2006

Jennifer Wada at 10:56, 8 March 2006