Ke Alahou, Volume I, Number 6, 1 May 1980 — Preservation and Perpetuation of the Hawaiian Language [ARTICLE]

Preservation and Perpetuation of the Hawaiian Language

A lecture dealing with the "preservation" of the Hawaiian language was given at at the Kamehameha Schools on Thursday, April 17th. This lecture was part of a series or lectures on Hawaiian Studies sponsored by the Kamehameha Schools. Larry L. Kimura, a University of Hawaii language instructor presented the lecture to an audience of about 150 people. Kimura started the lecture by giving a brief history of his background and attempted to show its relationship to his learning of Hawaiian. He also presented the experiences of the paniolo (cowboy) or Waimea, Hawaii as an example of the degression of speaking and learning Hawaiian. Kimura said that due to eeonomic and social situations the use of Hawaiian has been severely limited. These limitations were caused by the universal problem of the younger people, moving away from the rural areas to seek other occupations. Hence, the need, practicality to speak and also to know Hawaiian has diminished. He also spoke of the Hawaiian language radio show, Ka Leo Hawaii which is heard each Sunday night on radio KCCN. This program is conducted solely in Hawaiian for an hour and a half. It was started by the Hawaiian language club, Hui Aloha 'Aina Tuahine, at the University. As club advisor, Kimura acts as program moderator. More importantIy, Kimura states that this radio program has created an opportunity to help preserve the Hawaiian language. It has produced the participation of older Hawaiians, who speak fluent Hawaiian and have in the past limited their use of the language to social and family situations to speak out. Kimura strongly suggested that in the future, the learning and acquisition of the ability to speak and understand Hawaiian may be heavily dependent upon the following means: 1) formal education, 2) being born and raised on the island of Ni'ihau, 3) learning at home. He also noted that many students taking Hawaiian language courses are not solely of Hawaiian ancestry and strongly recommended that more students of Hawaiian ancestry should be taking classes. He also suggested the possibility of having more teachers of Hawaiian ancestry to teach Hawaiian language courses. This lecture was followed with a question and answer period. Some of thē questions brought up were: 1) Should a teacher's knowledge of the language be given preference over his or her ability to teach? Or vice versa? 2) How different is "university Hawaiian" from that of "home-rural Hawaiian?" 3) Why should we learn Hawaiian at all? Hinano Rodgrigues