I found my Hawai'ian Cultural Studies folder circa 2002.
It was all super simplified for teaching 8 year olds, but I will always appreciate the Hawai'ian elders that came to my school once a week to teach us about their culture and history.
This month’s interview is with N. Haʻalilio Solomon, who wears many diverse and interesting hats in his roles as Hawaiian and Tahitian language Instructor, Hawaiian Translator & Radio Host. He is also the president of the Kealakai Center for Pacific Strings. If you would like to hear more about Haʻa’s work, check out his episodeonField Notes, a podcast about linguistics fieldwork.
Photo courtesy of Mahina Choy-Ellis and NMG Network
What did you study at university? BA: ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language)
MA: LinguisticsPhD: Linguistics
What is your job?
I am an educator, translator, writer and editor for Hawaiian language media content, radio host, and a researcher.
As a radio host, I get to play old Hawaiian music on a weekly university-radio program which I host entirely in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian language. Every Sunday afternoon, I pull vinyl records, CDs, and digital files of older mele Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian music) based on a theme I have chosen beforehand. It’s so much fun because I get to choose different themes each week! One week, the theme might be “songs about steamships”, and another week, it might be “songs composed in the 19th century”. After I select a theme, I play songs related to that theme, presenting and talking about them in Hawaiian the entire time, and I also get phone calls that request songs related to the theme as well! My radio program is a great way to celebrate and normalize Hawaiian language in its ancestral homeland in a very accessible venue.
Another job I have held is a translator and interpreter for Hawaiian and English language. This has been an eye-opening position for me to realize certain attitudes people have toward (or against) Hawaiian language. For example, even though Hawaiian is a co-official language of Hawaiʻi, some people think it does not belong in certain domains. I have been the interpreter in court several times for people who have chosen to represent themselves while Hawaiian, and most times, the general vibe in the courtroom is awkward at best and condescending at worst. Legal officers and judges, who are actors on the behalf of the government, have typically negative reactions towards requests for Hawaiian language representation. This is a problem, especially given Hawaiian’s co-official recognition status, but also because these reactions do not apply to requests for interpretation for other languages (which are not official). These experiences motivate me to raise awareness and bring justice to Hawaiian speakers by ensuring their right to interpretation is protected. Helping people have more positive ideas about Hawaiian language involves normalizing it in the linguistic landscape of Hawaiʻi. FLUX is a local lifestyle magazine that has recently hired me as the Hawaiian language editor for their publication. This is helping to reshape the linguistic landscape by adding Hawaiian language pieces to the discourse here in Hawaiʻi, but is especially relevant and effective because of the content we choose to feature. FLUX has always paid important attention on arts & culture, local politics, and other topics that are current and high-profile. To feature these topics in Hawaiian starts to shift the paradigm by de-centering English, even just a bit, and move Hawaiian language media back into a more prominent role. This also demonstrates the role that media has in language revitalization!
How does your linguistics training help you in your job?
Linguistics grounds all of my multilingual work, and when I have to think about certain translation decisions, the theories that have been robustly developed in the field of linguistics inform my decisions and make that process easier. As a polyglot, linguistics is my favorite subject, and it has given me a foundation and training that informs all of my work.
What was the transition from university to work like for you?
I was fortunate to start teaching Hawaiian as a lecturer, and then I started pursuing an MA in Linguistics to justify my promotion to an instructor, so the transition felt serendipitous and mutually beneficial for my graduate studies and my career. And in the context of language revitalization, as in Hawaiʻi, a career is synonymous with a way of life, philosophy, and a calling to which I am committed both professionally and personally.
Do you have any advice you wish someone had given to you about linguistics/careers/university?
Start making flashcards to memorize the IPA. HAHA! But seriously, linguistics as a formal training certainly has an application in certain careers, like research, preservation, education, etc. But I have been blessed to have so many professors, mentors, and cheerleaders who have always helped me realize how my training as a linguist can be applied all sorts of interdisciplinary projects. This is always so much fun for me!
Any other thoughts or comments?
I feel giddy when I tell others “I am a linguist”. The doors that this field has opened for me have come back to bless me tenfold.
The Linguistics Jobs Interview series is edited by Martha Tsutsui Billins. Martha is a linguist whose research focuses on the Ryukyuan language Amami Oshima, specifically honourifics and politeness strategies in the context of language endangerment. Martha runs Field Notes, a podcast about linguistic fieldwork.
There is no real “shortest word in the English language.” We have at least two single letter words, (depending of course on how you define word, but that argument aside…) Ianda.There are also several two letter words, (again, some like weandanmay be disqualified, but we’re not arguing that specifically right now).
So, I will instead phrase an introduction to this word as “one of the shortest words in the English language,” which is the noun borrowed from the Hawaiian ʻaʻā.In English, it is written aa,and it refers to a specific type of Hawaiian lava of a basaltic composition, and jagged, stony appearance.
The Hawaiian can also be used as a verb to describe something as glowing, which I quite like.
The Hawaiian language is as interesting as it is complicated, and it’s impossible to travel to the Hawaiian islands without encountering it in some form or another. Whether it’s on street signs, landmarks, or simply trying to explain which island you’ll be visiting, you will be using the language in some way during a visit.
Let’s start with the basics:
The Hawaiian language consists of 13 letters, including five vowels, seven consonants, and a glottal stop known as an `okina.
Vowels are usually pronounced in much the same way one would expect to pronounce them in Spanish:
a ——> “ah”
e ——> “eh”
i ——-> “ee”
o ——> “oh”
u ——> “ooh”
Consonants in the Hawaiian language are:
K
L
W
H
M
N
P
And lastly, there’s the `okina. The `okina represents a glottal stop. Say the phrase “uh-oh” out loud. Do you hear the little break between “uh” and “oh”? That’s a glottal stop. The `okina is represented with a ` , similar to a backwards apostrophe. Not all fonts allow for this, though, so a regular apostrophe is often used in its place.
All consonants in the Hawaiian language are followed by a vowel. That is to say, a word cannot end in a consonant, and two consonants cannot be written or spoken together.
It is possible, though, to have two vowels next to each other. Similar vowels, like two a’s, will have an `okina between them, like in the word “ʻaʻā” (pronounced “ah-ah”), which means “stony, rough lava.” Dissimilar vowels, on the other hand, lead a speaker to form different vowel sounds that are not possible using the standard vowels on their own. “Pau,” for example, is often used today to mean “done” or “finished,” and is pronounced like the English word “pow.” Similarly, “Lanikai” on the island of O`ahu, is pronounced “lah-nee-kye.”
The individual vowels are still pronounced, but because of the way they are spoken together, they form a different sound. Take “pau” again, for instance. Technically, it’s pronounced “pah-ooh,” but when spoken, it forms a “pow” sound like we use in English.
Captain Cook discovered the Hawaiian islands in 1778, marking the first time the language had ever been heard by Europeans. Prior to discovery, and for a period of time immediately afterwards, the Hawaiian language had no written representation other than picture symbols in the form of petroglyphs.
(Photo via maiabegiashvili.blogspot.com)
It wasn’t until the arrival of other Europeans and protestant missionaries in the early 1800s that the Hawaiian language took a written form. The missionaries used written language as a means of spreading their religion, and interestingly, it led to a nearly 100% literacy rate, a feat which many countries today have trouble emulating.
These missionaries weren’t all good for the language, though. Many of the missionaries discouraged the use of the Hawaiian language, and many parents saw the language as a barrier to success for their children. As a result, the number of Hawaiian speaking individuals dropped from 37,000 to just 1,000 around the turn of the 20th century.
This loss of culture led to a revival for the language, though, and in 1949, the first Hawaiian-language dictionary was printed. Also around this time, Hawaiian-immersion preschools began to form, which took English-speaking children and put them into a formal schooling environment in which the Hawaiian language was used.
Still, in 1997, there were only 2,000 native speakers of Hawaiian left in the islands. The late 90s and early 2000s brought a new push towards reviving the language, and its numbers are now above 24,000.
The island of Ni`ihau, is currently the only location in the world where the Hawaiian language is predominant. On Ni`ihau, children are raised speaking Hawaiian, and around the age of 8, they begin to learn English. The preservation of the language on this island is only possible because of its status as a privately owned property and the fact that outsiders are prevented from communicating with residents.
While there are many more nuances to the Hawaiian language, these are simply the basics. After reading this, you should be able to pronounce street names like Waiānuenue Avenue, Kawaihae Road, and Haleakalā Highway, right?
Maybe not yet, but with a little practice you could do so without any trouble at all.
