Deciphering Traditional Hawaiian: Examples and Insights

Aloha,

The traditional Hawaiian in the newspapers from 1834-1948 is different from what you are seeing today at schools, on street signs and on social media (something I strongly disagree with). This makes it difficult for Hawaiians today to understand their kupuna.

There are no glottal stop markers (okina) or long vowel markers (kahako), but there are other marks and ways of spelling to be aware of. It’s best understood through these examples from this week’s article clipping. 

He la e paniia’i na puka o na hale aupuni—A day where government doors are closed.

The word pani means “to close” the word “ia” changes it to mean “to be closed.” The apostrophe here is not a glottal stop (okina), it is representing the letter “a” that has been dropped. If we add it back in, it would look like this,

He la e paniia ai na puka o na hale aupuni—A day where government doors are closed.

The word pani means “to close” the word “ia” changes it to mean “to be closed.” The apostrophe here is not a glottal stop (okina), it is representing the letter “a” that has been dropped. If we add it back in, it would look like this,

He la e pani ia ai na puka o na hale aupuni

In pronunciation, the two “a” (ia ai) next to each other are pronounced as one, which is most likely why it was written this way.

Does your head hurt yet? Well, the worst is over.

Lastly, you’ll notice the funny looking word “dala” meaning “dollar.” This is now spelled as “kala.” You will see many words like this in the newspapers such as mageneti (magnet), bipi (cow), telegrapa (telegraph). As foreign terms and concepts made their way to Hawaii, this is how they were initially written. 

I challenge you again to read this paragraph, email me with your interpretation of it and I’ll provide feedback. Here's a helpful tip. The key words in the paragraph are la (day) and hale (house/building).

Aloha no,

Malu