Hawaiian Language – Olelo Hawaii

The Hawaiian Language (??lelo Hawai?i) came from other Polynesian languages in the South Pacific like Tahitian and Marquesan and is the state’s official language along with English.

The Hawaiian alphabet has only 13 characters a e i o u h k l m n p w ‘. That’s right, 5 vowels and 8 consonants.

The ‘ character is a glottal stop called an “‘okina.” As compared to English, the Hawaiian alphabet lists all the vowels first and then the consonants.

The language declined in use sharply for many years as westerners influenced the culture. Luckily, more recently there has been a resurgence of Hawaiian speakers through dedicated efforts of the people and the government.

Check out some more on the history and speaking of Hawaiian here. Or you can see a Hawaiian word of the day here.