Endangered Languages Project

Severely endangered

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available
~300
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
"A small community of native speakers of Hawaiian remains... possibly numbering just over 300 in total – inclusive of those residing on Ni‘ihau and Kaua‘i... by the end of the first decade of the 21st century, there may have been as many as two or three thousand native speakers of English (including Kānaka Maoli) who had learned Hawaiian as an additional language, to varying levels of proficiency, in educational institutions... the average proficiency level of L2s is at the lower end of the spectrum and therefore L2s in general are not as competent or fluent in the language as L1s."

DOMAINS OF USE

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS

TRANSMISSION

MORE ON VITALITY

"The Hawaiian known among native speakers is extremely endangered and under pressure from the overwhelming English-speaking communities of Kaua‘i County to conform to English and Pidgin... Although the churches and schools that serve the Ni‘ihau community have become the only venues left where Ni‘ihau speakers gather, families still speak the language at home, especially on Ni‘ihau. However, a significant number of children and young adults in the community are preferring to speak Pidgin or English over Hawaiian, and as these people grow up and become parents, they often prefer to speak English to their children, thus severing the linguistic ties that they were privileged to grow up with. Each choice to speak Pidgin or English over Hawaiian contributes to the destruction of the community of native speakers. This is how Kaua‘i residents ended up becoming English/Pidgin monoglots in the 20th century, as opposed to being multilingual, and the same thing is happening among the Ni‘ihau community today."

SPEAKER ATTITUDE

"A stigma persisted in the 20th century in which government and society looked down upon the Hawaiian language, its speakers, its value, and its contribution to Hawai‘i’s unique culture. The result was the decimation of Hawaiian speaking communities coupled with low self esteem among Hawaiian speakers and the end of the transmittal of cultural and esoteric knowledge embedded in the language."

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

Official language of Hawaiʻi

INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT

Numerous language immersion programs

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

English
Hawaiʻi Creole English ("Pidgin")

Scripts (Writing system)

Roman-based with T and R variants

Competing Orthographies

Standardized Hawaiian (Roman-based without T and R variants)

More on Orthography

"k and t are interchangeable variants of the same consonant in Hawaiian on all islands. Thus, for example, tūtū and kūkū both mean ‘grandma’ or ‘grandpa’. In the Ni‘ihau variety of Hawaiian, katahiaka, takahiaka, and takahiata are all said and all mean ‘morning’. With the standardized Hawaiian alphabet, this word is spelled kakahiaka. Furthermore, l and r (the latter pronounced as in Spanish) are interchangeable variants of the same consonant in the speech of Ni‘ihau... as a result of the Hawaiian alphabet promulgated by Christian missionaries of the [1820s], k and t came to spelled only as ‘k’, l and r as ‘l’ only."

PLACES: USA

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: "There no longer exists a Kaua‘i native speaker community, but Ni‘ihau still has a viable, albeit fragile, native speaker community."

Endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
700 Hawaiian-dominant native speakers
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
By the end of the 20th century fewer than 700 Hawaiian-dominant native speakers remained out of a Native Hawaiian population of 401,162 (US Census Bureau 2000) (p. 37).

PLACES: USA, Hawai'i

Severely endangered

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available
500-1,000
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
"By the end of the 20th century, it is likely that there were significantly fewer than 1,000 native speakers of Hawaiian. Indeed, among Hawaiian language teachers today, it is regularly postulated that there are fewer than 500 native speakers left. However, by the end of the first decade of the 21st century, there may have been as many as two or three thousand native speakers of English (including Kānaka Maoli) who had learned Hawaiian as an additional language, to varying levels of proficiency, in educational institutions... Apart from the Ni‘ihau community, there are very few native-speakers. Most of them are aged 60 or over and many of them have not had the opportunity to use the language for day-to-day purposes in decades and therefore have forgotten how to express many thoughts in Hawaiian."

DOMAINS OF USE
SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS
TRANSMISSION
GOVERNMENT SUPPORT: Co-official language of State of Hawaii (with English)
INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT: Numerous language immersion programs; support from University of Hawaii system
OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY
LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS: "In 1978, the US-backed State of Hawai‘i convened a constitutional convention in which its constitution was amended to designate both Hawaiian and English as the official languages of that government entity. However, although there have been some significant gains in support since 1978, this endorsement has largely carried little meaning."
Scripts (Writing system): Roman-based

PLACES: Hawaii, particularly Niʻihau and Kauai.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: "Privately owned Ni‘ihau Island is the only place left in the Hawaiian Islands today where, owing to restricted access to non-residents and the tight-knit, rural lifestyle of residents, a small community of native speakers of Hawaiian remains. Hawaiian-speaking families who are relatives of those living on Ni‘ihau live primarily on the west side of neighboring Kaua‘i Island."

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
2,000
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
2,000 mother tongue speakers, and 8,000 can speak and understand Hawaiian.

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY
LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS: A considerable number of young speakers are being trained in the language through immersion courses. There are elderly speakers in addition to these young speakers, but relatively few middle-aged speakers, which results in a lack of communication situations for active language use.
More on Orthography: There is widespread literacy in the language.

PLACES: Hawaiian Islands

Endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
1,000
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
1,000. 500 with Ni’ihau Island connections, another 500 in their 70s or 80s (1995 L. Wong). 8,000 can speak and understand it (1993 K. Haugen). In 1900 there were 37,000 L1 speakers (1995 Honolulu Advertiser). Census (2000) lists 27,160. Ethnic population: 237,128 in Hawaii (1996 Hawaii State Dept. of Health), 18.8%% of the population (1990 Hawaii State Dept. of Health), and 99,269 ethnic Hawaiians on the USA mainland (1990 census), including 24,245 in California. Ethnic Hawaiians include 8,244 pure Hawaiian, 72,809 between 50%% and 99%% Hawaiian, 127,523 less than 50%% Hawaiian in Hawaii (1984 Office of Hawaiian Affairs). In 1778 there were believed to have been more than 500,000 pure Hawaiians (1995 W. Harada).

2,000 (Wurm 2007). 500 with Ni’ihau Island connections, another 500 in their 70s or 80s (1995 L. Wong). 8,000 can speak and understand it (1993 K. Haugen). In 1900 there were 37,000 L1 speakers (1995 Honolulu Advertiser). 2000 census lists 27,200. Ethnic population: 336,000. 237,000 in Hawaii (1996 Hawaii State Department of Health), 19% of the population (1990 Hawaii State Department of Health), and 99,000 ethnic Hawaiians on the United States mainland (1990 census), including 24,300 in California. Ethnic Hawaiians include 8,300 pure Hawaiian, 72,800 between 50% and 99% Hawaiian, 127,500 fewer than 50% Hawaiian in Hawaii (1984 Office of Hawaiian Affairs). In 1778 there were believed to have been more than 500,000 pure Hawaiians (1995 W. Harada). (2013.)

PLACES: Hawai'i

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
2,000
Native speakers worldwide

DATE OF INFO: 1995

MORE ON VITALITY

"Although there is no accurate census or survey, Kapono (1998:199) estimates that there were about 5,000 Hawaiian speakers in 1995. Of these, 1,000 were mānaleo (i.e., "heritage speakers" or "native-speaking elders"), 400 of whom had connections to the island of Ni'ihau .... We may identify another 1,000 of the estimate to be young native Hawaiian speakers, who acquired the language naturally, during the critical period, and without formal instruction .... The remaining 3,000 speakers in Kapono's estimate were second language speakers, who learned the language (often fluently) through formal instruction."

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

English
Pidgin

ALSO KNOWN AS		'Ōlelo Hawai'i, 'Ōlelo Hawai'i Makuahine
CLASSIFICATION		Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Polynesian
ORTHOGRAPHY		Roman-based with T and R variants
CODE AUTHORITY		ISO 639-3
LANGUAGE CODE		haw
DOWNLOAD		As csv
MORE RESOURCES		OLAC search

		2016	Proposal to Establish Policies and Guidelines for the County of Kaua‘i Regarding the Use of Hawaiian Language							County of Kauaʻi			http://www.kauai.gov/Portals/0/OED/ProclamationforNiihauLanguage.pdf?ver=2016-04-26-154727-693	Keao NeSmith			~300		100-999	"A small community of native speakers of Hawaiian remains... possibly numbering just over 300 in total – inclusive of those residing on Ni‘ihau and Kaua‘i... by the end of the first decade of the 21st century, there may have been as many as two or three thousand native speakers of English (including Kānaka Maoli) who had learned Hawaiian as an additional language, to varying levels of proficiency, in educational institutions... the average proficiency level of L2s is at the lower end of the spectrum and therefore L2s in general are not as competent or fluent in the language as L1s."	2,000-3,000	Most	English, Hawaiʻi Creole English ("Pidgin")	Official language of Hawaiʻi	"A stigma persisted in the 20th century in which government and society looked down upon the Hawaiian language, its speakers, its value, and its contribution to Hawai‘i’s unique culture. The result was the decimation of Hawaiian speaking communities coupled with low self esteem among Hawaiian speakers and the end of the transmittal of cultural and esoteric knowledge embedded in the language."		Numerous language immersion programs	Nearly all	Severely Endangered (100 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	14	"The Hawaiian known among native speakers is extremely endangered and under pressure from the overwhelming English-speaking communities of Kaua‘i County to conform to English and Pidgin... Although the churches and schools that serve the Ni‘ihau community have become the only venues left where Ni‘ihau speakers gather, families still speak the language at home, especially on Ni‘ihau. However, a significant number of children and young adults in the community are preferring to speak Pidgin or English over Hawaiian, and as these people grow up and become parents, they often prefer to speak English to their children, thus severing the linguistic ties that they were privileged to grow up with. Each choice to speak Pidgin or English over Hawaiian contributes to the destruction of the community of native speakers. This is how Kaua‘i residents ended up becoming English/Pidgin monoglots in the 20th century, as opposed to being multilingual, and the same thing is happening among the Ni‘ihau community today."	14	15		USA	"There no longer exists a Kaua‘i native speaker community, but Ni‘ihau still has a viable, albeit fragile, native speaker community."	21.894103, -160.161856
0199255911		2005	The World Atlas of Language Structures			Bernard Comrie and David Gil and Martin Haspelmath and Matthew S. Dryer	Oxford University Press		New York						2005. "The World Atlas of Language Structures." edited by Bernard Comrie et al. Oxford University Press.																						19.5833333333,-155.5; 19.7333,-155.1
	16	2009	Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th Edition (2009)			M. Paul Lewis	SIL International		Dallas, TX				http://www.ethnologue.com/		Lewis, M. Paul (ed.). 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16 edn. http://www.ethnologue.com/home.asp. (15 February, 2011.)	ll_pub	1,000		100-999	1,000. 500 with Ni’ihau Island connections, another 500 in their 70s or 80s (1995 L. Wong). 8,000 can speak and understand it (1993 K. Haugen). In 1900 there were 37,000 L1 speakers (1995 Honolulu Advertiser). Census (2000) lists 27,160. Ethnic population: 237,128 in Hawaii (1996 Hawaii State Dept. of Health), 18.8%% of the population (1990 Hawaii State Dept. of Health), and 99,269 ethnic Hawaiians on the USA mainland (1990 census), including 24,245 in California. Ethnic Hawaiians include 8,244 pure Hawaiian, 72,809 between 50%% and 99%% Hawaiian, 127,523 less than 50%% Hawaiian in Hawaii (1984 Office of Hawaiian Affairs). In 1778 there were believed to have been more than 500,000 pure Hawaiians (1995 W. Harada). 2,000 (Wurm 2007). 500 with Ni’ihau Island connections, another 500 in their 70s or 80s (1995 L. Wong). 8,000 can speak and understand it (1993 K. Haugen). In 1900 there were 37,000 L1 speakers (1995 Honolulu Advertiser). 2000 census lists 27,200. Ethnic population: 336,000. 237,000 in Hawaii (1996 Hawaii State Department of Health), 19% of the population (1990 Hawaii State Department of Health), and 99,000 ethnic Hawaiians on the United States mainland (1990 census), including 24,300 in California. Ethnic Hawaiians include 8,300 pure Hawaiian, 72,800 between 50% and 99% Hawaiian, 127,500 fewer than 50% Hawaiian in Hawaii (1984 Office of Hawaiian Affairs). In 1778 there were believed to have been more than 500,000 pure Hawaiians (1995 W. Harada). (2013.)									Endangered (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)						Hawai'i
		2009	Loanwords in Hawaiian		771-789	Martin Haspelmath, Uri Tadmor	De Gruyter Mouton	Loanwords in the World's Languages					https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110218442.771	'Ōiwi Parker Jones	Ōiwi Parker Jones. 2009. "Loanwords in Hawaiian." In Loanwords in the World's Languages, edited by UriTadmor Martin Haspelmath. 771-789. Mouton: De Gruyter.		2,000	1995	1000-9999		3,000		English, Pidgin						Threatened (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)		"Although there is no accurate census or survey, Kapono (1998:199) estimates that there were about 5,000 Hawaiian speakers in 1995. Of these, 1,000 were mānaleo (i.e., "heritage speakers" or "native-speaking elders"), 400 of whom had connections to the island of Ni'ihau .... We may identify another 1,000 of the estimate to be young native Hawaiian speakers, who acquired the language naturally, during the critical period, and without formal instruction .... The remaining 3,000 speakers in Kapono's estimate were second language speakers, who learned the language (often fluently) through formal instruction."
															Ōiwi Parker Jones, Personal Communication								Pidgin, English
	2nd edition	2010	Endangered Languages of the United States	Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing	108-130	Christopher Moseley	UNESCO		Paris					Christopher Rogers, Naomi Palosaari and Lyle Campbell	Christopher Rogers, Naomi Palosaari and Lyle Campbell. 2010. "Endangered Languages of the United States." In Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing, edited by Christopher Moseley. 108-130. UNESCO.																						21.9226,-160.1147
		2011	Insights from indigenous language immersion in Hawai‘i	Immersion Education: Practices, Policies, Possibilities	36-57	Diane J. Tedick, Donna Christian, and Tara Williams Fortune	Multilingual Matters				Insights from indigenous language immersion in Hawai‘i.			Kamana, K. and W.H. Wilson.	Kamana, K. and W.H. Wilson. 2011. Insights from indigenous language immersion in Hawai‘i. Immersion Education: Practices, Policies, Possibilities, ed. by Diane J. Tedick, Donna Christian, and Tara Williams Fortune, 36-57. Tonawanda, NY: Multilingual Matters.		700 Hawaiian-dominant native speakers		100-999	By the end of the 20th century fewer than 700 Hawaiian-dominant native speakers remained out of a Native Hawaiian population of 401,162 (US Census Bureau 2000) (p. 37).									Endangered (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)						USA, Hawai'i
		2007	Australasia and the Pacific	Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages	425-577	Christopher Moseley	Routledge		London and New York					Stephen Wurm	Stephen Wurm. 2007. "Australasia and the Pacific." In Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages, edited by Christopher Moseley. 425-577. Routledge.		2,000		1000-9999	2,000 mother tongue speakers, and 8,000 can speak and understand Hawaiian.			English, Pidgin			A considerable number of young speakers are being trained in the language through immersion courses. There are elderly speakers in addition to these young speakers, but relatively few middle-aged speakers, which results in a lack of communication situations for active language use.			Threatened (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)						Hawaiian Islands
		2012	The teaching and learning of Hawaiian in mainstream educational contexts in Hawai‘i: Time for change?									University of Waikato	http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/6079	Keao NeSmith			500-1,000		100-999	"By the end of the 20th century, it is likely that there were significantly fewer than 1,000 native speakers of Hawaiian. Indeed, among Hawaiian language teachers today, it is regularly postulated that there are fewer than 500 native speakers left. However, by the end of the first decade of the 21st century, there may have been as many as two or three thousand native speakers of English (including Kānaka Maoli) who had learned Hawaiian as an additional language, to varying levels of proficiency, in educational institutions... Apart from the Ni‘ihau community, there are very few native-speakers. Most of them are aged 60 or over and many of them have not had the opportunity to use the language for day-to-day purposes in decades and therefore have forgotten how to express many thoughts in Hawaiian."	2,000-3,000		English, Hawaiʻi Creole English ("Pidgin")	Co-official language of State of Hawaii (with English)		"In 1978, the US-backed State of Hawai‘i convened a constitutional convention in which its constitution was amended to designate both Hawaiian and English as the official languages of that government entity. However, although there have been some significant gains in support since 1978, this endorsement has largely carried little meaning."	Numerous language immersion programs; support from University of Hawaii system	Nearly all	Severely Endangered (100 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	14		14	15	"Privately owned Ni‘ihau Island is the only place left in the Hawaiian Islands today where, owing to restricted access to non-residents and the tight-knit, rural lifestyle of residents, a small community of native speakers of Hawaiian remains. Hawaiian-speaking families who are relatives of those living on Ni‘ihau live primarily on the west side of neighboring Kaua‘i Island."	Hawaii, particularly Niʻihau and Kauai.		21.894103, -160.161856

Hawaiian

Language metadata

Language information by source

Severely endangered

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available

~300

Endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

700 Hawaiian-dominant native speakers

Severely endangered

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available

500-1,000

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

2,000

Endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1,000

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

2,000

Discussion

Hawaiian

Language metadata

Language information by source

Severely endangered

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available

~300

Endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

700 Hawaiian-dominant native speakers

Severely endangered

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available

500-1,000

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

2,000

Endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1,000

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

2,000

Discussion

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