UH Hilo hosts two-day field study for language revitalization experts
Participants experienced first-hand the Hawaiian language revitalization programs of UH Hilo’s Hawaiian language college and its consortium.
By Susan Enright/UH Hilo Stories.
The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo hosted a two-day field study last week for participants of the 4th International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation (ICLDC), hosted by UH Mānoa Feb. 26 to March 1. The theme of the conference encouraged documentation practice to strengthen theory for application in the classroom for a language’s survival.
The Field Trip Study Option was held on Hawaiʻi Island March 2-3, hosted by UH Hilo’s Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language, and included excursions to experience first-hand the Hawaiian language revitalization programs of the college and its consortium.
Learning in the Field
Participants in the 2015 He ʻŌlelo Ola (A Living Language) Hilo Field Study were immersed in the consortium of Hawaiian language revitalization programs found on Hawaiʻi Island for infant-toddler, preschool, elementary, intermediate, high school, and university students.
This is the fourth biannual field trip hosted by UH Hilo’s College of Hawaiian Language since 2009. This year, there were 55 registrants outside of Ka Haka ʻUla’s consortium. Registrants represented language revitalization programs of indigenous nations from Canada, Taiwan, Okinawa, Finland, Australia and the United States.
Larry Kimura, associate professor of Hawaiian language and Hawaiian studies at UH Hilo, served as chairperson for He ʻŌlelo Ola.
“He ʻŌlelo Ola Hilo Field Study was very successful, and like all three previous Hilo field study conferences, is the highlight of the conference delegation engaged in work to save their own languages,” says Kimura.
The subject of the field study was “Nānā I Ke Kumu” (Look to the Source), referring to the use of primary native Hawaiian language sources as the foundation for Hawaiian language revitalization curriculum and teaching.
“Participants are always highly impressed with the progress of Hawaiian language maintenance and regard the clear connection of the components of Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani’s consortium, from infant toddlers of six weeks old, to preschool, kindergarten, elementary, intermediate, high school, college, family and community, as integral in the progress of Hawaiians’ survival,” says Kimura.
4th International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation
Kimura and colleague Kekoa Harman, assistant professor of Hawaiian studies and Hawaiian language, presented papers at the 4th ICLDC in Honolulu.
Kimura’s paper, “Ka Leo Hawaiʻi tapes and the regenesis of Hawaiian,” covers specific types of native Hawaiian language behavior excerpted from the Ka Leo Hawaiʻi tape collection that he recorded over a 16-year period between 1972–1988. The excerpts contribute in bridging the gap resulting from the passing of the last traditional first language Hawaiian speakers.
Harman’s paper, “The Hālau Hula: Its linguistic richness documented, analyzed, and revived,” explores the hālau hula, the traditional Hawaiian hula teaching institution, which has endured through several periods of language and culture erosion. The presentation focused on the richness of the hālau hula as a base for broader Hawaiian language and culture revitalization today.
“We were able to take three Ka Haka ʻUla students as well to Honolulu, two are double majors of Hawaiian language and linguistics,” says Kimura. “Papers pertaining to particular applications for language survival, were especially meaningful.”
Story by Susan Enright, a public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
