Talk story means chatting or casual conversation and Talk stink means talking bad about someone else.īelow is a list of commonly used Hawaiian pidgin words. Hapai means pregnant while Hapa means half. You are sure to bring a smile to the face of anyone older than you, especially local Hawaiian strangers, if you call them Aunty or Uncle!īrah or Braddah are used for laid-back conversations or to get someone’s attention.ĭon’t forget the differences between similar words. Auntie and Uncle are used towards females and males that are older than you in a respectable way, for example your friend’s parents or a friendly supermarket cashier or bus driver. In the islands, there is an “ohana” (family) slang towards others. Lolo means idiot and Kolohe means troublemaker. Understand the common adjectives and names towards people. Other verbs can be replaced, for example, “Braddah, you like go beach?” is pidgin for “You want to go to the beach?” Da replaces “The”, Fo’ replaces “To”, and Wen replaces “When”. Know that articles and verbs get replaced with slang. The longer you’re around it the more you’ll understand but it takes years to speak it well so don’t bother trying…just use some words here or there. It takes a certain type of intonation and not everyone can achieve the nuances without practice. The art of its use is the tough part though. The beauty of this language (it became an official language this year) is in the simplicity. These new languages were thrown into the mix and is today what many locals speak on a daily basis – Hawaiian pidgin. What developed was a blend of these languages that continued to evolve as waves of Okinawans, Puerto Ricans, Koreans and Filipinos arrived around 1900. The first waves of immigration where the Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese who needed to communicate with Haole (english speaking) bosses and Hawaiian locals. Immigrant workers came in waves from different countries to work in the sugarcane fields. Hawaiian pidgin evolved from the sugar industry which began in the mid 1850’s on Maui. Language Family Family: Malayo-Polynesian(Austronesian)Ĭopyright © Kenneth Katzner, The Languages of the World, Published by Routledge.HAWAIIAN PIDGIN ENGLISH OctoHawaiian Pidgin Words & Meanings Pidgin quotes and sayings Hawaiian is spoken/used in the following countries: Perhaps the best known Hawaiian word is aloha, meaning "love" or "affection," but also used both for "hello" and "good-bye." Ukulele is also a Hawaiian word, as are hula, lei, luau, and poi. The paucity of consonants, plus the fact that every Hawaiian syllable and word ends in a vowel, produces curious renditions of certain English expressions, such as the Hawaiian equivalent of "Merry Christmas," Mele Kelikimaka. It is considered one of the most musical in the world, containing only the five vowels and seven consonants h, k, 1, m, n, p, and w. Hawaiian is a Polynesian language, brought from the Society Islands, 2,500 miles to the south, between the 2nd and the 8th centuries. Conversely, local English speech contains many Hawaiian words. Elsewhere the language has been strongly influenced by English. On one island, Niihau, a few hundred speakers are kept out of contact with the outside world, and it is probably only here that pure Hawaiian is spoken. It is estimated that at present only 15,000 peopleabout 1½ percent of the Islands' populationare still fluent in Hawaiian. Hawaiian, the indigenous language of the Hawaiian Islands, is steadily losing ground to the all-pervasive influence of English. Most Popular Hawaiian Language Product Types
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