Hawaii Hopes to Put Right Accent on Its Language

In the Hawaiian language, “pau” means completed or finished, “uku” means payment and “ula” is a spiny lobster.

But insert a small accent mark to form pa’u, ‘uku or ‘ula, and all of a sudden you’re talking about soot, a head louse or something red in color.

Although seemingly insignificant, the placement of the okina, or glottal stop, and its sister mark, the kahako -- a dash appearing over vowels to signify a stressed sound -- can make a huge difference in the meaning or pronunciation of words.

Now lawmakers want to ensure that there’s no such confusion when those words or place names are used in government documents. Bills moving through the state Legislature would require the use of the diacritical marks when Hawaiian words are included in county and state documents.

“It’s just to bring correctness to the language,” said state Rep. Sol P. Kaho’ohalahala (ka-HO ‘oh hala hala), author of the House measure, which won committee approval recently.

Adding the marks “would bring more correct pronunciation so no matter who was here ... everyone will be saying the same word,” Kaho’ohalahala said. “Without them, there may be an opportunity for mispronunciation and therefore having different context or different meanings to the same word.”

To Keiki Kawai’ae’a (KAY-key ka-vye EYE uh), the kahako and okina are much more than incidental accent marks.

Including the diacritical marks in copy using the Hawaiian language is important “because that’s the way we will continue to perpetuate the correct pronunciation of our language,” said Kawai’ae’a, director of Hale Kuamo’o-Hawaiian Language Center at the University of Hawaii-Hilo. “By doing that, we support the continuation of good language practices.”

Evidence of the language and the proper use of diacritical marks can be seen in both of Honolulu’s daily newspapers. The Honolulu Advertiser includes the marks in daily copy, while the Honolulu Star-Bulletin publishes a Sunday column written in Hawaiian.

Adding the marks to government documents shouldn’t be too difficult, Kawai’ae’a said, thanks to computer software developed by the Hawaiian Language Center.

“Definitely, we would support having the okina and kahako used in any place where Hawaiian language is printed, be it street names or building names or documents,” she said.

Efforts to preserve the Hawaiian language began statewide in the early 1980s. The language nearly became extinct when the United States forbade schools from teaching Hawaiian after annexing the then-independent country in 1898.