Mana Wahine - Niihau Language 

facts

I'm just glad Hawaiian is in there. Wish they had Pidgin.

@Hi That is fascinating!

Aloha Ohana Niihau!

Jacob, Pidgin is easy if you know English.

'olelo niihau is closer to "original hawaiian" but its important to acknowledge / recognize that the dialects and accents of pre-contact hawaiian varied between islands, especially over the k/t , l/r , k/okina switches. In fact, people from the same communities were recorded as choosing different letters by explorers - Olelo Ni'ihau has also evolved organically since initial contact -- it would be silly to say the english of today is the same as that of 1778, even in the same exact area among the same family. "University Hawaiian / Neo Hawaiian" does lack the input of native speakers and has evolved in some ways , but if you consider the mele passed down over generations, and the grammar / nuance of hawaiian preserved in Pidgin, as well as the fact native speakers from o'ahu, maui, etc who were born in the 1880s lived into the 1970s and we have recordings of them which have been considered in the construction of hawaiian language education, I think it's fair to say it isn't completely devoid of true native input. my only personal criticism is the invasion of english syntax, words, and annunciation in hawaiian which are sometimes prioritized over native accents simply because people believe "standard hawaiian" means "proper hawaiian" So we should take Ni'ihau speak as a basis for 'olelo hawaii and as evolving naturally from pre-contact speech, but it's almost to exoticize and fetishize the dialect by saying it's "ancient hawaiian" or "real hawaiian" -- and likewise, because hawiian culture has never been erased (and therefore neither the language) we can somewhat safely assume the effect of standardization and second-language speakers on hawai'i isn't so bad to entirely obscure the language from it's "original form"

@@MrAlexanderrangel Actually I agree with the OP that the Ni’ihau dialect is indeed original aboriginal Hawaiian. I’ve listened to Niihau speakers for an extended amount of time and they use t’s but also k’s, r’s but also l’s and v’s but also w’s. Their language sounds closer to other Polynesian languages and other Polynesians from other island chains can understand them much easier than Ōlelo Hawai’i because Ōlelo Ni’ihau (or as they refer to their own dialect as Ōlelo Matuahine) is a natural Polynesian language unlike Ōlelo Hawai’i which has extensive dialect altering influences from missionaries. As you know, Christian missionaries in the 1820’s voted against recording the letters t, r and v for printed words and instead used k, l and w in words that had t, r and v sounds, but also k, l and w sounds. Remarkably, the v/w interchange was retained in Ōlelo Hawai’i in spoken form, but not in written form and the r/l and t/k interchanges were not retained. The missionaries were trying to record the Hawaiian language to write a Bible in the Hawaiian language and the Hawaiian language was a spoken language without an alphabet. All the islands except Ni’ihau slowly adopted this change and Ōlelo Hawai’i or standard Hawaiian was born. Ni’ihau was segregated from the time period when the change took place since the missionaries changed the language in print in bibles in the 1820’s and the Robinson family didn’t purchase Ni’ihau until 1864 so this is also another hint that shows although the change in language took place in print in bibles, it took many years for Hawaiians in the other islands to adopt this change and the adoption had to have taken place after the Robinson family purchased Ni’ihau and not immediately after the Bible’s were printed. And this was despite the high possibility that they probably had the same missionary bibles brought in from Kaua’i via the Robinson family at some point but they would have been segregated from the adopting culture of the other islands. I do want to stress that the changes took effect very slowly as it’s recorded that native speakers of early 19th century Hawaiian language in the rest of the islands spoke similarly to modern Ni’ihauans with t/k, r/l and v/w. King Kamehameha II signed his name Tamehameha and Hawaiians referred to him this way, see here: commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Signature_of_Kamehameha_II_(Tamehameha).svg And the first King Kamehameha, was called Tamehameha as well and since he died in 1819 and the missionaries didn’t completely change the language until 1824 he also used T in his name and would have spoken similarly to Ni’ihauns. Kamehameha II’s name was recorded in media print and official documents as Liholiho but it is noted in the records that he preferred to be called rihoriho instead. So these features of the Ni’ihau dialect were already present on Oahu and other islands. Records also show that residents of other islands spoke with t/k, r/l and v/w as well until the change was more adopted in later years. Interviews of people from Maui and the big island speak of how their great grandparents spoke using t’s, r’s and v’s as well as k’s, l’s and w’s. So this means that the Ni’ihau dialect is “real Hawaiian” or to be more polite, authentic Hawaiian in comparison to Ōlelo Hawai’i which is indeed the Hawaiian language but with drastic changes in letters of many words that make it seem like a vastly different language in both spoken form and in print and a much less authentic version of itself.

@@MrAlexanderrangel Just to clarify, when I agreed with the OP that the Ni’ihau dialect is “real Hawaiian” I meant authentic Hawaiian and specifically, the pre-missionary Hawaiian language, which would have been a form of pre-contact Hawaiian. I didn’t mean that Ōlelo Hawai’i was some fake version, as it’s still the Hawaiian language but with some, in my opinion, drastic changes which lends an inauthenticity factor to an authentic language. Ancient Hawaiian would have been somewhat different since as with all languages, evolution takes place and it was probably closer to Marquesan and Tahitian dialects since these populations are the ancestors of Hawaiians and that time period being closer to the time period when Marquesans and Tahitians arrived in Hawaii. In fact, there is an ancient Hawaiian chant contributed by someone of Ni’ihauan descent to hulapreservation.org that was passed generation to generation in the Ni’ihau community, according to the contributor, and it shows a extreme lack of l’s and a strong r emphasis, but t’s are also present: “ `Ae, he motu Ta`ura Nihoa me Ni`ihau He motu Ta`ura Nihoa me Ni`ihau I ta uru ra`i a Tawaihoa a Täne `O taurana-a-ta-rä i Haräri`i Hara ta rä tau ma te tua o Rehua Tau ta mörehurehu o te ahiahi Moe e nö Taua`i i runa ta rä E ö ana `o Rehua i te tai” This makes me think the L was an evolutionary contribution…or at least was very sparingly used at that point and the chant contained no examples of it if it did exist.

Now the old maps I've seen of O'ahu makes more sense now. They had "Honolulu" spelled "Honoruru" and "Kalihi" was spelled "Karihi" all this time I thought who ever made that map was deaf or something lol.

@@Number1ReggaeHunter yep, you got it right. Pre-contact Hawaiians used R quite frequently. Missionaries that approached the islands documented to have been first greeted with “aroha”. The Kamehameha’s were called Tamehameha and even signed their names as Tamehameha and Liholiho told others his name was really rihoriho not Liholiho.

It is by way of east polynesian influence. Tahiti marquesas had relationships with west polynesian islands

I don't think it sounds like either of those languages. It's definitely Eastern Polynesian

Samoan's sometimes use K instead of T.

It sounds alot like Tongan with the T sounds

I would say it sounds more Tongan (softer dialect of Tongan language), after all Tongan is the oldest Polynesian language that all Polynesian language stems from.

@antonio All Ni'ihau Islanders speak english. They are trilingual. They also speak Hawai'i Creole.

@antonio It may be accidentally misconstrued that Ni'ihau Islanders speak only Hawaiian. It's ok, this is understandable since they are distinguished by unique isolation.

@@SunnyIlha My uncle Asela is from Ni’ihau and he speaks the dialect. It is the most beautiful representation of what hawaiian language would sound like all over Hawai’i if it had not been exterminated by foreigners

@@outsidechambaz Thank you unendingly, and your Uncle, revered Tupuna, as your testimony infuses great Mana to the Life of Native Hawai'i. Yours are words to be heard and cherished. Such is the continuity from ancestors to descendants. The Breath of Life continues.

Yes, it becomes more intellible to speakers of Maori, Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, Society Islands and Marquesas (Ni'ihau spoken). This is due to it not being altered to such extent by european modifications, that it sounds recognizably Polynesian to Other Polynesians. It no longer sounds strange, odd and even weird.

I mean i can somewhat make out what Samoans are saying, only huge difference id say is they replaced the T with K...Ke Akua/ Te Atua You can still make it out. Just little different

Māori and Hawaiin are indeed similar. However, Māori is closer to Tahitian language than Hawaiin.

That's nutz

That’s bc they speak the original Olelo Hawai’i

i dont speak any of them but am around all of them and can hear that too!!! so cool!!!

@@dalastkanakamaoli9058 yeah brother buzzed out at it aye lol

@@river1961 it's amazing to still have it surviving today. Hopefully next time I'm in Hawaii I'll visit Kaua'i and hopefully engage with some of the Niihauan speakers there. Will love to visit Niihau, but since I'm not kanaka maoli it's probably not going to be something I can do.

thats exactly what it is...samoan language when properly spoken is with T no K..on Manua'a Island that's how they been doing it since creation .

a lot of pacific islander language especially polynesia speaks very similar and some words are the same

@@user-vn6qo8hi8l I have.a theory, and that is the Polynesian/Pasifika diaspora occurred relatively late in terms of world history, and in relative isolation, and didn't have the same amount of time to diversify.

Yes that is the truth!!! 💯💯💯

Please record as much Niihau speech as possible. Especially Elders. Tupuna.

Jason....which lady is your auntie?

Do you worship Tagaloa?

It actually sounds more Cook Islander then the Samoan and Tongan language.

What's more buzzy that the w,k,l sounds were introduced in some parts by missionaries whowrote the language down as it was hard too sound out the o.g olelo. So something like kamakane,wahine or Kanaka Hawaii. Would be written Tamatane,vahine, tanata havaii Just examples..

Sunny Island yeah its crazy...ive never heard hawaiian spoken like that and as a maori speaker i finally understand what it is about 70 percent what those wahine mā say. Aloha to you and your people nō aotearoa!

Cannot because of the sicknesses we have would be detrimental to their well being

Yes, the root languages ancestral to Aboriginal Original Hawaiian are from Samoa, Tahiti, Marquesan and Society Island Worlds. Yes, it (Ni'ihau Hawaiian) becomes more intellible to speakers of Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, Society Islands and Marquesas (Ni'ihau spoken), and Maori. This is due to it not being altered to such extent by european modifications, that it sounds recognizably Polynesian to other Polynesians. It no longer sounds strange, odd and even weird. Then, therefore, the similarity (Cousin-Language) to Tongan is evident (thus therefore, Fijian included). There is also a Maori element, which is less understood and needs more study. This is due to, of course, that the original pre-contact Hawaiian's ancestors themselves were actually Samoan, Tahitian, Marquesan and Society Islanders initially settling the previously uninhabited Islands; subsequently intermarrying in the Hawaiian Islands (there is indication of a small number of oceanic seafaring trips between Maori and Hawai'i as well), creating the Hawaiian People and their distinct Polynesian high Culture and Society, and, melding these root ancestral languages into the Hawaiian Language into its own Polynesian variant.

You're right uso, I'm a Māori speaker and the "hawaiian" language is very difficult to understand but this ni'ihau sounds much more understandable.

I agree with you and felt the same, as a native Tongan speaker I understand the Niihau dialect much more than standard olelo Hawaii. I also heard there is another old dialect called Tatana Hawaii which originated on the Big island?

@@SunnyIlha that is one theory, yes. Others of us believe our people came from the American Continent. Kon-Tiki is one testimony of that theory.... The Book of Mormon is another testimony of that theory. So while people MAY have come from the West, there were ancient ancestors from the East who settled on Hawaiian soil and continued West.

@@nyquilsleepah I don't mean to disappoint you. However "Kon Tiki" was disproven. Recent new Genetic Science, and, long studied and revealed Linguistic, Ethnobiological, Cultural, Ethnobotanical, Archeological and Seafaring Traditions (and it's associated ancient and historic technology) has proven Oceanic Seafaring beginning out the ancient prehistoric Sunda Landmass that was connected to the ancient prehistoric Sahul Landmass. The springboard is not Taiwan as was formerly suggested; it was from the Eastern Filipino Archipelago Seaboard. Incidentally, there is extremely strong evidence that Hawaiian Seafaring briefly, perhaps even only on one single Journey only, made landfall in the Pacific Northwest (Washington and Oregon State) It is evidenced by certain particular artifacts owned by Pacific Northwestern Native American Coastal Tribes. It is also certain now, that Tahitian Seafaring reached, at least once, South America. Such interaction likely brought Native South Americans on the roundtrip Journey back to the Society Islands and quite possibly Pitcairn (Rapa Nui).

1:39 See the very clear, strong root inheritance from contributing ancestral Tahitian.

True, true!

lasting a lot longer than if it wasn't isolated

Where exactly is tongareva?

Tongareva's location just north of Tahiti and just south of Hawai'i understandably shows your People are very closely related to original Aboriginal Pre-Contact Hawaiian People (Hawaiian People partly descendant of your People).

Language is very informative as to who and how closely related Polynesians are to one another.

Hoihoi kela. Kua kite? Does that mean see or seen?

@@pollymars3776 an island of the cook islands.

Very much. The prevalence and frequency of 'T' The consonant-vowel-vowel, and, consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel words. Then, there are many instances of Cook Island 'rythym flow' and certain structure.

Yea the same goes with the old map of O'ahu, I seen "Honolulu" written as "Honoruru" and 'Kalihi was spelled "Karihi" So interesting!

@@Number1ReggaeHunter Wow!

Study some Samoan, and Maori. Learn some Tongan. And try Tahitian. This will help; it will be revealing, when you study the Hawaiian that is standardized and taught in Hawai'i. If you decide this is your calling, to become expert and fluent, you might request an opportunity to learn (be taught) Ni'ihau Hawaiian. So much will be revealed and acknowledged.

I do agree very much; This, the Ni'ihau Spoken Hawaiian, should be preserved in a written structure, and taught as rapidly as possible to Hawai'i Islanders to truly recover Original Hawaiian. The language of blue collar trades, including skilled, licensed trades should be a particular special area of teaching fluency (included).

Maori*

That Maori au sound is just wrong

I listened to it again and their "au" was normal. Maori say like far-no whereas every other islanders says fa-na-uh whanau

@@ChrisEAdlay really my papa speaks Māori and he says they sound similar as well as the fact lots of other comments say that as well. But no worries

@@tevitabeaman8208 yeah the niihau speak normal Polynesian no K no weird accent like new age Hawaiians. But I listened to the video again and their pronunciation of the AU dipthong sounded the same as any other Polynesian language except Maori. A lot of Maori sound like they're saying OU instead of AU if that makes sense - "tow ranga" instead of "t-ah-uh ranga"

Yes, the ancestral Tahitian influences within the original Hawaiian language is substantial. Should the "r" sound return to normal current-day standard pronunciation enunciation (standardized Hawaiian), Tahitian and Hawaiian would suddenly become mutually intelligible. Interestingly, today in Hawai'i, when Hawai'i Islanders speak more "Roots", we say •Va•hine•; we clearly enunciate the 'V' sound (we tend not to say it "wahine", an altered "wah-heenay" speech sound). This word, Vahine, is Tahitian influence. It remained entirely intact. We also say •Ha•va'i•. We say our Home World word with a clear 'V' sound (we don't say "Ha-wah-ee"), and we explosively enunciate the glottal stop.

I agree with both of you with how close Tahitian and Hawaiian are. I get mad when Samoans say “wow hale sounds like fale so Hawaiians must be from Samoa.” 🤦🏽‍♂️ I have to tell my family that yes there are some similarities between Samoan and Hawaiian but that’s usual for all Polynesians. The similarities between Hawaiian and Tahitian are a whole lot more where both could easily communicate with each other. I say “could” because the olelo Hawaii taught now is too heavily influenced by non Hawaiian accents. I say Niihau natives should be hired to teach across the state. I know even in ancient days Hawaiians from different islands had slightly different accents and dialects but in today’s world the Niihauan accent/dialect is the closest to how most Hawaiians sounded pre-colonial influence.

@@AE-ix2iz I very much agree. All what You have said.

53A17 E if you know anything about Hawaiian history told by the my kupuna, instead of the white mans version, you would know that we Hawaiians are from more than one island source. We come from Samoa, Tahiti and Marquesas islands ( even Tonga). Our Hawaiian King David confirms this, as well as the Tahitian navigator Tupaia. So in fact, whoever says Hawaiians came from Tahiti, Marquesas, Tonga or even from Samoa... is actually stating facts. So getting mad at Samoans ( or any other people)for something so petty as stating Polynesian historical facts is some kind of hatred you have for people who actually birthed all Polynesia. Aloha nui loa

@@phairiuhau4629 lol relax tough guy 1) I never claimed Hawaii wasn't peopled from multiple islands 2) I never claimed to have hatred for Samoans lol You make way too many assumptions that are way off the mark. Learn how to read and learn how to be objective

If you mean Niihau, it's simply private property. The land owners control access to the property, just like any other. When they bought the island from King Kamehameha the 5th in 1864 for $10,000 they allowed all of the residents to remain living there. They also supported, encouraged, and protected the continuing use of Hawaiian language. Soon after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, they hid some local Japanese folks on Niihau, to protect them from internment camps. Some of those Japanese made babies with Niihauans, so the Hawaiian population of Niihau is no longer 100% pure Hawaiian by DNA. In more recent times, the owners allowed the US Navy to build and man a missile tracking station on the island, so a few Navy guys more or less "live" (work) there. In even more recent times, the owners created a low profile, very small scale, private tourist business offering helicopter trips to Niihau for beach parties or hunting excursions. Basically, Niihau residents remain living on the island unless (A) they choose to leave, or (B) the owner tells them to leave. They have one town, one church, and one school. No plumbing, no sewage system, no power grid.

@@gregcarter8656 , thanks for the explanation.

It’s related to Malay and Filipino languages. So that’s why.

@@zalaegerszeg9527 barely

Other Hawaiians? Smfh it isn't our fault brah

@@dalastkanakamaoli9058 sorry my bradda

It's just historical sound changes. P weakened to F in some Indo-European languages too. Cognate pairs show this, e.g., PATER and FATHER, PYRO and FIRE, PED and FEET.

It is certain that Kauai (Post-contact "Kah-wai", "Kaw-wuh-ee") was originally •Ta'uae• , or, •Ta'ua'e• Or possibly •Tau'va'i• or, •Tau'vae•

@@SunnyIlha COOL!

Sunny Island wow I’m surprised someone actual knows the origins of the Samoan greeting “Talofa.” Most Samoans don’t bother with the etymology of our words. But yes “talofa” is a contraction of “ta” and “alofa.” “Ta” meaning us, which is another contraction of “ta’ua” (us two) or “tatou” (more than two), and “alofa” meaning love. So when the early Samoans greeted each other they were saying literally saying “love to us”

@@AE-ix2iz yes, the foreigners did not find many Original Hawaiian sounds palatable to their english pronunciation voicing. They altered a number of original (Aboriginal) sounds to suit their liking so that they themselves could pronounce the sounds of the Hawaiian Language. The mechanism to standardize their alterations, omissions and deletions of Original Hawaiian sounds by including all the changes was romanized script, to which Original Polynesian Hawaiian was adapted (written form). They also deleted a large number of instances when glottal stop existed. Thank you much in explaining Samoan root phonemes; it is important and significant knowledge for Hawai'i Pacific Islanders to become educated in such linguistic matters. We look to Samoa. As the vanguard and keeper of Polynesian Tradition. Samoa is immeasurably important to Hawai'i. Alas, these are matters of the Soul, the keen mind, and the Heart.

Niihau was SOLD by King Kamehameha the 5th in 1864 to the Sinclairs/Robinsons. Mrs. Sinclair paid $10,000 for it. They are the OWNERS, not "colonizers". They allowed all of the residents to continue living there. They help the residents. The King obviously wanted the GOLD more than the land. What do you think of that?

Someday You'll be PhD.☺️ Ask the Elders and Leaders on Ni'ihau that you want to. Write to them☺️.

You can’t, they live in a forbidden island. Foreigners (non-Native-Hawaiians) can’t go there.

There's more involved, yet this is much noticeable.

Cheee

They didn't really replace it, T and K were allophones in Hawaiian. To standardize a language, they have to choose one and they ended up using K.

Research study the Robinson Family and their views on the Life of Hawai'i. This is essential to the understanding of "forbidden".

Before western contact K used to be T in Hawaiian language

In Hawaiian, [ t ] and [ k ] are allophones of a single phoneme. To monolingual native speakers of Hawaiian, there is NO DIFFERENCE between T and K. To speakers of English, T and K are two different sounds. But not to ("ancient") Hawaiians. It has nothing whatsoever to do with "western contact". It was already like that BEFORE, and still is NOW.

Totally!

Haha