(c) Copyright December 24, 2024
Kenneth R. Conklin, Ph.D.
All rights reserved
On Wednesday December 11, 2024 an ethnic Hawaiian political activist (Ms. A) appeared in person at a meeting of the Honolulu County Council where she gave oral testimony in Hawaiian language regarding a bill, and then immediately repeated the same testimony in English language. The next testifier (Ms. B), whose home is on the north shore which would necessitate perhaps an hour of travel time in each direction, chose to stay home and gave oral testimony by means of an internet system comparable to Zoom. Ms. B apparently intended to express disagreement with Ms. A, and said in English “I’m not sure what language it was. I’m assuming it was Hawaiian, and that is a dead language, so it would not work on a translator ...”
A huge controversy erupted when three ethnic Hawaiian members of the 9-person County Council, including the Chair and Vice-Chair, immediately rebuked Ms. B for saying Hawaiian is a dead language. In that moment those outraged Council members ignored the subject matter of the bill under consideration and ignored the substantive content of the testimony from both Ms. A and Ms. B -- the Council members were clearly so angry they could only focus on the two-word "dead language" part of the comment that was said merely in passing as a preliminary warm-up to the main idea(s) under discussion. The highly-paid, highly-privileged, elected Council members "talked down" to Ms. B from their positions of power and authority, telling her that Hawaiian is an official language of the State of Hawaii and is spoken by many people; and at least one of the Council members employed a rhetorical weapon frequently used by Hawaiian sovereignty activists, claiming the status of victimhood because of "feeling hurt" by Ms. B's "dead language" comment. The clear intent was to humiliate and discredit someone for daring to question the value of using Hawaiian language or the motive of a testifier who chooses to use it in a setting where everyone speaks English more fluently. The "dead language" remark and the self-justifying "righteous" beatdown of Ms. B became the entire focus of news reports rather than the topic of the bill or substantive contents of the testimony.
The controversy was widely reported and discussed on TV, radio, and print media during a period spanning a week. Here are two published news reports and a letter to editor, followed by Ken Conklin's analysis.
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https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2024/12/13/hawaiian-being-dead-language-comment-draws-widespread-rebuke/
Hawaii News Now [3 TV channels]
Broadcast on TV newscast Thursday night Dec. 12, 2024 at 5:06 PM HST
Updated: Dec. 12, 2024 at 6:33 PM HST
Published on TV station website on Friday December 13, 2024
Comment on Hawaiian being ‘dead language’ at council hearing draws widespread rebuke
By Mahealani Richardson
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A woman who sparked anger at the Honolulu City Council with an inaccurate and offensive comment about the Hawaiian language is doubling down.
Her comment that Hawaiian is a “dead language” is being fiercely condemned by city council members, Hawaiian civic clubs, and others.
At Wednesday’s City Council hearing, Kapua Keli’ikoa-Kamai of Waiʻanae testified in Hawaiian and then translated in English.
Then Kai Lorinc was next to testify. There were some audio challenges when she made the shocking comment which drew a strong reaction from people in the hearing.
“I’m not sure what language it was. I’m assuming it was Hawaiian, and that is a dead language, so it would not work on a translator,” said Lorinc.
Her comment was rebuked by several council members.
“It is not a dead language. It’s very much alive,” said Esther Kiaʻāina, Honolulu City Council vice chair.
“If it wasn’t for the fact that those who helped to overthrow the Kingdom of Hawai’i and banned our language, we would only speak Hawaiian now, so please learn your history when you come to testify at the city council,” she added.
“I can speak Hawaiian in this meeting and in any other meeting that I choose to speak it,” said council member Andria Tupola. “My kids did go to Hawaiian immersion and we speak Hawaiian in our home and it’s not dead.”
Honolulu City Council chair Tommy Waters said, “I do want to note that Hawaiian and English are the official languages of the state of Hawaiʻi.”
Lorinc is a realtor from Florida who has lived in Hawaiʻi for 10 years and works for Hawaii Republican Action, an alternative news site.
“It’s not an alive language. It’s a dead language,” Lorinc told Hawaii News Now Thursday. “They are trying to revive it.”
According to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Institute of Hawaiian Language Research and Translation, “Successful language revitalization over the last 40 years has kept the Hawaiian language alive and produced nearly 20,000 speakers, but that is less than 5% of all Hawaiians and 2% of Hawaiʻi’s people today with some fluency in Hawaiian.”
Keli’ikoa-Kamai says she feels sorry for Lorinc.
“Most people here in Hawaii have heard Hawaiian, and so how can you call it dead,” Keli’ikoa-Kamai said.
“Now we are talking not only ignorance, but we are talking bias and racism, and that’s a thing that our people have been fighting,” she added.
Lorinc complained that she couldn’t hear part of the testimony as she was in the queue online.
A Honolulu City Council spokesperson said that testifiers should be able to hear audio from the meeting when they are getting ready and there is legislation in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi.
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https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2024-12-16/olelo-hawaii-education-comment-at-council-meeting
Hawaiʻi Public Radio December 16, 2024
ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi education in the spotlight amid 'dead language' comment at council meeting
by Cassie Ordonio
A testifier who called ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi a "dead language" at a recent Honolulu City Council meeting was met with rebuke from Hawaiian council members.
Her comment sparked outrage on social media. Hawaiian language speakers say more awareness should be raised about the work done to revitalize the language in the past nearly 40 years.
ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi and English are the official languages of the state.
The woman, whose display name was A. Kai Lorinc, asked for translation from other testifiers who spoke Hawaiian while commenting on bills. Lorinc couldn't be reached for comment.
"They originally were speaking in a language that was not English, and it is not fair to the participants of the meeting to not know what's being said," she said online during last week's meeting. "I'm not sure what language it was. I'm assuming that it was Hawaiian, and that is a dead language, so it would not work on a translator."
Councilmembers Tommy Waters, Esther Kiaʻāina, and Andria Tupola immediately corrected Lorinc. Tupola even spoke ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi to prove a point.
"It felt hurtful," Tupola told HPR. "Maybe she didn't know. Maybe she did. I know some people are unaware. Maybe they don't run in Native Hawaiian circles. But it's hard to hear that with so many people have invested their lives in revitalizing the culture."
ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi became an official language of the state in 1978. That was during the Hawaiian Renaissance, which sparked the revitalization of the Hawaiian language and identity
The language nearly died after being banned from school instruction in 1896 — three years after the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
According to the University of Hawaiʻi Institute of Hawaiian Language Research Translation, the Hawaiian language has grown to more than 20,000 speakers over nearly 40 years.
Hawaiian-language immersion schools, also known as kaiapuni schools, have increased student enrollment since their creation in the 1980s. Hawaiʻi has 22 non-charter kaiapuni with an enrollment of 2,300, according to the Hawaiʻi Department of Education.
‘Aha Pūnana Leo, a group of Hawaiian-language preschools, has 13 schools statewide.
Pililuaikekaiohilo Keala, an assistant professor at the College of Education at the University of Hawaiʻi, trains kaiapuni teachers for K-12 schools. She said Lorinc's comment diminishes the revitalization efforts of Hawaiian language speakers.
Keala underscored the need for more kaiapuni teachers and facilities to accommodate students.
"To say that it's dead is so far from the truth… With the amount of use that we see in the media and in the community today, it seems very ignorant or blatantly trying to start something and coming at this from a non-community point of view," she said.
Councilmember Tupola said she invested time in learning ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. She returned to Hawaiʻi from college in Utah and was interested in ensuring her children were fluent. She said she and her children only speak Hawaiian at home.
Tupola said her daughter saw Lorinc's comment on social media and was baffled.
"I don't even know if she realized this is why I put you guys in these things (Hawaiian immersion schools) so that you can defend yourself," Tupola said. "So, you can say I'm a Native Hawaiian. Not just of that ethnicity, but I speak it."
Tupola said it would be helpful to have a Honolulu cultural center similar to the Polynesian Cultural Center — but primarily focused on Hawaiian culture.
The Hawaiian language has hit milestones in revitalization efforts. It's become normalized in some local government agencies. The state Senate translates its order of day into English and Hawaiian. The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority also publishes its agenda in Hawaiian and English. The bailiff always starts the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court session in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi.
Jacob Aki is a Hawaiian language speaker, and his son attends a Hawaiian language school. Aki said there needs to be more awareness of the past 40 years of work to keep the language alive.
"We need to ensure that we are doing everything we can to let our children know that speaking Hawaiian is OK and that using our language in government, in legislative hearings, at the store, in the doctor's office, is OK. Our language is not dead. In actuality, it is a language that is thriving."
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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2024/12/18/editorial/letters/letter-dead-language-remark-offensive-discriminatory/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser, letter to editor, December 18, 2024
‘Dead language’ remark offensive, discriminatory
At a recent Honolulu City Council meeting, testifier Kai Lorinc stated that the Hawaiian language is a “dead language.” Such a statement is discriminatory and reflects the colonialism of Hawaii’s history — that white America prevails with assimilation and land dispossession.
To make such a statement is ludicrous and an attack on the people of Hawaii. With unity, the people will pull together to fight discrimination and racism.
Calvin Hara
Kaimuki
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** Ken Conklin's online comment to letter:
What actually happened? An ethnic Hawaiian race-partisan gave oral testimony in Hawaiian language and then repeated the same testimony in English. A followup testifier replied that Hawaiian is a dead language; and 3 ethnic Hawaiian City Council members then immediately gave that followup testifier a verbal "tuneup": i.e., a verbal beatdown.
1. Why did the first testifier repeat her message in English? Because she knew that very few people would understand the Hawaiian.
2. Why did she give testimony in Hawaiian at all, knowing she would feel a need to repeat it in English? She did that for two reasons: (a) Personal vanity and pride, to show off that she can speak Hawaiian; (b) Political assertion of racial pride and power -- I will MAKE you listen to me using a language I know you cannot understand; thereby will speak my ancestral language because my speaking it in a public government forum is my weapon of defiance against the government and against you peoples' colonial oppression and forced assimilation of my ancestors continuing here and now.
Analysis: The first testifier used Hawaiian language as a slap in the face against the government and against the vast majority of people in the audience. She deserved a verbal slap in the face in reply, which a followup testifier administered by calling Hawaiian a "dead language." Three ethnic Hawaiian members of City Council then rushed to defend Hawaiian language as "an official language of the State of Hawaii" and by saying that there are thousands of speakers of Hawaiian which proves it is not a dead language. BUT NOTICE THAT THE ETHNIC HAWAIIAN COUNCIL MEMBERS USED ENGLISH RATHER THAN HAWAIIAN to slap down the second testifier who had called Hawaiian a dead language -- the council members used English because they knew they must use English to be sure the audience would understand them! Thus the council members confirmed that they realize Hawaiian language really is a dead language for non-ceremonial practical purposes in a public forum.
I have traveled in many dozens of nations where English is not the primary language: where the language of everyday use might be German, Russian, French, Spanish, Mandarin, etc. In some ethnically mixed nations, like Switzerland or the former Yugoslavia, several ethnic groups each use their own language among their own friends and family. In such nations, when two strangers meet and start talking, or when a local person greets a foreigner, the first thing that happens is a small negotiation to choose the language they will speak together. IT IS A MATTER OF ETIQUETTE -- POLITE RESPECT OR FRIENDLINESS -- TO OFFER TO SPEAK THE OTHER PERSON'S LANGUAGE, OR TO CHOOSE A NEUTRAL THIRD LANGUAGE. Visitors to France often comment that the locals there are arrogant and refuse to speak anything but French. The first testifier at City Council was like that, speaking her own preferred but seldom-used language first, and then talking down and insulting her listeners by saying, in effect, "now for those of you colonialist oppressors who are too dumb to speak the native language of this place, I will explain it to you in English." Let's call this technique "Hawaiian-splaining" which is the gender-neutral local version of "mansplaining."
** Commenter named "MauiTime replied:
Thank you for a good analysis ken. Impressive. Enough of victims enough of blaming shaming DEI. Etiquette is a great way to describe this. Thats all it takes is just be kind to others. Not a need here to insult anyone. Not many people speak this and thats OK. But to guilt someone like this letter writer did is back to blame for victims to feel some misguided power. - and thats wrong.
Ken Conklin's later followup response:
Thank you MauiTime. I forgot to mention that EVERYONE who speaks Hawaiian also speaks English, and their English is always better -- more fluent -- than their Hawaiian. Nobody NEEDS to speak Hawaiian to make themselves understood, in the way many people speak only the one language they spoke in childhood, such as many English-speakers in USA. Therefore every time someone speaks Hawaiian it is either a vanity choice to show off; or it is done for a cultural enjoyment of singing a Hawaiian song or hula; or it is a ceremonial usage such as singing the Doxology in church [Ho'onani i ka Makua mau] or "Hawai'i Aloha" at the end of a group celebration ["E Hawai'i e ku'u one hanau e]; or it is an assertion of political power or aggressiveness as in a protest march or race-nationalist political rally.
** Further analysis by Ken Conklin, for this webpage:
In 1978 a small group of ethnic Hawaiian race-partisans were among the delegates to a state Constitutional Convention to update the 1959 Constitution enacted as part of Statehood, and they succeeded in proposing an amendment to name Hawaiian as an official language of Hawaii alongside English. All the proposed amendments were approved on the 1978 general election ballot, although Amendment 28 [the package of amendments, to be voted upon as a single package, that created OHA and the establishment of Hawaiian language] was passed by a smaller number of "YES" votes than any other amendments and would have failed under the current rule than requires a majority of ALL votes (including blanks) so that, in effect, a blank vote [abstention] on any proposed amendment counts as "NO." There were 395,262 registered voters in 1978. On Amendment 28 the vote was Yes 129,089; No 123,127; Blank/Over 40,474.”
The Constitution of the State of Hawaii, and its legislative history, is on the website of the Legislative Reference Bureau at
https://lrb.hawaii.gov/constitution/
Article XV, Section 4 of the Hawai'i State Constitution: "English and Hawaiian shall be the official languages of Hawaii, except that Hawaiian shall be required for public acts and transactions only as provided by law."
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(c) Copyright December 24, 2024 Kenneth R. Conklin, Ph.D. All rights reserved
