![]() Not only do the ʻokina and kahakō change the sound of a word, they often end up changing its meaning. ![]() In 1978 the ʻAhahui ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi published “Recommendations and Comments on the Hawaiian Spelling Project” and standardized the use of the ʻokina and kahakō. The ʻokina appeared in Andrews’ dictionary in 1865 and the kahakō in Judd, Pukui, and Stokes’ dictionary and grammar in 1945. They decided, after doing similar work in Tahiti, that Hawaiian should have just twelve letters. In 1826, a committee of seven missionary gentlemen thought diacriticals were important enough to wrestle mightily with them in the challenge to put the once oral language to print. More importantly, those two little marks are keeping the Hawaiian language alive. Simply speaking, the two diacritical marks are a way to show how a Hawaiian word should sound to a person unfamiliar with a particular word. Are they important? Worth the extra time it takes to insert them into your text? That depends, so let’s discuss. ![]() Hawaiian diacritical marks comprise just two symbols: the glottal stop (ʻokina) and the macron (kahakō). Specialist, University of Hawaiʻi – West Oʻahu Native Hawaiian Organization Stewardship Training.Historic Property Inventories & Context Studies.Maui, Molokai & Lanai Historic Properties.
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