Bills aim to boost
use of Hawaiian

Proposals for signs and documents
in both state languages look
unlikely to pass

If all of Hawaii's state and county signs were in Hawaiian and English, Daniel Anthony says he would have the opportunity to use the language he grew up with and started to speak in high school.

"It would mean a lot to use the language I love every day," said the Honolulu resident, who continues to study the Hawaiian language while working full time. "The challenge is that there is no practical application."

Although the islands' native tongue is recognized as official in the state Constitution, it is rarely used in routine discourse. Those who speak or read Hawaiian are mostly elders who grew up with the language and an increasing number of young people who are learning it as part of an understanding of their native heritage.

"Hawaii is unique because it has two official languages," said state Sen. J. Kalani English, who speaks Hawaiian and wants the language used more extensively. "A person can go to court and present a document in Hawaiian if he chooses."

The Legislature has in the past even approved resolutions that were written in the Hawaiian language, English noted.

But Anthony said a judge at Waianae District Court once jailed him for four hours before an interpreter was brought in because he refused to speak English.

Anthony persuaded his aunt, Rep. Maile Shimabukuro, to introduce a bill that would require all state and county signs be in both English and Hawaiian. An identical bill was introduced in the Senate, at Shimabukuro's request, by Sen. Colleen Hanabusa.

Printing state and county letterheads and document headers in Hawaiian as well as English also would encourage use of the Hawaiian language, said English.

The Maui senator has introduced a bill to require letterheads and documents in both English and Hawaiian, the official languages of Hawaii under the state Constitution.

The bills would apply to signs or documents only when replacements are required.

The sign bill, which would require use of macrons and glottal stops in the spelling of Hawaiian words, was shelved after a hearing Wednesday by two Senate committees. However, a companion bill remains alive in the House, although no hearing has been scheduled.

Shimabukuro acknowledged that her bill probably will not pass this year.

Asked what kind of signs he wants included, Anthony said, "We'll take whatever we can get."

The state attorney general's office expressed reservations about the bill, saying that adding Hawaiian to English in signs could impair their effectiveness and threaten public health, safety or welfare, creating potential liability problems.

The state Department of Transportation also opposed the bill, citing safety issues and potential confusion and increased costs.

English said he is not asking that all documents be printed in Hawaiian.

"We just want the counties and state to consider using Hawaiian in letterheads and headers on documents," he said. The bill calls for Hawaiian to be listed above English.

The measure also calls for a Hawaiian-language interim task force to develop a plan to implement the proposed law.

English also has introduced a bill requiring that macrons and glottal stops, known in Hawaiian as kahako and 'okina, be used in the spelling of Hawaiian words or terms in state and county documents.

"This would further the correct use of the Hawaiian language," English said, noting that the kahako and 'okina, a letter in the Hawaiian alphabet, can change the meaning of a word.

Making the change would be easy, he said, because Apple Computer and others have included Hawaiian in their language software.

But that bill also has not been scheduled for a hearing and is unlikely to be approved this year, he said.