About the Language
Endonyms and Exonyms
Exonyms:
In the United States, the Hawaiian Islands are most commonly reffered to as simply Hawaii, and the native language is called Hawaiian. It's Islands are labeled...
- Hawaii
- Maui
- Kohoolawe
- Molokai
- Lanai
- Oahu
- Kauai
- Niihau
When Captain James Cook, a British explorer, discovered Hawaii in 1778, he named them the "Sandwich Islands" in honor of the sponsor of his expedition John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. The name stuck until around 1840, when the collection of islnds became more commonly known as "Hawaii" after its largest island.
Endonyms:
The key difference in how Hawaiians and English speakers reffer to the state of Hawaii and its islands is mostly pronunciation. They are all spelled the same, but the Hawaiian language has what is called an 'okina or glottal stop that they incooperate into the names of the islands. They also pronounce some vowels and consonants differently than in English. The language itself is called Ōlelo Hawaiʻi or 'Ōlelo Hawai'i Makuahine. In Hawaiian, the islands themselves are called...
- Hawai'i
- Maui
- Koho'olawe
- Moloka'i
- Lana'i
- O'ahu
- Kaua'i
- Ni'ihau
(glottolog.com)
Below is a short YouTube video of a song that features the correct Hawiian pronunciation of the 8 Hawaiian Islands along with their English translations ("The 8 Islands of Hawaii")
Geneology
An image of the geneology of the Hawaiian language (languagesoftheworld.info)
ISO 639-3: haw
Glottocode: hawa1245
According to the Endangered Language Project, Hawaiian is classified as an Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, and Polynesian language. Despite its mother language being Polynesian, Hawaiian has a Roman-based alphabet.