Hawaiian language
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
'Olelo Hawai'i is what the native Hawaiians call their language. "Aloha" and "Mahalo" are probably its most recognized words worldwide, though the word lanai has been absorbed into English (not to be confused with Lana'i, the name of a small Island in the chain). "Taboo" (Kapu in Hawaiian) is Tahitian from the same Proto-Polynesian root from which the Hawaiian language grew.
Other Pacific islands whose languages come from this same root form what is called the "Polynesian Triangle" and include the Marquesas, Raratonga, Samoa, some islands of what is now Fiji and New Zealand.
Substantial "linguistic drift" has occurred among them (perhaps mostly between Hawai'i and the others; due to it being most geographically isolated north of the Equator) over the last two thousand years or so. Nonetheless, native speakers of all these languages can still make themselves understood to one another (think of a cockney talking to someone from South Central LA or the Bronx).
The language has only 12 letters (A, E, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, U, W); 13 if you count the 'okina (which is legitimate; it "drifted" from some "K" sounds in the early Polynesian tongue into a glottal stop; like the break in the middle of the word "Oh-oh". These days the 'okina is written as a backward apostrophe (small numeral 6 above and preceding a vowel).
The Ni'ihau dialect (residents of that island are the only people who still speak Hawaiian exclusively and their dialect is the most true to its roots) still uses some T, S, Rs and "hints" of B sounds but this is not common among other modern speakers.
Every Hawaiian syllable ends with a vowel. There are some who suppose that this trait is what lends the language its "Musicality". Prior to contact with European peoples, Polynesians had no written language; all their stories and geneologies were chanted by people who had memorized them. This required the language to be quite "fluid". Being thus "laden" with vowels facilitated this.
There are two forms of each of the five vowels; regular (pronounced as a Spaniard would) and extended (in written form; by putting a horizontal bar called a kahako over the vowel). The meanings (and pronunciations) of words spelled the same but with or without the appropriate kahakos or 'okinas can be very different; sometimes creating embarrassment.
One might think that learning the language would be relatively easy ("heck, it only has 12 or i3 letters! How hard can it be?"), but that only applies to na keiki (children) who have never learned the 26 letters that English speakers use. There is a children's rhyme that goes on for a couple minutes (and written, probably a couple dozen lines) that consists of nothing but both versions of the letters a, i and the 'okina. It talks of him (ia) eating (ai) his (iaia) fish (i'a).
When the missionaries first created a written form of Hawaiian Language, they did not write the kahakos or 'okinas; leaving it to the context to make the meanings evident.
Since the intent was to translate the Bible ("Paipala"), natives forgave some of the confusions created, but nonetheless, latched onto the way that unintended "double entendres" could appear in written form as a source of humor. When later, Hawaiian language newspapers appeared, Native speaking writers and editors took care to avoid these (the type that was available to "set" did not include such "specialty" characters).
'Olelo Hawai'i is rich in mataphor much as the Navajo language (recall how US secret codes were based on it) which calls a submarine a "metal trout"; only perhaps more playful. Redundancy and double entendre are considered part of the richness of its heritage, these days.
