Hawaiian Sign Language Very Recently Given Due Recognition

The University of Hawaii researchers shared with the local deaf community in Waikiki what they knew of the recently-discovered Hawaii Sign Language (HSL). This sign language is now the newest language recognized in the US since the 1930s. Some of the few people who know this language attended the presentation at Hawaii Center for the Deaf and the Blind.

In Hawaii today, American Sign Language (ASL) is the popular sign language spoken and has virtually replaced the indigenous HSL since the 1940s. According to the researchers only a hundred people know this indigenous sign language that was previously not documented. Majority of the ASL users are older than 60.

Not pidgin language anymore

Linda Lambrecht used this formerly unrecognized sign language as a child and used it as her first language. Lambrecht says that she is ecstatic at the recognition now given Hawaiian Sign Language. She is one of the researchers involved in the project and had been advocating its preservation and use for more than 20 years. Lambrecht is also an instructor at Kapiolani Community College.

According to Lambrecht people have been calling it “pidgin sign” all these years when in reality it could even be older than ASL (American Sign Language). The first school for the Deaf in the United States was founded in 1817 and the ASL was also just beginning to grow at that time. Researchers presented evidence that by 1821 there were already deaf people in Hawaii who used their own sign language.

Distinct from ASL

The study involved 21 HSL native signers. In the process of determining whether HSL was a dialect of ASL, the researchers interviewed HSL users from four Hawaiian islands. Their conclusions showed that there was a difference in 80% of the vocabulary of HSL and ASL, proving that HSL is essentially not related to ASL. Further analysis confirmed that HSL is a language that has distinct qualities.

Origins

American Sign Language is known even to persons who are not deaf. It has been in use for many years now. But Hawaii was the last to be annexed as a state and even before ASL arrived on its shores, Hawaii used its own form of sign language. This is according to Dr. Barbara Earth of the Linguistics Department of the University of Hawaii. Dr. James Woodards, a linguistics fellow at the same university added that Hawaiian Sign Language is believed to be in existence as early as the 19th century. Evidently, the deaf used their own distinct sign language in Hawaii for many decades, its use transcending ethic differences.

An exciting future

People are currently excited and inspired to be witness to the recognition being given now to Hawaiian Sign Language. Additional research is definitely the next step. The researchers are also hoping to spread the newly recognized language to the wider public. One of the means of spreading its use is by offering classes at Kapiolani Community College, the University of Hawaii, and schools for the deaf for as long as people want to learn.