Issues in Hawaiian Language Revitalization

Straub 145
1451 Onyx St.
University of Oregon campus

The Hawaiian Experience: The Hawaiian Model for Language Revitalization

An Indigenous Peoples in the Americas Event

Dr. William H. “Pila” Wilson is professor and chair of the Hawaiian Studies Division at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo. Kauanoe Kamana is a founding member of ‘Aha Punana Leo immersion school and has been very active in developing legislation both on the state and national levels in support of the use of Native American languages in education. Tony Johnson is a Chinook Tribal member, a linguist and an artist. He is advisory board chair for the Northwest Indian Language Institute (NILI) at the University of Oregon, Chinuk Wawa instructor, and immersion language consultant.

Pila Wilson and Kauanoe Kamana were the first of a number of couples in Hawai‘i who revived Hawaiian as the first language of their home, and Dr. Wilson is founding chairperson of the program that developed into the Hawaiian Language College. › Continue reading