Transcripts of interview data for my dissertation (N. Haʻalilio Solomon 2024)

Abstract

In its fourth decade of progress, the movement to revitalize ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi is largely seen as successful, such that some have claimed the movement is now in the phase of language (re)normalization. The factors usually identified as conducive to ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi’s successful revitalization include its co-official status, a robust system of educational and immersion programs, sufficient documentation, intergenerational transmission, and the increasing number of speakers. However, there persist some significant hindrances to the extent to which ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi can be reclaimed and expand across a wider functional range, and many of these hindrances are ideological and attitudinal. Employing a research methodology based on grounded theory, this dissertation presents a qualitative study analyzing sociolinguistic interview data conducted with ten (10) Native Hawaiians who have a close demonstrated relationship to ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi to explore the particularly negative sentiments that impact the language, its speakers, and the ongoing efforts to revitalize and renormalize ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.

The ideologies and attitudes span a wide range of issues complicating the movement toward language renormalization, including language authenticity, ambivalence, cultural revitalization, identity reclamation, language planning, language policy, multilingualism, language pedagogy, and language monetization. The ideological and attitudinal findings are embedded within Hawaiʻi’s history of language shift away from ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, as well as revitalization back toward it. Similarly, some sentiments shaped Hawaiʻi’s linguistic history and evolution while others stem from it. Because these sentiments constrain the potential outcomes of the language movement in Hawaiʻi, the goals of this dissertation are to bring these issues to light and generate healthy, cathartic discussion that help us move beyond them, ushering the language movement into the next phase by realizing its sociolinguistic renormalization in society.