HE PUNI WALE A HE PUNI KAUOHA: NO KA ʻŌLELO KĀNĀWAI A ME KA PAPAHANA UNUHI
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2023
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This master’s thesis explores the complex nature of legal translation between Hawaiian and English from 1845 to 1900. At the outset, Hawaiian and English both enjoyed some degree of equality in legal discourse. As time progressed, that equivalency eroded. Legal translation presents many challenges because any legal language is intricately tied to worldviews and values. It condenses notions of appropriate and inappropriate behavior into rights and responsibilities as stated under the law. It continuously shapes and constructs a legal system where every word carries weight. Consequently, the importance of translation cannot be understated, as it possesses the ability to empower or disenfranchise.
English and Hawaiian legal languages attempted to mediate between two different worldviews. This thesis, utilizing a case-based approach, examines the successes and failures of this endeavor. The failures reveal, with devastating detail, the outcome when “things are lost in translation.” In one case, a defendant is executed. In another case, members of a family lose their share in ancestral land. But there were also stories of triumph, stories of tireless Hawaiians who worked to ensure access to justice for other Hawaiian legal professionals and laymen alike. The extensive body of translated work they produced demonstrates their dogged advocacy for a bilingual legal system. The extant corpus remains invaluable to this day.
Throughout this work, primary legal sources are used to illustrate the majesty and specificity of the Hawaiian legal language which integrated a distinct Hawaiian worldview into an imported legal system. This thesis presents the lessons of our past to help guide us as we move toward the normalization of Hawaiian in all aspects of life, including the legal system wherein Hawaiʻi’s Courts do not regard Hawaiian as a foreign language but as one of which judges take judicial notice.
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Law, Language, History, Hawaiian, Language, Lawyer, Legal translation, Translation, ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi
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177 pages
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