Council resolution would put correct Hawaiian place names on street signs

A proposed resolution to recognize the richness of the language and culture of Native Hawaiians was approved by a Kauai County Council committee meeting yesterday.

Through the resolution, Council Vice Chair James Kunane Tokioka and Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura asked county departments, agencies, officials, visitor industry representatives and residents to use macrons and glottal stops in spelling Hawaiian words. The Hawaiian word for macron is kahako, and a glottal stop is known as an okina.

If approved by the full council, the resolution also would apply to Hawaiian terms and Hawaiian place names.

The measure, if adopted, would help perpetuate the culture and language of Native Hawaiians.

To give meaning to such a resolution, county officials should replace street signs with Hawaiian words, change the county letterheads and reword letters in the county seal, proponents of the measure said.

At a meeting of the council committee of the whole at the historic Kauai County Building, committee members and audience members commended Tokioka and Yukimura for proposing the resolution.

Hokulani Cleeland, a kumu (or teacher) at the Ke Kula Niihau O Kekaha Learning Center, a “new century” public charter laboratory school, proposed establishing an advisory committee to provide proper names for street signs and places.

“Single names won’t be a problem, but it could get difficult with place names,” Cleeland said. His idea drew support from committee members and Native Hawaiians in the audience.

Cleeland recommended the committee be made up of people who have a wealth of knowledge about Hawaiian history and the Hawaiian language. Yukimura asked Cleeland to provide names of potential candidates.

Support for the measure came form Ilei Beniamina, an associate professor of Hawaiian Studies at the Kauai Community College and a counselor of students.

She said the 25 students she taught the Hawaiian language to in 1988 had a hunger for the language. The students wanted to reword the Lihue Airport sign in the Hawaiian language, and that should be done now, she said.

Beniamina said Hawaiian and English are the official languages of the state and that the Hawaiian language has equal importance.

Beniamina said the Hawaiian alphabet has 13 letters and that the 13th letter is the okina.

In supporting the resolution, councilman Joe Munechika said he grew up in Waimea listening to Hawaiian spoken by neighbors and learned to appreciate the language.

Munechika said he attended a graduation ceremony recently held at the Ke Kula Niihau O’ Kekaka School, and was impressed that the ceremony was conducted only in Hawaiian.

Councilman Jay Furfaro said his appreciation of the Hawaiian language runs deep from his decades of living in the Hanalei District.

Mohala, his daughter and a graduate of Kamehameha School, has a master’s degree in planning and is using her knowledge of the Hawaiian language and history in her work, Furfaro said.

Beniamina said she taught Furfaro’s daughter and found her to be an “accelerated student” with a deep grasp of things Hawaiian.

Furfaro said using Hawaiian place names gives locations on Kauai a “sense of place.”

For instance, Hanalei Bay may be promoted as a top visitor destination, but the word Hanalei means “crescent bay,” Furfaro said. Visualization of that image gives the bay a more special meaning, he said.

Council chair Kaipo Asing said he grew up in Haena, was raised by grandparents who spoke Hawaiian fluently and that he learned to make poi from them.

He said he always knew Makua Beach by that name and was befuddled to hear that it became to be known as “Tunnels Beach.”

The stories that are part of the places bearing Hawaiian names are “enlightening” and they give richness to his life in Hawaii, Councilman Mel Rapozo said.

Tokioka said he wished he had listened to his grandparents’ exhortation to speak Hawaiian. “I kick myself for not learning the Hawaiian language better,” he said.

Tokioka said he has his daughter spend more time with his mother to learn about the Hawaiian language and culture.

“Hawaiians are the host culture, and we need to be sensitive to that,” Tokioka said. Councilman Daryl Kaneshiro voiced similar messages and support for the resolution.

In supporting her measure, Yukimura said she was presuming the county Public Works Department would replace signs with those bearing Hawaiian words.

Yukimura said the idea for the resolution came from earlier council brainstorming sessions to identify issues of priority.

The resolution notes:

• The symbols are commonly used in publications and by counties for streets with Hawaiian names.
• The glottal stop is a consonant in the Hawaiian language, and leaving it out changes the meaning of an Hawaiian world.
• The measure is intended to show respect to the Hawaiian culture.

Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net