I subscribe to a daily e-mail from Wordsmith.org, whose owner seems to try to do a good job. He enthuses about his choices, he tells funny family stories, and he holds contests with his readers. He appears to be the kind of guy who'd appreciate thoughtful feedback.
I think he's earned some thoughtful feedback for his 27 Dec entry:
I'd like to tell him that Hawaiian is a growing, vibrant language with many native speakers and even a regular column in a major newspaper. I'd like to tell him about the Hawaiian-language schools across the state. I'd like to tell him that there are over 150 people on Niihau alone who are fluent and even expanding the language.
But I'd also like to give him a reasonably accurate estimate of the number of people who speak the language. The U.S. Census Bureau seems to think that there are over 280,000 native Hawaiians in the state alone, and I'd bet that more than "a few hundreds" can speak Hawaiian.
What's a good number? I've Googled around the various Hawaiian culture websites (over 63,000 hits alone for "native Hawaiian speaker") but it's hard to determine credibility. Perhaps a HT reader can point me to an authoritative source. I know UH has a growing program but I'm pretty sure that there are others familiar with the question. If it's a website that's great, but I'm more interested in getting it right the first time than I am in just getting it from the Internet.
I think he's earned some thoughtful feedback for his 27 Dec entry:
This week's theme: words borrowed from other languages.
kahuna (kuh-HOO-nuh) noun
1. A priest or a medicine man.
2. An important person (usually in the phrase: big kahuna).
[From Hawaiian kahuna. Hawaiian is a Polynesian language spoken in the Hawaiian islands in the Pacific. The number of native speakers of the language has decreased to just a few hundreds.]
-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
kahuna (kuh-HOO-nuh) noun
1. A priest or a medicine man.
2. An important person (usually in the phrase: big kahuna).
[From Hawaiian kahuna. Hawaiian is a Polynesian language spoken in the Hawaiian islands in the Pacific. The number of native speakers of the language has decreased to just a few hundreds.]
-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
But I'd also like to give him a reasonably accurate estimate of the number of people who speak the language. The U.S. Census Bureau seems to think that there are over 280,000 native Hawaiians in the state alone, and I'd bet that more than "a few hundreds" can speak Hawaiian.
What's a good number? I've Googled around the various Hawaiian culture websites (over 63,000 hits alone for "native Hawaiian speaker") but it's hard to determine credibility. Perhaps a HT reader can point me to an authoritative source. I know UH has a growing program but I'm pretty sure that there are others familiar with the question. If it's a website that's great, but I'm more interested in getting it right the first time than I am in just getting it from the Internet.
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