Sign Language, Hawaiian

Hawaii Sign Language (HSL) is a language used by approximately 40 individuals in the Hawaiian Islands. All of the known users are older and primarily use American Sign Language (ASL), making HSL a critically endangered language. HSL is neither a dialect of ASL nor a signed version of Hawaiian Creole English, “Pidgin.” It is in fact so [Page 782]distinct from ASL that it is most likely a completely unrelated language. Although other names have been suggested for HSL, the demographic of its users and its distinctness from other languages led to the choice of Hawaii Sign Language to refer to this sign language. HSL is likely to be the last language discovered in the United States, and because of its status as an endangered language, documentation and revitalization projects started in 2013.

In order to determine whether HSL is a dialect of ASL, related to Hawaiian Creole English, or a separate language, Linda Lambrecht, Barbara Earth, and James Woodward compiled rates of cognates between HSL and ASL. This method of using lexicostatistics was chosen because of the small amount of existing documentation of the language. According to their research, HSL and ASL share approximately 20 percent of their basic vocabulary. This is quite low and suggests that the languages are unrelated. HSL also is grammatically quite different from Hawaiian Creole English, which further suggests that HSL is a language isolate, with no known genetic relationship to any other language.

In 2013, Linda Lambrecht, Barbara Earth, James Woodward, and William O’Grady announced their discovery of HSL. At the time, there were approximately 40 signers of the language, about half of whom had been interviewed by the research team. The lexicostatistical data had already been compiled and used to determine that HSL and ASL were unrelated at the time of the announcement. The research team had also discovered early evidence of the language’s existence in Hawaii. This evidence primarily included a letter dated February 23, 1821, from Reverend Hiram Bingham, a Protestant missionary in Hawaii, to Reverend Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, who at that time was the principal of the Connecticut Asylum (at Hartford) for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons. Reverend Bingham’s letter describes an interaction in which he bought a pig from a Deaf individual while in Hawaii. The letter briefly describes the signs used by the Deaf man to communicate with Reverend Bingham. This description matches the counting system used in modern HSL but not that of ASL. The fact that the lexicostatistical data and grammatical differences suggest that HSL is not related to ASL or Hawaiian Creole English combined with the evidence provided in the letter written to Reverend Gallaudet suggests that HSL, or at least a rudimentary form of the language, existed in the Deaf community of Hawaii in the early 1800s. This historical evidence for HSL further suggests that the language may have indigenous origins. However, since the introduction of ASL in Deaf schools in the 1950s, HSL has largely been replaced by ASL, and much of the history of this language has since been lost.

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