REQUESTING THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII TO CONSIDER OFFERING OLELO HAWAII MICRO-CREDENTIALS FOCUSING ON THE NIIHAU DIALECT.

SCR202

THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

202

THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026

STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

requesting the University of Hawaii to allow an Olelo
hawaii pathway under the niihau dialect
.

����
WHEREAS, Olelo
Hawaii is a unique marker of Hawaiian identity and the proud heritage of the
Hawaiian people; and

����
WHEREAS, native
speakers of the Niihau dialect come from a genealogy of continued use of
Hawaiian as their primary language of cognition; and

����
WHEREAS, except
for Niihau, Hawaiian pronunciation among native speakers on all islands
underwent a period of conformance to the English alphabet; and

����
WHEREAS, even
when the medium of education on Niihau eventually shifted to English, families
on the island continued to use Olelo Niihau as their primary language; and

����
WHEREAS, the
isolation of the Niihau community has allowed Olelo Niihau to flourish as its
own dialect, significantly distinct from the Olelo Hawaii commonly found in
immersion schools and mainstream educational settings; and

����
WHEREAS, various
state agencies have continually acknowledged and supported Olelo Niihau as a
dialect distinct from Olelo Hawaii, primarily by providing live interpreters to
facilitate communication between Olelo Niihau speakers and health providers,
schools, and other community institutions; and

����
WHEREAS, the
level of competence which native speakers of Olelo Niihau possess even today is
a testament to the formidable instinct of the Niihua community to preserve
their connection to the Hawaiian language of their ancestors; and

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WHEREAS, there
is emerging external pressure to integrate newly invented vocabulary and
concepts produced by new speakers of the Hawaiian language on to the Niihau
community; and

����
WHEREAS, pressure
to instill new linguistic characteristics on Niihau youth, whose language has
been learned from their kupuna, risks attrition of Olelo Niihau by
interpolation; and

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WHEREAS, simultaneously,
Hawaiian language revitalization initiatives have largely moved away from consulting
Niihau community members as language resources; and

����
WHEREAS, Hawaiian
language initiatives from outside of the Niihau community have enjoyed the
support of legislation and policy by this body, while the specific linguistic
needs of the Niihua community have been ignored or dismissed; now, therefore,

����
BE IT
RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii,
Regular Session of 2026, the House of Representatives concurring, that the
University of Hawaii is requested to allow an Olelo Hawaii Pathway
concentrating specifically on Olelo Niihau; and

����
BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the
President of the University of Hawaii System.

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:
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UH;
Olelo Hawaii Language Pathway; Niihau Dialect