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E Ola Ka `Olelo Hawai`i (The Hawaiian Language Shall
Live)
28 min., 1997, Hawai`i (USA)
Producers: `Aha Punana Leo & Na Maka O Ka `Aina
This
early effort of `Aha Punana Leo celebrates a people determined
to save their native tongue from the brink of
extinction. One hundred years ago, the American-backed
Republic of Hawai'i banned Hawaiian as the language of instruction in the schools.
As island children were systematically punished for speaking Hawaiian, the number
of native speakers dropped precipitously over the following century. Since the
early 1980s, however, the effort to revive the language has grown, until today
there are twenty-three Hawaiian language schools throughout the islands with
over 1,000 students. This is the story of how a small group of scholars and native
speakers struggled to bring back the language that their ancestors were forced
to give up. (In Hawaiian with English subtitles.) |
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