User:Starsandgalaxies/sandbox

1949 to present
Language revitalization and Hawaiian culture has seen a major revival since the Hawaiian renaissance in the 1970's. Forming in 1983, the ‘Aha Pūnana Leo, meaning "language nest" in Hawaiian, opened its first center in 1984. It was a privately-funded Hawaiian preschool program that invited native Hawaiian elders to speak to children in Hawaiian everyday. Hawaiian-language immersion schools are now open to children whose families want to reintroduce Hawaiian language for future generations. The Aha Pūnana Leo’s Hawaiian language preschools in Hilo, Hawaii have received international recognition. The program paved the way for Papa Kaiapuni, a Hawaiian language immersion public school program.

Hawaiian Medium Schools
The Hawaiian medium education system is a combination of charter, public, and private schools. K-6 schools operate under coordinated governance of the Department of Education and the charter school, while the preK-12 laboratory system is governed by the Department of Education, the ‘Aha Pūnana Leo, and the charter school. Over 80% of graduates from these laboratory schools attend college, some of which include Ivy-League schools.

There are two kinds of Hawaiian-immersion medium schools: k-12 total Hawaiian-immersion schools, and grades 7-12 partial Hawaiian immersion schools, the later having some classes are taught in English and others are taught in Hawaiian. One of the main focuses of Hawaiian-medium schools is to teach the form and structure of the Hawaiian language by modeling sentences as a "pepeke", meaning octopus in Hawaiian. Hawaiian immersion schools teach content that both adheres to state standards and stresses Hawaiian culture and values. The existence of immersion schools in Hawai'i have developed the opportunity for intergenerational transmission of Hawaiian at home.

Higher Education
The Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language is a college at the University of Hawaii at Hilo dedicated to providing courses and programs entirely in Hawaiian. It educates and provides training for teachers and school administers of Hawaiian medium schools. It is the only college in the United States of America that offers a master's and doctorate's degree in an Indigenous language. Programs available include a bachelor's degree in Hawaiian studies, a master's degree in Hawaiian literature and language, and a doctorate in Hawaiian language and culture education. Programs offered at The Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language are known collectively as the "Hilo model" and has been imitated by the Cherokee immersion program and several other Indigenous revitalization programs.

Language Varieties and Debates
There is a marked difference between varieties of the Hawaiian language spoken by most native Hawaiian elders and the Hawaiian Language taught in education, sometimes regarded as "University Hawaiian" or "College Hawaiian". "University Hawaiian" is often so different from the language spoken by elders that Native Hawaiian children may feel scared or ashamed to speak Hawaiian at home, limiting the language's domains to academia. Language varieties spoken by elders often includes Pidgin Hawaiian, Hawaiian Pidgin, Hawaiian-infused English, or another variety of Hawaiian that is much different than the "University Hawaiian" that was standardized and documented by colonists in the 19th century.

The divide between "University Hawaiian" and varieties spoken by elders has created debate over which variety of Hawaiian should be considered "real" or "authentic", as neither "University Hawaiian" nor other varieties spoken by elders are free from foreign interference. Hawaiian cultural beliefs of divine intervention as the driving force of language formation expedites distrust in what might be seen as the mechanical nature of colonial linguistic paradigms of language and its role in the standardized variety of "University Hawaiian". Hawaiian's authenticity debate could have major implications for revitalization efforts as language attitudes and trends in existing language domains are both UNESCO factors in assessing a language's level of endangerment.

Semantic Domains
Hawaiian has thousands of words for elements of the natural world. According to the Hawaiian Electronic Library, there are thousands of names for different types of wind, rain, parts of the sea, peaks of mountains, and sky formations, demonstrating the importance of the natural world to Hawaiian culture. For example, "Ho`omalumalu" means "sheltering cloud" and "Ho`oweliweli" means "threatening cloud".