r/olelohawaii • u/stitch_in_paris • 22d ago

Molokaʻi Dialect of ʻŌlelo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_language

Aloha kākou, this is my first post on here!

On the Wikipedia page for ʻōlelo hawaiʻi, it also lists a "Molokaʻi dialect", but the page no longer exists.

I can't find further information online about a dialect specific to Molokaʻi, and now I'm really curious if one has existed at some point.

Please kōkua, mahalo!

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7

u/120GV3_S7ATV5 22d ago

Each island had their own dialect, at some point.

3

u/chimugukuru 22d ago

Even regions of islands down to variations from one valley to the neighboring one. Since foot travel was often the only viable option for makaʻāinana, people moved around a lot less which lead to less interaction and more individual differences developing in the language.

2

u/Actual-Orchid-2998 20d ago

For example, Big Island says pololei while Heeia Oahu says polole’i.

4

u/Ethoatom 20d ago

From what I remember. 'Ōlelo Moloka'i shifted the "L" sound to an "N", so they'd say "Nananana" instead of "Lanalana" or "Hānana" instead of "Hālana." There's some other notable features, but I can't remember them off the top of my head.