THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

161

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

eNCOURAGING THE CORRECT AND REGULAR USAGE OF THE HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE.

 

WHEREAS, Article X, section 4, of the Hawai'i State Constitution requires the State to promote the study of native Hawaiian culture, history, and language; and

WHEREAS, Article XII, section 7, Hawai'i State Constitution, reads, "[t]he State reaffirms and shall protect all rights, customarily and traditionally exercised for subsistence, cultural and religious purposes" of native Hawaiians; and

WHEREAS, maintaining a living language is an integral component of preserving a culture; and

WHEREAS, after more than half a century, a local newspaper reintroduced a Sunday-edition, Hawaiian-language column in October 2002; and

WHEREAS, Article XV, section 4, Hawai'i State Constitution, reestablishes that, "English and Hawaiian shall be the official languages of Hawaii"; and

WHEREAS, since 1978, when the State reaffirmed Hawaiian as one of its official languages, the Legislature has supported efforts to incorporate the language into official state writings, emblems, and signs; and

WHEREAS, to ensure the constitutionally and ethically mandated preservation of the native Hawaiian language and culture, government agencies as well as the public media should incorporate accurate, appropriate, and authentic Hawaiian names and words into their documents and reports; and

WHEREAS, those Hawaiian names and words should be properly pronounced and spelled, with accurate punctuation, macrons, and glottal stops; and

WHEREAS, if government agencies and the public media assure that their use of the Hawaiian language is accurate, spelled and pronounced correctly, with the proper Hawaiian macrons and glottal stops, the exposure to the general citizenry will encourage widespread acceptance of such usage and will result in deserved respect for the native language of these islands and fully comport with the intent and words of the State Constitution; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawai'i, Regular Session of 2003, the House of Representatives concurring, that all state and county government agencies and the public media in the State of Hawai'i are urged to accurately and regularly incorporate the native Hawaiian language into all of their documents and reports, including news broadcasts; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Mayor of each county, the editors and news directors of Hawai'i's public media, the Dean of the University of Hawai'i's Journalism Department, and the Society for Professional Journalists, Hawai'i Chapter.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Encouraging correct usage of Hawaiian language in public media