Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 2, 1 Pepeluali 2022 — Kani'āina: A Treasure Trove of Hawaiian Voices [ARTICLE]

Kani'āina: A Treasure Trove of Hawaiian Voices

By the Student Workers of the Kani'āina Project Hear the kani. He pūko'a kani 'āina, a coral reef grows into an island. It is thought that coral reefs grow into islands, and when the waves ebb and flow onto the shore, the noises that emerge are an indication of life itself. In the Hawaiian pae aina, despite the relentless crashing of the waves of time on its shores, the voices of the Hawaiian people are still resonant as a declaration of a flourishing lāhui through the Hawaiian language, ka olelo Hawai'i. Kani'āina, Voices of the Land, is a digital repository project in partnership between Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikōlani and the Department of Linguistics at UH Mānoa that strives for the documentation and preservation of olelo Hawai'i through gathering, disseminating and mobilizing over five decades of speech from Hawai'i's last native Hawaiian speakers.

With the continual growth of successful cutting-edge im-mersion-based language education and statewide interest in olelo Hawai'i usage at all levels, as well as a corpus of over 1,000 hours of native speech archives, Kani aina provides access to Native Hawaiian speech and transcripts through a bilingual web interface on Ulukau. This includes the renowned radio broadcast Ka Leo Hawai'i whieh is composed of 525 hours of recordings with Native Hawaiian mānaleo, speakers of olelo Hawai'i as their primary language. Ka Leo Hawai'i is an invaluable resource and a treasure trove of Native Hawaiian scientific, linguistic and cultural knowledge that is ffeely accessible to the Hawaiian speaking puhlie at www.ulukau.org/kaniaina. Currently, Kani'āina is preparing additional audio and video Hawaiian language collections, such as the Nā Hulu Kūpuna and Mānaleo TV video series, that will be announced in the near future. Kani'āina was created with the help of our funders, The National Science Foundation, The National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Ford Foundation, whieh recognize the importance of the revitalization and continuation of the Hawaiian language and culture. Our funders enahle us to offer mentorship opportunities for Hawaiian language and linguistics students through undergraduate research experiences and coursework on language documentation while learning about archiving, preservation, and getting a first-hand look at the knowledge that Native Hawaiian language speakers have gifted us through this treasure chest of voices. Primarily accessed during school hours, Kani'āina has heeome a valuable resource for the Hawaiian language, especially for Hawaiian language medium students and teachers who use it for class instruction, curriculum, and to strengthen the olelo and mauli Hawai'i of our new generations of Hawaiian speakers. Be sure to visit the Kani'āina website at www.ulukau.org/ kaniaina as the resounding kani of olelo Hawai'i is heard throughout the pae aina of Hawai'i during this special month

of February. E ola ka 'olelo Hawai'i! ■ This article was written by student workers ofthe Kani'āina project: Ka'awaloa Kaua'ula, Kauāakeakua Segundo and Bruce Torres Fischer, with the assistance ofDr. Larry Kimura at Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikōlani college ofHawaiian Language, UH Hilo.