Editing Hawaiian language (section)

===First European contact===

In 1778, British explorer James Cook made Europe's initial, recorded [[First contact (anthropology)|first contact]] with Hawaiʻi, beginning a new phase in the development of Hawaiian. During the next forty years, the sounds of [[Spanish language|Spanish]] (1789), [[Russian language|Russian]] (1804), [[French language|French]] (1816), and [[German language|German]] (1816) arrived in Hawai{{okina}}i via other explorers and businessmen. Hawaiian began to be written for the first time, largely restricted to isolated names and words, and word lists collected by explorers and travelers.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Schütz|1994|pp=31–40}}</ref>

The early explorers and merchants who first brought European languages to the Hawaiian islands also took on a few native crew members who brought the Hawaiian language into new territory.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Schütz|1994|pp=43–44}}</ref> Hawaiians took these nautical jobs because their traditional way of life changed due to plantations, and although there were not enough of these Hawaiian-speaking explorers to establish any viable speech communities abroad, they still had a noticeable presence.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Vanishing Voices|url=https://archive.org/details/vanishingvoicese00nett|url-access=limited|last=Nettle and Romaine|first=Daniel and Suzanne|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2000|pages=[https://archive.org/details/vanishingvoicese00nett/page/n105 93]–97|isbn=978-0-19-513624-1}}</ref> One of them, a boy in his teens known as [[Henry Opukahaia|Obookiah]] ({{lang|haw|{{okina}}Ōpūkaha{{okina}}ia}}), had a major impact on the future of the language. He sailed to [[New England]], where he eventually became a student at the [[Foreign Mission School]] in [[Cornwall, Connecticut]]. He inspired New Englanders to support a Christian mission to Hawai{{okina}}i, and provided information on the Hawaiian language to the American missionaries there prior to their departure for Hawai{{okina}}i in 1819.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Schütz|1994|pp=85–97}}</ref> [[Adelbert von Chamisso]] too might have consulted with a native speaker of Hawaiian in Berlin, [[Germany]], before publishing his grammar of Hawaiian (''{{lang|de|Über die Hawaiische Sprache}}'') in 1837.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui|1979|pp=2}}</ref>

====Folk tales====
Like all natural spoken languages, the Hawaiian language was originally an oral language. The native people of the Hawaiian language relayed religion, traditions, history, and views of their world through stories that were handed down from generation to generation. One form of storytelling most commonly associated with the Hawaiian islands is [[hula]]. Nathaniel B. Emerson notes that "It kept the communal imagination in living touch with the nation's legendary past".<ref>{{Cite book |title=Unwritten Literature of Hawaii: The Sacred Songs of the Hula |url=https://archive.org/details/unwrittenlitera01emergoog |last=Emerson |first=Nathaniel B. |publisher=Washington Government Printing Office |year=1909 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/unwrittenlitera01emergoog/page/n13 7] }}</ref>

The islanders' connection with their stories is argued to be one reason why Captain James Cook received a pleasant welcome. [[Marshall Sahlins]] has observed that Hawaiian folktales began bearing similar content to those of the Western world in the eighteenth century.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Islands of History |url=https://archive.org/details/islandsofhistory00sahl |url-access=registration |last=Sahlins |first=Marshall |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1985}}</ref> He argues this was caused by the timing of Captain Cook's arrival, which was coincidentally when the indigenous Hawaiians were celebrating the [[Makahiki festival]], which is the annual celebration of the harvest in honor of the god [[Lono]]. The celebration lasts for the entirety of the [[rainy season]]. It is a time of peace with much emphasis on amusements, food, games, and dancing.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Handy|first=E.S.|title=Native Planters in Old Hawaii: Their Life, Lore, and Environment|publisher=[[Bishop Museum Press]]|year=1972}}</ref> The islanders' story foretold of the god Lono's return at the time of the Makahiki festival.<ref>Kanopy (Firm). (2016). ''Nature Gods and Tricksters of Polynesia.'' San Francisco, California, US: Ka Streaming. http://[institution].kanopystreaming.com/node/161213</ref>