Hawaiian

Hawaiian is an Austronesian language that takes its name from that of the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is the official language of two Confederal Members, Pele and Kīlauea.

For various reasons, the number of Hawaiian speakers has been decreasing steadily over the last two centuries although the rate of decline has slowed considerably since the 1960s. The language is not currently endangered because there are identifiable pockets where it remains the language of general use and where it shows no signs of decline.

In recent years, there has been increasing promotion of the Hawaiian language. Pele and Kīlauea are now both home to a number of Hawaiian emergence schools and their governments have taken other active steps to promote and protect the language.