The fight to save Hawaii Sign Language from extinction

Lambrecht isn't conscionable teaching. She's warring erasure, globalization and the cruelty of clip to support an endangered motion connection -- and with it, generations of history, practice and contented -- alive.

But experts estimation that fluent HSL users fig successful the azygous digits. Time is moving out.

The contention against clip to prevention HSL

Lambrecht was calved profoundly deaf successful 1944 to a household of Chinese laborers successful Honolulu. She was exposed to HSL from commencement done 2 older deaf brothers, who had learned to motion from their deaf classmates.

This was uncommon astatine the time. Most deaf children were calved to proceeding parents and had nary entree to immoderate language, fto unsocial HSL, until they started school.

Lambrecht and her brothers attended what is contiguous called the Hawaii School for the Deaf and the Blind (HSDB). When it archetypal opened successful 1914, it was named The School for the Defectives.

The schoolhouse had adopted a teaching benignant called oralism, which aimed to "assimilate" deaf radical into wider nine by suppressing motion connection use. Children could lone usage HSL to pass with each different erstwhile teachers' backs were turned -- they were expected to talk English and to lipread.

"Parents and professionals said that motion connection was ugly, and that if kids knew motion language, they would ne'er larn to speak," Lambrecht says. "[But] I could drawback possibly 1 oregon 2 words."

By the clip Ami Tsuji-Jones enrolled astatine the deaf schoolhouse successful the 1960s, oralism was seen by critics arsenic a failure. Teachers from the mainland were present utilizing ASL instead.

"They were haole [white]. They saw our connection and said: 'What is that? I don't recognize your sign. That's wrong. No, no, no. Let maine thatch you ASL. No, no, no. You're signing that each wrong,'" Tsuji-Jones says, her hands moving emphatically and incisively. "We were perpetually being criticized ... you know, we're the children. They're the authorization figures."

Then her signing shifts, and her hands dilatory down.

"It's similar they were trying to instrumentality distant who we are."

"My bosom is broken."

There's grounds deaf Hawaiians had been communicating with a homegrown motion connection for generations, predating the accomplishment of missionaries, sweetener plantations and the Americans who would overthrow the Hawaiian Kingdom successful 1893.

But linguists didn't officially papers the connection until 2013, erstwhile probe by the University of Hawaii recovered HSL to beryllium a connection isolate: calved and bred connected the Hawaiian Islands with nary extracurricular influence. More than 80 percent of its vocabulary bears nary similarity to ASL.

The findings launched a three-year task to papers what remained of HSL, led by Lambrecht and linguistics prof James "Woody" Woodward, who has spent the past 30 years studying and documenting motion languages passim Asia.

By 2016, the squad had built a video archive and developed a manuscript for an introductory HSL handbook and dictionary, featuring illustrations of Lambrecht demonstrating signs. But then, clip was up: their assistance from the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme had tally its course.

Woodward knows the probe task isn't capable to support HSL alive.

"It's going to assistance linguists analyse the language, but it's not going to assistance sphere the language, unless someway much radical get to larn it," helium says. "And the mode much radical get to larn it is erstwhile it's utilized people successful the location and radical prime it up, oregon you thatch it arsenic a 2nd connection precise aboriginal to children."

Lina Hou agrees that preserving a connection is simply a immense undertaking, particularly for linguists who are not members of that connection community. "It's precise ambitious to deliberation that 1 person, oregon a tiny radical of people, could rescue a 100 years of oppression oregon alteration the connection displacement that has led to connection endangerment successful a abbreviated play of time," says the linguistics prof astatine the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Hou, who has worked connected motion connection documentation successful Mexico, adds: "Saving a connection [with a three- to five-year grant], I don't deliberation that's possible."

It's besides not casual to get much radical to usage a connection that's been forgotten -- oregon erased -- and is associated with traumatic memories of being perceived arsenic inferior.

As a child, Tsuji-Jones picked up immoderate HSL vocabulary from kuli kupuna (deaf seniors) portion they played volleyball unneurotic adjacent the deaf school. She says: "I noticed sometimes the kupuna would beryllium a small embarrassed, and they would say, 'Oh, I've got to effort to usage ASL, due to the fact that HSL is not good. ASL is better.'"

82-year-old Kimiyo Nakamiyo went to schoolhouse with Lambrecht, and portion she respects her friend's work, she doesn't deliberation HSL is worthy revitalizing.

"HSL is similar breached English," she says. "I deliberation ASL is much due and much on the lines of formalized English."

Emily Jo Noschese, a PhD campaigner successful linguistics astatine the University of Hawaii, says she's often encountered this sentiment portion interviewing HSL users. But it's a misconception that motion languages are tactile versions of spoken oregon written languages. HSL has nary linguistic narration to Hawaiian, conscionable arsenic ASL and English are chiseled and separate.

Noschese, who is successful the 4th procreation of her household to beryllium calved deaf, says she's disappointed, but not surprised, that galore of those who are astir powerfully opposed to preserving HSL are deaf erstwhile HSL users themselves.

"There mightiness beryllium trauma associated with their memories of HSL use," she says. "It whitethorn beryllium hard for them. They whitethorn privation to hide it."

So, wherefore transportation on?

"There's ever hope," Woodward says. "It's portion of what linguists do."

For Nikki Kepo'o, preserving HSL means much than redeeming a language. It means safeguarding a taste individuality for her younger kid Caleb La'aikeakua, 9, who was calved severely deaf.

Kepo'o has ever wanted her 2 kids to beryllium grounded successful their autochthonal Hawaiian roots. When Caleb was born, his older sister was already enrolled successful a Hawaiian connection immersion school. Kepo'o studied the language, too, and parent and girl present talk Hawaiian astatine home.

"I would emotion for that to beryllium the aforesaid for my son," Kepo'o says. "He'll cognize that helium is simply a Hawaiian and a deaf person, and there's thing incorrect with either one."

Caleb is simply a pupil astatine HSDB, attending classes successful ASL and English successful the precise spaces that were erstwhile filled with children secretly teaching each different HSL. Kepo'o dreams of sending Caleb to an HSL immersion schoolhouse 1 day. She's been speaking with a teacher astatine her daughter's schoolhouse who would similar to make an HSL immersion curriculum.

"But arsenic the generations get older, and arsenic we person much of the American influence, I'm not excessively definite however galore deaf Hawaiians really are disposable to make the materials we request to bid our children," Kepo'o says. "It scares maine a lot, actually."

Lambrecht feels the urgency, too. Because of the pandemic, she hasn't been capable to marque advancement connected her extremity of getting HSL classes into schools. But she hopes to bash truthful adjacent spring.

In the meantime, she's been filming herself telling children's stories successful HSL. She'd similar to grounds much stories -- "not American stories; Hawaiian stories" -- similar the fable of the demigod Māui, who utilized his magical fishhook to propulsion up the islands of Hawaii from the ocean.

Hawaii means everything to her, Lambrecht says. Its culture, communities and ancestral cognition signifier a halfway portion of her identity, and a captious portion of what she wants to walk connected to the coming generations done HSL, conscionable arsenic her brothers did for her.

"I lived successful the U.S. for astir 5 years," Lambrecht says. "After I came back, I cried and I cried ... I got connected my knees. I kissed the ground. I was home."

The Legend of the Demigod Māui