Hawaiian Number Systems

Abstract

English-speaking visitors to the Hawaiian Islands delight in interspersing Hawaiian words with their own language. The is-lands are perhaps the only place in the United States where the English-speaking haole (Caucasian) can mix a different language with one’s own and be understood. The tourist easily learns many Hawaiian words and phrases from pamphlets available in stores and hotels. For instance, in Honolulu, directions are mauka (“toward the mountain”), makai (“toward the sea”), ewa (“toward the west”) or Diamond Head (“toward the east”) rather than compass oriented. Everywhere in the islands, aloha means “love,” “greetings,” “welcome,” or “farewell,” depending on circumstances of time, place, and persons.