0800V The Pepeke #1: Sentence Parts

An Introduction to Hawaiian Sentence Patterns

This is the first in a series of videos about the pepeke, a Hawaiian way of describing Hawaiian sentence patterns and diagramming Hawaiian sentences.

In this video, I will explain how the pepeke is based on the general body structure of a stylized squid, and also mention a little about the history of both the pepeke and efforts at describing Hawaiian grammar. We also view, for the first time, the diagrammatic representation of a standard Hawaiian sentence and learn the names of the basic parts of the pepeke: poʻo, piko, and ʻawe.

Hawaiian Language Advances

The pepeke has really advanced our ability to talk about and therefore understand Hawaiian sentence structues without having to rely on partially incompatible terms borrowed from English or Latin or French or Spanish. I truly believe that this makes learning Hawaiian far easier than learning it through what, to many people, are very arcane terms such as prepositional and adjectival phrases, subjuntive case, and preterit tense. At least, even if you perhaps feel that pepeke terms are also going to be hard to learn, it should be no worse than having to learn odd English language terms and then trying to fit them to patterns Hawaiian usage!

Many thanks are due Dr. Pila Wilson and Dr. Kauanoe Kamanā for their work creating, nurturing, and enhancing the Pepeke from the mid-80s until today.

This Lesson

I just love the little pepeke, and I hope over time, you will come to appreciate it as much as I do! So let’s get right into it and start learning the basics. Use the links in the Resources box at the bottom of the page.

Next Steps

The next video in this Series is 0801V Pepeke Henua Locational Sentences #1, in which you will learn how to say “something is somewhere”.

aloha au i ka pepeke a me ʻoukou!
Kaliko

Video Links for V0702 Papani Part I

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Pane mai

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