Samuel H. Elbert
1979
The English translations of illustrative sentences may in some instances seem awkward, but close translations are helpful to students. Not every possible translation of an illustrative sentence is given. For example, ia, meaning both 'he' and 'she', is usually translated 'he' to avoid the awkward 'he/she' and 'him/her'. Since Hawaiian is mainly tenseless and English is decidedly not, translations perforce included tense, but the alternative tenses are not given for every Hawaiian perfective aspect. Reading of the Grammar will be aided if the Hawaiian Dictionary is at hand, but intelligibility does not depend on access to that volume. However, the Grammar is by no means a substitute for the Dictionary. Meanings in the examples in the Grammar are in some instances ad hoc glosses; usually many more meanings and examples are given in the Dictionary. Early Hawaiian grammars by Adelbert von Chamisso and W. D. Alexander, student papers, and the writings of Bruce Biggs, Patrick Hohepa, and Andrew Pawley concerning other Polynesian languages have been helpful in the years of preparation of this volume. Emily A. Hawkins' doctoral dissertation and William H. Wilson's masters' thesis, both at the University of Hawai'i, have aided materially in the present analysis; their work provided numerous examples of grammatical points, for example, Wilson's classification of verbs and his repeated caveats about w-glides. Term papers by Hawkins' students, especially Haunani Apoliona, John Dupont, Kehau Lee, and Makanani Lee, provided information incorporated into the Grammar.
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