Hawaiʻi Sign Language
Hawaiʻi Sign Language or Hawaiian Sign Language (HSL; Hawaiian: Hoailona ʻŌlelo o Hawaiʻi), also known as Hoailona ʻŌlelo, Old Hawaiʻi Sign Language and Hawaiʻi Pidgin Sign Language is an indigenous sign language native to Hawaiʻi. Historical records document its presence on the islands as early as the 1820s, but HSL was not formally recognized by linguists until 2013.
| Hawaiʻi Sign Language | |
|---|---|
| Hoailona ʻŌlelo o Hawaiʻi | |
| Native to | United States |
| Region | Hawaii |
Native speakers | 40 (2019) Moribund; a few elderly signers are bilingual with the dominant ASL. It may be that all speak mixed HSL/ASL, a.k.a. Creolized Hawai‘i Sign Language (CHSL). |
Isolate | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | hps |
| Glottolog | hawa1235 |
| ELP | Hawai'i Sign Language |
Although previously believed to be related to American Sign Language (ASL), the two languages are unrelated. In 2013, HSL was used by around 40 people, mostly over 80 years old. An HSL–ASL creole, Creole Hawaiʻi Sign Language (CHSL), is used by approximately 40 individuals in the generations between those who signed HSL exclusively and those who sign ASL exclusively. Since the 1940s, ASL has almost fully replaced the use of HSL on the islands of Hawaiʻi and CHSL is likely to also be lost in the next 50 years. HSL is considered critically endangered.