Hawaiian Diacriticals and Apple®

 

Ka Lama Hawaii, the islands’ first newspaper, February 1834, by students of Lahainaluna School.

A member of the Pacifitec ʻohana asked recently, “How can I best use Hawaiian diacriticals on my laptop?”

Great question!

First, a bit of background: the man who made it all happen is Dr. Keola Donaghy. He maintains a great website as a resource for the community and continues to update his involvement in the computerization of the Hawaiian language. Working directly with Apple decades ago to accurately reproduce the linguistic diacriticals for the ʻokina (glottal stop indicated by modified single open quote) and kahakō (macron over vowel to indicate stressed and enlongated pronunciation), he helped introduce technically transcribed Hawaiian to the Information Age. It used to be only certain fonts were Hawaiian language enabled, but now practically all romanized alphabet fonts are capable. If you are looking for a global, cross-platform font for not only Apple but also Chrome and Microsoft devices that uses diacriticals in hundreds, yes hundreds of languages, then Google’s Noto Sans is for you, and is free to download.

Now, you may be wondering, why doesn’t Pacifitec’s style guide call for diacriticals? Strictly speaking, they aren’t originally necessary as pre-contact Hawaiian was an oral language. As you can see from the very first printed newspaper above, textual diacriticals weren’t used. It wasn’t until years later when missionaries wanted the Bible to be consistent across editions and islands for native and non-native speakers alike they were added. Plus, from a design standpoint, omitting diacriticals looks cleaner, especially when using English as the primary language of a contemporary website. And because fonts aren’t all designed for every adaptation and language, they space and style diacriticals differently, as you can see here if you look closely: ʻokina • kamaʻāina • kēia • Waikīkī • kahakō • pūpū. Capitalization causes further changes in rendering.

But what if you’re writing an ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi blog or work for the State or UH? Or printing a menu, a program, or other handout in Hawaiian where lots of words need to be correctly interpreted by readers of all levels? Then, perhaps, you might wish to properly articulate your typesetting as well as style your fonts to incorporate diacritical weights and sizes.

Here are two workflows to add diacriticals easily across all your Apple devices:

macOS® - iMac®, MacBook®, Mac Mini®, Mac Pro®, Mac Studio®

  1. Enable Diacriticals

    1. Open System Preferences

    2. Select Language & Region

    3. Click the + button on the bottom left of Preferred Languages pane

    4. Type Hawaii and select ‘Ōlelo Hawaiʻi - Hawaiian from the menu

    5. Click Add

    6. Click Use English (U.S.) or Use Hawaiian to select the primary language for your computer

    7. Select input source Hawaiian and click Add Input Source to add the Hawaiian keyboard layout to MacOS

    8. Go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Input Sources and check Show Input Menu in Menu Bar under the window

  2. Use Diacriticals

    1. Click on the US or ʻŌ icon located in menu bar at the top of the screen

    2. Check Hawaiian for the Hawaiian keyboard

    3. To input the ʻokina, use the single quote/apostrophe (ʻ) next to the Return key. Note the ʻokina is, in fact, different from an apostrophe: ʻ vs ‘

      1. To use an apostrophe while using the Hawaiian keyboard, hold down the Option key then press the ‘okina key

    4. To input the kahakō, hold down the Option key and press the vowel key; for capital letters use Option + Shift + vowel

iOS® - iPad®, iPhone®, iPod®

  1. Enable Diacriticals

    1. Open Settings

    2. Select General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard

    3. Search Hawaiian if it isn’t already suggested

    4. Select Hawaiian

  2. Use Diacriticals

    1. Click on the Globe icon located at the bottom left of any keyboard

    2. Note language change from English (U.S.) to Hawaiian and vice-versa on the Spacebar

      1. Hawaiian keyboard loads Hawaiian dictionary for use with autocorrect and other AI functionality

      2. If you wish to approximate Hawaiian diacriticals, the English (U.S.) keyboard will keep the English dictionary but allow for long-press diacriticals

    3. To input the ʻokina on the Hawaiian keyboard, use the single quote/apostrophe (ʻ) key at the right end of the middle row

      1. To input the ʻokina on the English (U.S.) keyboard, tap the 123 button at the bottom left, and select the apostrophe from the right end of the bottom row

      2. To input the apostrophe on the Hawaiian keyboard, tap the 123 button at the bottom left, and select the apostrophe from the right end of the bottom row

    4. To input the kahakō on the Hawaiian or the the English (U.S.) keyboards, long-press the vowel key then slide your finger over the correct letter with diacritical; for capital letters use Shift before long-press

Updated 2022 for devices using macOS Monterey and iOS 15

- Pau -

The Elepani in the room - the first image ever printed in Hawaii - from Ka Lama No. 1. Courtesy of Papakilo Database, a free OHA resource.

 
Apple, iOS, macOSAndrew RoseHawaiian, Language, Keyboards, Diacriticals, 'Okina, Kahakō