KE KŌ A KE AU: KE KIʻINA KĀKAU MOʻOLELO HAWAIʻI KUʻUNA MA KE ANAHULU MAKAHIKI 1860 ME KA LOLI I ʻIKE ʻIA I KE AU O KA MANAWA.

Abstract

This thesis examines the writing style of native authors who wrote traditional stories published in the Hawaiian language newspapers during the 1860s. In Chapter 1, trends of creative change are explored within the writing style of this period by looking at traditional ethno-literary devices called “meiwi.” By calculating the frequency of four of these ethno-literary devices that specifically relate to creative evolution in literature, a trend is measurable in traditional written and published Hawaiian stories, starting with the earliest traditional newspaper story in 1834 until the end of the 1860s. Chapter 2 looks at language specific changes by focusing on common themes within a majority of the sample stories chosen, such as marriage/sex, eating, birth, and war. In Chapter 3 and in the second part of this paper, metaphoric language is defined through visual aides in order to help present-day readers understand native Hawaiian perspectives of the past. This would then increase our understanding of Hawaiian metaphoric language in order to perpetuate these perspectives into the future.