Hawaiian Sign Language - Blog Posts

CNN

The fight to save Hawaii Sign Language from extinction

With the arrival of American Sign Language, HSL has all but disappeared. Its last remaining users are fighting to preserve it

"Linda Yuen Lambrecht stands in front of a webcam, with her head to her hips -- her signing space -- perfectly centered in the frame; a white plumeria fastened above her left ear. On screen, three women look back at her.

"No American Sign Language [ASL]," Lambrecht reminds them with her hands, as the virtual class begins. "This is Hawaii Sign Language [HSL]."

More than 100 students have received the same reminder from Lambrecht. Since 2018, she's offered HSL classes to the public; first in-person and, since the Covid-19 pandemic began, on Zoom.

Lambrecht isn't just teaching. She's fighting erasure, globalization and the cruelty of time to keep an endangered sign language -- and with it, generations of history, heritage and wisdom -- alive.

But experts estimate that fluent HSL users number in the single digits. Time is running out."