{"id":229602,"date":"2026-02-17T15:09:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T01:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=229602"},"modified":"2026-02-17T15:55:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T01:55:23","slug":"uh-hilo-scholar-unpacks-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/02\/17\/uh-hilo-scholar-unpacks-poetry\/","title":{"rendered":"Mele language: <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo scholar unpacks poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><figure id=\"attachment_229612\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-229612\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/hilo-hawaiian-lang-pewa-music.jpg\" alt=\"man with dark background\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-229612\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/hilo-hawaiian-lang-pewa-music.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/hilo-hawaiian-lang-pewa-music-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/hilo-hawaiian-lang-pewa-music-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-229612\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nicholas &ldquo;<span lang=\"haw\">Keali&#699;i<\/span>&rdquo; Lum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Just in time for Mahina <span lang=\"haw\">\u2018&#332;lelo<\/span> <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> (Hawaiian Language Month), <a href=\"https:\/\/hilo.hawaii.edu\/\">University of <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Hilo<\/a> <abbr title=\"doctor of philosophy\">PhD<\/abbr> candidate Nicholas &ldquo;<span lang=\"haw\">Keali&#699;i<\/span>&rdquo; Lum is turning social media into a classroom for cultural deepening.<\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"haw\">Hi&#699;ona<\/span> Haku Mele, Lum\u2019s new Instagram video series, invites learners to explore the poetic soul of Hawaiian music, going beyond conversational speech to uncover the unique lexical phrases that make mele (songs) distinct.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DUOeye5D6do\/?igsh=ZDNzdjhyejJkdGRh\">Watch the first video on Instagram<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&ldquo;There are specific pieces of language and ways of expression that make mele unique and separate it from common speech,&rdquo; Lum explained, adding that he was inspired by Kahikina De Silva, an assistant professor at <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> Manoa\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/hshk\/kawaihuelani\/\">Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language<\/a>, who recommended that Lum document these poetic devices in his dissertation.<\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"haw\">Hi&#699;ona<\/span> Haku Mele launched on February 1 on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pewamusic\/\">&#64;pewamusic<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/kanaeokana\/?hl=en\">&#64;kanaeokana<\/a> Instagram accounts, and new episodes will drop every Monday and Thursday throughout the month. Each minute-long video highlights a specific term, explains its function, and provides examples from recorded albums. &ldquo;\u02bbA<abbr>UH<\/abbr>ea&rdquo;&#8212;listen, heed my words&#8212;is featured as the first episode\u2019s offering.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"blocklink\">Related <em><abbr>UH<\/abbr> News<\/em> story: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/28\/1st-makuakane-phd-scholar\/\">Mele <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Reimagined: <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo Makuak\u0101ne scholar bridges past and present<\/a>, October 2025<\/span>\t<\/p>\n<p>Lum notes that while spoken Hawaiian and &ldquo;mele language&rdquo; share a foundation, Hawaiian haku mele (composers) use musical jargon to convey ideas more descriptively or poetically.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Our kupuna had ways of expressing emotion in a far more beautiful way than saying something so literal,&rdquo; explained Lum.<\/p>\n<h2>Makuak\u0101ne scholar<\/h2>\n<p>The initiative is just one part of Lum\u2019s broader academic and creative journey. As a doctoral student at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.olelo.hawaii.edu\/en\/\">Ka Haka <span lang=\"haw\">&#699;Ula<\/span> O <span lang=\"haw\">Ke&#699;elik&#333;lani<\/span> College of Hawaiian Language<\/a>, Lum was recently named the first recipient of the <a href=\"http:\/\/poe.olelo.hawaii.edu\/en\/haawinakala\/makuakane\">Daniel and Lydia Makuak\u0101ne Endowed Scholarship and Fellowship<\/a>. This award honors the Makuak\u0101ne family\u2019s lifelong advocacy for <span lang=\"haw\">&#699;&#333;lelo<\/span> <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and supports scholars dedicated to Indigenous language revitalization.<\/p>\n<p>For more go to <a href=\"https:\/\/hilo.hawaii.edu\/kukala\/20260212\/ExploringTheMusicOfLanguage\/\"><abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo\u2019s K\u016bkala N\u016bhou<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo <abbr>PhD<\/abbr> candidate Nicholas &ldquo;<span lang=\"haw\">Keali&#699;i<\/span>&rdquo; Lum invites learners to explore the poetic soul of Hawaiian music through a new Instagram video series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":229612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1057,316,411,14],"class_list":["post-229602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-hawaiian-language","tag-ka-haka-ula-o-keelikolani","tag-kawaihuelani-center-for-hawaiian-language","tag-uh-hilo","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/hilo-hawaiian-lang-pewa-music.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229602"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229614,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229602\/revisions\/229614"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}