The State of Hawaii (IPA: /həˈwaɪi, həˈwaɪʔi/) (Hawaiian: Mokuʻāina o Hawaiʻi), is an archipelagic U.S. state located in the Central Pacific, south of Alaska, north of Tahiti, and 2,300 miles (3,700 km) from the Continental United States.[2] Politically, Hawaii is considered to be a part of the North American continent.The state encompasses nearly the entirety of the volcanic Hawaiian Island chain, which is made up of hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles (2,400 km). Of these, the eight largest islands are considered the "main islands" and are located at the southeastern end of the archipelago. In order from the northwest to southeast, they are Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui, and Hawaiʻi. The last is by far the largest, and is very often called the "Big Island" or "Big Isle" to avoid confusion with the state.The state was admitted to the Union on August 21, 1959, making it the 50th state. Its capital is located in its only city, Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu. The most recent census puts the state's population at 1,211,537.In American English, Hawaii is pronounced in varying approximations to the original. From most to least anglicized, there is IPA: /həˈwaɪiː/, /həˈwaɪʔiː/, /həˈvaɪʔiː/). In the Hawaiian language, /həˈʋəiʔi/, there is also some variation, as Hawaiian IPA /ʋ/ varies from [v] to [w].The State of Hawaii has two official languages recognized in its constitution adopted at the 1978 constitutional convention: English and Hawaiian. Article XV, Section 4, specifies that "Hawaiian shall be required for public acts and transactions only as provided by law" [italic added]. Hawaii Creole English (locally referred to as 'Pidgin') is the native dialect of many born-and-raised residents and is a second dialect for many other residents. After English, the second- and third-most spoken individual languages are Ilokano (most are bilingual in Wikang Filipino) and Japanese, respectively. Significant European immigrants and descendants also speak their native languages; the most numerous are Spanish, German, Portuguese and French.As of the 2000 U.S. Census, 73.44% of Hawaii residents age 5 and older speak only English at home. Tagalog speakers make up 5.37% (which includes non-native speakers of Wikang Filipino, the national co-official Tagalog-based language), followed by Japanese at 4.96%, Ilokano at 4.05%, Chinese at 1.92%, Hawaiian at 1.68%, Spanish at 1.66%, Korean at 1.61%, and Samoan at 1.01%[23].
