The Hawaiian Language

[Riverwind (imported)]

I thought it was time to post a bit about the Hawaiian language.

There are 18 letters

5 normal vowels, Aa Ee Ii Oo Uu

5 vowel macrons Āā Ēē Īī Ōō Ūū

8 Consonants Hh Kk Ll Mm Nn Pp Ww

plus the ' Okina the " ' " is a glottal stop and is an actual letter in the Hawaiian alphabet. It is a pause.

All consonants are followed by a vowel so all words end in a vowel.

The town I live near is Pāhoa

The volcano I live on is Kīlauea

The vent that is flowing is Pu'u 'Ō'ō

The state fish is the Humuhumunukunukuapua`a

Its also called the rectangular triggerfish, or Hawaiian triggerfish,

The language is easy to pronounce, just break it down in syllables.

River

[Riverwind (imported)]

This might make it a bit easier,

A a

E e

I i

O o

U u

Ā ā

Ē ē

Ī ī

Ō ō

'ā

'ē

'ī

'ō

'ū

'ā kō

'ē kō

'ī kō

'ō kō

Ū ū

H h

K k

L l

M m

N n

P p

W w

'

'ū kō

hē

kē

lā

mū

nū

pī

wē/vē

'okina

Hawaiian pronunciation

http://www.omniglot.com/images/writing/hawaiian.gif

Vowels can be long or short. Long vowels are usually written with a macron (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū), but if no macron is available, a circumflex (â, ê, î, ô, û) can be used instead.

The letter combination kiu is pronounced [ƫiu]

The letter W is pronounced [w] or [v] after a, [v] after i or e and [w] after o or u.

Sample text in Hawaiian

Hānau kū'oko'a 'ia nā kānaka apau loa, a ua kau like ka hanohano a me nā pono kīvila ma luna o kākou pākahi. Ua ku'u mai ka no'ono'o pono a me ka 'ike pono ma luna o kākou, no laila, e aloha kākou kekahi i kekahi.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

River or Liweli

[kristoff]

I used to do volunteer literacy tutoring. It seems like I would need a tutor, instead, just to visit you!

[GenChick (imported)]

The language is easy to pronounce, just break it down in syllables.

I don’t know… It doesn't look that easy!

[Riverwind (imported)]

Well I must be honest, it all sounds the same to me, and when I try to use Hawaiian words my tongue gets in the way.

Kristoff of course you are welcome to come visit, bring a friend.

River

[Arab Nights (imported)]

So komoniwanalaiu is proper Hawaiian?

It is dangerous to over generalize a population, but any thoughts on the locals? A different world view than upper Midwestern folks who have frozen their balls off? Generally I have come to the conclusion that folks from the tropics wear too few clothes, think about sex too much and don't have that good of work habits (except for the women folk).

[Riverwind (imported)]

To few cloths, the casual dress code here is shorts and t-shirt, but it is winter time so you will see locals with hoodies and heavy coats, long pants, boots because its cold, it got down to 65 last week. Yes its true, I found it very nice and continued with my shorts and t-shirt routine.

It is laid back thats for sure, people here are not in any rush to do anything, I don't know if that converts to lazy or if its just that the people here tend to stop to smell the flowers and maybe enjoy life more then on the main land. As for hard working, I have found that most are just that, hard working.

As for sex, well there is an area that I have little knowledge about having been a eunuch for years I really give that no thought and I think because of that I really don't notice it in others.

I find the locals and I am guessing that your talking about native Hawaiians, there is a group of them that would like to see the Kingdom of Hawai'i returned and the state of Hawai'i abolished, (like thats going to happen) but they are vocal on there desires. I asked one of them "what happens when you win your island home back?" the response I got was that they would bring back the authority of the King, so I asked them, "How are you going to defend this island when the USA is no longer here?" I got a blank look on the verge of hatred, I put up my hands and said, "have you thought this through?" more blank look, "how long do you think your Kingdom of Hawai'i will last after the 5th fleet pulls out of Pearl?" the person started turning red faced, "don't be mad at me, I am just asking questions that you should have an answer for."

Yes they are here and like others who feel displaced because of what ever reason there are the locals who feel that everything on the island is sacred and try to prevent anything being built because its sacred land, part of there religion, which explains it all. No where in the history of mankind as religion made a rational decision.

As for komoniwanalaiu

Cathy couldn't get any guy to lay her, so she traveled to the Isle of Kumoniwannalaya and got more ass than a toilet seat.

River

[C&TL2745 (imported)]

A question about Hawaiian long vowels. Are they a different sound as in English long vowels (slope vs. slop, ape vs. app, heel vs. hell, Nike vs. Nikki, use vs. us) or are they simply the same sound held longer?

Sandi

[Riverwind (imported)]

Yes they are, that is the simple answer.

The long vowel has the same rules as in English from what I can tell, it was the English speaking missionaries of the early 1800's that set it up.

River

[Dave (imported)]

I still like the Dave Barry quote in your tag:

The Hawaiian language is quite unusual because when the original Polynesians came in their canoes, most of their consonants were washed overboard in a storm, and they arrived here with almost nothing but vowels. All the streets have names like Kal'ia'iou'amaa'aaa'eiou, and many street signs spontaneously generate new syllables during the night.