Pualani : flower from heaven
The indigenous language of Hawaii is one of the Polynesian languages. It is "Olelo Hawaii," Hawaiian language. It is an oral language condensed to written form by missionaries in the 19th Century. Hawaiian is one of two official languages of the islands of Hawaii. The other is English. The alphabet has five traditional vowels and seven traditional consonants for a total of 12 letters. Two diacritic marks expand the alphabet. The 'okina (oh-kee-naw), the diacritic mark for a glottal stop, and kahakō (kah-hah-koh), the diacritic mark known as a macron, increase the alphabet to 18 letters.
Instructions
The Alphabet
1. Learn the 13 letters of the Hawaiian alphabet: A, E, I, O, U, H, K, L, M, N, P, W, and ', the 'okina. With the addition of the kahakō above each vowel the alphabet expands to include Ā, ', Ī, Ō, and Ū.
2. Note how the diacritic marks significantly change the sound of a word and therefore the meaning.
3. Say "oh-oh." The sound of the 'okina is like the sound between the English "oh-oh". It is an abrupt halt to breath and sound between letters. The 'okina appears between two vowels. It may also occur at the beginning of a word. The kahakō appears above vowels and lengthens the sound of the vowel and always indicates stress on that vowel.
Examples
4. Put an 'okina between the vowels in the word kou and it changes the meaning of the word. Kou rhymes with the words go-ooh with the two words pronounced as one. It means "your." Ko'u, pronounced ko-ooh, means "my."
Ono, pronounced ohno, is a type of fish. Put an 'okina at the beginning of the word to make 'ono, pronounced with a short gutteral stop followed by the English equivalent "ohno," and it now means delicious.
5. Put a kahakō above each of a's in kala to make kālā. The first word is two syllables that rhyme with the English word mama and is a type of fish. The second is pronounced with stress on the vowels and the vowels are elongated. The syllable "kā" is like the "ka" in kaleidoscope and the second syllable rhymes with this first syllable. Kālā means money.
6. Take note of the transition from "pau" to "pā'ū." Put an 'okina between the vowels in pau and it becomes pa'u. Pau means finished, done. Pa'u means soot. Put a kahakō over the last vowel to make pa'ū and it now means damp. Finally, put another kahakō over the other letter to make pā'ū and the word now means a woman's riding skirt.
Tags: between vowels, above each, alphabet okina, beginning word, diacritic mark, kahak above