HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE

‘ōlelo Hawai’i
[?o:′lεlo hə′vɐj?i]
 Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its
name from Hawai’i , the largest island in the tropical North Pacific
archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian along with English, is an
official language of the state of Hawai’i. King Kamehameha III
established the first Hawaiian-language constitution 1839 and
1840.
Hawaiian is a Polynesian member of the Austronesian
language family. It is closely related to other Polynesian
languages, such as Marquesan, Tahitan, Maori, Rapa Nui, and
less closely to Samoan and Tongan.
‘Okina ( ‘ ) is the symbol that represents the glottal stop [?].
It is made by closing the glottis or space between the vocal chords,
the result being something like the hiatus in English “oh-oh”

Kahakō ( ˉ ), Hawaiian name for macron. It is used to show that the

marked vowel is a double or long vowel.

[ ′ ] placed before stressed syllable. Stress is important on

identifying the allophonic variation occurring in vowels.
 Vowel sounds

short long
front central back front central back
close i u i: u:
near close
close mid e:
mid ə o o:
open mid e, ε

near open ɐ
open a a:
 SYLLABLE STRUCTURE AND WORD STRESS

Hawaiin syllable stracture is (C)V(V).

 Word stress is predictable in Hawaiian for words with three or fewer

moras. In such cases, stress is always on the penultimate mora.
 Long vowel will always receive the stress.
 Stress is important on identifying the allophonic variation occurring
in vowels.
cvcv – káhi [′kɐhi ] “shave”
vcv – áhi [ ′ɐhi ] “fire”
cvcvcv – kakáhi [ kə′kɐhi ] “solitary”
cvvcv – huáli [ hu′wɐli ] “bright”
vcvcv – alóha [ ə′lohə ] “love”
cvv – wái [ ′wai ] “water”
vv – ái [ ′ai ] “cohabit”
cvcvv – wawái [ wə′wai ] “watery”
vcvv – uhái [ u′hai ] “pursuit”
cvvv – kuái [ ku′wai ] “rub”
vvv – uái [ u′wai ] “deviate”
1. Short a is pronounced [ ɐ ] when stressed and [ ə ] when
not.

ex. Noho ‘ána [noho ?ɐnə] (staying)

1. Short e is [ ε ] when stressed and generally when next to l, n,

or another syllable with a [ ε ]; otherwise it is [ e ].

ex. Péle [pεlε] (volcano goddes)

‘ele‘ele [?εlε?εlε] ( black )
 Consonant sounds

bilabial labiodent alveolar velar glottal palatal

al
Nasal m n
Stop p t k ʔ
Fricative v h
Glide w n j
o The y sound [ j ] is not written but appears between a front vowel
( i, e ) and a non front vowel ( a, o, u ).

o [k] and [ t ], spelled k, are variants of a single consonant. [k] is

almost universal at the beginnings of words, while [ t ] is most
common before the vowel i. [ t ] is also more common in the
western dialects, as on Kaua’i, while [ k ] predominates on big
islands.
ex. kieki [ki′jεki] / [ki′jεti] (son)
o [w] and [ v ], spelled w, are variants of a single consonant.
[w] is the norm after back vowels u, o, while [ v ] is the norm
after front vowels i, e. Initially and after the central vowel a, as
in Hawai’i, they are found in free variation. [ w ] also occurs,
though it is usually not written, between a back vowel ( u, o)
and a non-back vowel ( i, e, a )

ex. kūwīlī [ku:wi:li:] (to spin in a dance)

wūwū [wu:wu:] (to roar)
iwi [ivi] (bone)
ewa [′εva] (city on O‘ahu)
hawai‘i [hə′wɐj?i] [hə′vɐj?i]
DIPHTHONGS
ae Mae‘ole [mae?ole]; never-fading
ai Kai [kai];see water
ao Maoli [maoli]
au Au [au]; I, I am
ei Lei [lei]; garland
eu ‘eleu [?eleu]; lively
oi Poi [poi]; Hawaiian staple
ou Kou [kou]: your
iu Wēkiu [we:kiu]; tapmost
ui Hui [hui]; together,team
HAWAIIAN MORPHOLOGY

GRAMMATICAL GENDER

I Hawaiian, there is no grammatical gender. The word for third

person ( he, she, it ) is ia, it is commonly preceded by ‘o as , ‘o ia but
should always be written as two words, never as one.
NUMBER AND ARTICLES

in Hawaiian the noun usually does not change form to

determine the number. Rather the article changes to determine the
number.
Generally, the singular definite articles are ke when the noun
begins with the letter k, e, a, or o and ka when the noun begin with
any other letter. The plural definite article is nā, the singular indefinite
article is he.
Example:
ka puke (the books) vs. nā puke ( the books )
ka pakaukau (the table) vs. nā pākaukau ( the tables )
he kanaka maika‘i ‘o ia ( “a-person-good-she/he.” she/he is
a good person)

Some lengthen the antepenultimate vowel in plural:

ke kanaka ( the person ) vs. nā kānaka ( the people )

ka wahine ( the woman ) vs. nā wāhine ( the women )
NOUNS

hawaiian belongs to one of two genders, known as the kino

‘ō ( o-class ) and the kino ‘ā ( a-class ). Classes are only taken into
account when using the genetive case.

kino ‘ō nouns, is general, are nouns whose creation cannot

be controlled by the subject, such as inoa “name”, pu‘uwai “heart”,
and hale “house”.
 Kino ‘ō nouns, is general, are nouns whose creation
cannot be controlled by the subject, such as inoa “name”, pu‘uwai
“heart”, and hale “house”.
Specific categories for o-class nouns include:
o modes of transportation ( e.g., ka‘a “car”, lio “horse” ),
things that you ca n go into, sit on or wear ( e.g., lumi
“room”, noho “chair”, ‘eke “bag”, and lole “clothes” ),
o people in your generation ( e.g., siblings, cousins ) and
o previous generations ( e.g., makuahine “mother”)
 kino ‘ā nouns, in general are those whose creation can be
controlled, such as waiho‘lolu‘u “color”, as in ka‘u waiho‘lolu‘u
punahele “my favorite color ”.
Specific categories include:
Your boyfriend or girl friend ( ipo ), spouse, friends and generations
in your line ( all of your descendants )
DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
PERSONAL PRONOUNS
VERBS

o ua + verb: perfective aspect, past tense; or perfect tense/aspect

( ua hana au “I worked”, “I have worked”)
o i + verb: past tense ( I hana au “I worked”); or, perfect participle
( I hana “having worked”)
o e + verb + ana: imperfective aspect
( e hana ana au “I was working”)
o ke + verb + nei: present tense, progressive aspect
( ke hana nei au “I am working” )
o e + verb: future tense ( e hana au “I will work” )
o ua + verb + ‘ē: pluperfect tense/aspect
( ua hana ‘ē “I had worked” ).
EQUATIVE SENTENCES

Hawaiian doesn’t have a copula verb meaning “to be” nor

does it have a verb meaning “to have”. Equative sentences are
used to convey this group of ideas. All equative sentences in
Hawaiian are zero tense/mood ( i.e., they cannot be modefied by
verbal markers, particles or adverbs ).
Pepeke ‘Aike A “A is B”

Pepeke ‘Aike He is the name for the simple equative

sentences “A is a(n) B”. The pattern is “He B (‘o) A” marks the third
person singular pronoun ia (which means “he/she/it”) and all proper
nouns.

Examples:
He kaikamahine ‘o Mary. “Mary is a girl”.
He kaikamahine ‘o ia. “She is a girl”
Pepeke ‘Aike ‘O

Pepeke ‘Aike ‘O is the name for the simple equative

sentences “A is B”. The pattern is “ ‘O A (‘o) B”, where the order
of the nouns is interchangeable and where ‘o invariabley marks
the third person singular pronoun ia and all proper nouns
(regardless of where it is in the utterance).

Examples:
‘O Mary ‘o ia. ‘O ia ‘o Mary. “She is Mary”
‘O Mary nō ia. ‘O ia nō ‘o Mary. “It’s Mary”
‘O wau ‘o Mary. ‘O Mary wau. “I’m Mary”
‘O ‘oe ‘o Mary. ‘O Mary ‘oe. “You are Mary”
Pepeke Henua (locative equative)

Pepeke Henua is the name for the simple equative

sentence “A is located (in/on/at/etc. B)”. The pattern is “Aia (‘o) A…”

Examples:
Aia ‘o Mary ma Hilo. Mary is in Hilo.
Aia ‘oia maloko o ka wai. He/she/it is inside (of) the water.
Aia ka haumana mahea? Aia mahea ka hauman? Where is
the student?
Pepeke ‘Aike Na
Pepeke ‘Aike Na is the name of the simple equative
sentence “A belongs to B”. The pattern is “Na (B) A”. The singular
pronouns undergo predictable changes.

Pronoun agentive genitive “for” or

“belonging to”

First person singular “I” (w)au na‘u

Second person singular ‘oe nāu

“you”

Third person singular (‘o)ia nāna

“he/she/it”

First person plural, dual kāua na kāua

inclusive “we; you and I”
Examples:
Na‘u ke ka‘a. The car belongs to me. That’s my car.
Na Mary ke kieke . The child is Mary’s. It’s Mary’s child.
Nāna ka panikala. The pencil belongs to him/her/it.
Nāu nō au. I belong to you. I’m yours.
Reduplication

Reduplication can emphasize or otherwise alter the

meaning of a word.

Example:
‘au “to swim”; ‘au’au “to bathe”
ha‘i “to say”; ha‘iha‘i “to speak back and forth”
ma ‘I “sick”; ma‘ima‘i “chronically sick”
DEGREE OF COMPARISON

positive Poko – short

Poko iki – little short

comparative Poko ae – shorter

Poko iki ae – shorter still

superlative Poko loa - shortest

SYNTAX
 Hawaiian is a predominantly verb–subject–object
language.
 One exception is if the sentence has a negative mood
and the subject is a pronoun, in which case word order is
subject–verb–object instead
ex. ʻaʻole ʻo ia e puka ana,
"not he [future] graduate [single event]"
"he won't graduate")
Within the noun phrase, adjectives follow the noun,
ex. Ka hale li‘ili‘i “the house small” “the small house”
while possessors precede it.
ex. Kou hale “your house”