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This article is a linguistic description of the phonological system of Hawaiian based on documented experiences of the people who developed the Hawaiian alphabet during the 1820s and scholarly research on the Hawaiian language conducted by lexicographers and linguists from 1949 to present.
Hawaiian is known for having very few consonant phonemes — eight. It is notable that Hawaiian has free variation of  with ,  with ,  with , and  with . The -with- variation is quite unusual among the world's languages. The eight Hawaiian consonant phonemes are .
Hawaiian has either 5 or 25 vowel phonemes,
depending on how you treat the long vowels and diphthongs.
If the long vowels and diphthongs are treated as two-phoneme sequences,
then the total of vowel phonemes is five.
But if the long vowels and diphthongs are treated as separate, unit phonemes,
then the total of vowel phonemes is 25.
The short vowel phonemes are
.
If you count long vowels separately, they are
.
If you count diphthongs separately, they are
.
There is some allophonic variation of the vowels,
but it is nowhere near as dramatic as that of the consonants.
Hawaiian syllable structure is (C)V(V) where C is any consonant and V is any vowel. Double vowels (VV) may be long vowels or diphthongs. All CV(V) syllables occur except for ''wū''; ''wu'' occurs only in two words borrowed from English. Word stress is predictable in words of one to four syllables, but not in words of five or more syllables. Phonological processes in Hawaiian include palatalization and deletion of consonants, and the raising, diphthongization, deletion, and compensatory lengthening of vowels. Phonological reduction (or "decay") of consonant phonemes during the historical development of Hawaiian has resulted in the phonemic glottal stop. Ultimate loss (deletion) of intervocalic consonant phonemes has resulted in long vowels and diphthongs.

Contents

Phonemes and allophones

Consonants

Glottal stop

Vowels

Monophthongs

Diphthongs

Phonotactics

Phonological processes

References

Bibliography

Phonemes and allophones

The following description of Hawaiian phonemes and their allophones is based on the experiences of the people who developed the Hawaiian alphabet, as described by Schütz^[1], and on the descriptions of Hawaiian pronunciation and phonology made by Lyovin^[1], and Elbert & Pukui^[1][1]. Some additional details on glottal consonants are found in Carter.^[1]
It is notable that Hawaiian does not distinguish between and ; few languages do not make that distinction. The American missionaries who developed written Hawaiian during the 1820s found that a reflex was common at the Kauai (''Tauai'') end of the island chain, and a reflex at the Big Island (island of Hawaii) end. They decided to use rather than to represent this phoneme. However, that does not prevent anyone from using the ''t'' realization, in speaking or in writing, if they so desire. ''T'' is used more than ''k'' is, by speakers of Niihau Hawaiian.^[1]
The missionaries also found allophonic variation between and (written with ''d'') and , between and , and between and .^[1]

Consonants

Hawaiian has one of the smallest consonant inventories (Rotokas, the smallest, has 6) and one of the smallest phoneme inventories.^[1]

Consonants	Labial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal
Plosive
Fricative
Lateral
Approximant

and are reported to be in free variation, although reports of could be a misinterpretation of unaspirated by English speakers.^[1]
There is basic free variation of and . However, since Hawaiian has no affricates, no fricative besides , and no other stops besides and ,
any non-labial and non-glottal stop, fricative, or affricate,
can function as a .^[1]
In essence,
, , , , ,
, , , , , ,
, , , , and ,
can all "work" as an allophone of .
Nevertheless,
the main allophones noted by the missionaries in the 1820s, and by linguists,
are and .
Elbert & Pukui^[1] point out some instances of a allophone.
Schütz^[1] conjectured that
a ''t''-dialect existed in the northwestern islands,
and a ''k''-dialect in the southeastern islands.
There is some evidence for instances of free variation between and .^[1]
There is also free variation between (lateral), (tap), and (approximant).
Elbert & Pukui^[1] have pointed out some instances of and as allophones.
Schütz^[1] has conjectured that is prevalent in the northwestern islands and is prevalent in the southeastern islands.
There is free variation of and . Pukui & Elbert (1986:xvii) have conjectured that there is conditioned variation of and , but their use of "usually" makes their theory an admission of free variation.
Schütz^[1] has conjectured that there was neither nor ,
but rather "something between the two". This is most likely , a labiodental approximant (see also Schütz's (1994:113) quotes from letter of Artemas Bishop.)
Carter^[1] has shown instances of synchronic alternation of every non-glottal Hawaiian consonant with glottal fricative and glottal stop . (See Hawaiian phonology#glottal stop)
There are also instances of variation with zero allophones. For example: ('turn')^[1]; ('variety of shark').^[1]

Glottal stop

In Hawaiian, a phonemic glottal stop historically derives from an earlier consonant. A number of words have variant pronunciations betwene glottal (that is, both and and non-glottal consonants; it is conjectured that the forms with a non-glottal consonant are older and that this phenomenon is part of a process of consonant deletion.^[1]
This can still be seen in the historical development of the dual personal pronouns.^[1][1] This is exhibited in the suffixes for dual and plural number, which come from ''lua'' ('two') and ''kolu'' ('three') respectviely.^[1]

Dual Pronouns	1st Person Exclusive	1st Person Inclusive	2nd Person	3rd Person
Meaning	we two	we two	you two	they two
Old form
Glottal form
New form

The of in the first and third person forms has "died" or "vanished", resulting in the modern forms ''māua'', ''kāua'', and ''lāua''. The presence of the glottal stop marks the absence of a "phonetically fuller" consonant. The second person form, ''‘olua'', contains a glottal stop, implying that the used to be there and still exists in place of in the intermediate forms, , , and .
A Hawaiian glottal stop thus represents the maximal phonetic reduction of other consonants in centuries past.
Elbert & Pukui^[1] have shown instances of , and , such as ''mukumuku ~ muumuu'' ('cut'), and ''pūliki ~ pūiki'' ('embrace'). Carter (1996:373–374) has shown examples of all seven of the (other) Hawaiian consonants alternating synchronically with glottal stop:

	P	K	H	M	N	L	W
Meaning	ear	long	circle	reddish-brown	tern	light	glowing red
Old form
Glottal form

Vowels

Depending on how one analyzes the inventory of Hawaiian vowel phonemes, it has either 5 or 25 phonemes.^[1] The minimum figure of 5 is reached by counting only , , , , and as phonemes. Diphthongs and long vowels are analyzed as being sequences of two vowels. For example, the written form is phonemically , and the written form <ā> is phonemically . The maximum figure of 25 is reached by counting separately the 5 short vowels, the 5 long vowels, the 9 short diphthongs, and the 6 long diphthongs. A reason given to support this analysis is that the diphthongs "act as unit phonemes in regard to stress."^[1]
It is not necessary to postulate that the long vowels and diphthongs should be counted as separate single phonemes, because they can be treated as sequences of two vowels. They are in fact historically derived from two-syllable sequences. This is easily seen in the synchronic co-existence of allomorphic pairs of Hawaiian forms such as ''kolu'' with ''-kou'', both meaning 'three'.^[1]
The example can be analyzed as a four-phoneme CVCV sequence alternating with a three-phoneme CVV sequence, where the CVV form is derived from the CVCV form through loss of the second consonant. In other words, loses the , resulting in . ''Kolu'' is a root form, while ''-kou'' is found in the plural personal pronouns (indicating three or more referents) ''mākou'', ''kākou'', ''oukou'', and ''lākou''.^[1][1]
The vowel phonemes are shown in the following tables. The information given on allophones constitutes a basic description, not exception-free laws. Native speakers of any language can get away with tweaking their own personal pronunciation .

Monophthongs

Monophthongs	Short		Long
	Front	Back	Front	Back
Close
Mid
Open

Vowel quality is the same for long and short vowels, except for vs. , and vs. :

★ When short is stressed it is lowered to . In a sequence of two or more syllables with , unstressed can also be lowered to but it is otherwise . For example, ''eleele'' ('black') is pronounced . But ''aleale'' ('full') is pronounced . There are also instances where unstressed short can be raised to . For example, the negating form, or , can be pronounced or .^[1]

★ Short is phonetically .
One might argue for free variation of and for stressed short . However, Elbert & Pukui^[1] have made citations to Kinney (1956) and Newbrand (1951), based on tape-recorded evidence, which specifically noted , but not . Even so, the pronunciations and exhibited above, show that there are at least a couple of forms where is realized as .

Diphthongs

Short Diphthongs	Ending with	Ending with	Ending with	Ending with
Starting with
Starting with
Starting with
Starting with

Unlike the other falling diphthongs (that is, falling from higher to lower sonority), and are rising diphthongs. For example, ''kiu'' ('spy') is pronounced , sounding just like the English name for the letter ''Q''.
As with its constituent vowels, diphthongs with short and are subject to the same free variation described above. In rapid speech, and can become and respectively.

Long Diphthongs	Ending with	Ending with	Ending with	Ending with
Starting with
Starting with
Starting with

All long diphthongs are falling.

Phonotactics

Hawaiian syllables may contain one consonant in the onset, or there is no onset. Syllables with no onset contrast with syllables beginning with the glottal stop: ('front', 'face') contrasts with ('to dodge', 'evade'). Codas and consonant clusters are prohibited in the phonotactics of Hawaiian words of Austronesian origin.^[1] However, the borrowed word ''Kristo'' is pronounced .^[1] One exception is the Hawaiian interjection ''kā'', because it can be pronounced or .^[1][1]
The syllable has a minimum of one vowel, and a maximum of two. A one-vowel syllable has any one of the short or long vowels. A two-vowel syllable has any one of the diphthongs.
The structure of the Hawaiian syllable can be represented as being (C)V(V), where the round brackets around C and second V mean that the syllable-initial consonant is optional and the syllable may have a long vowel or diphthong.^[1]

★ V syllables. Every theoretically possible V syllable occurs in Hawaiian.^[1]

★ CV syllables. Every theoretically possible CV syllable occurs, with the single exception of ''wū'' [see Hawaiian headwords]).^[38] The syllable ''wu'' occurs only in borrowed words.^[39] There are only two such words, with ''wu'', in the Pukui-Elbert dictionary: ''Wulekake'' (or ''Vulegate'') ('Vulgate'), and ''wulekula'' (or ''vuletura'' 'vulture'), the very last Hawaiian headwords listed in the dictionary.^[1]
Elbert & Pukui^[41] have pointed out that "Certain combinations of sounds are absent or rare." For example, no content word has the form CVVV, and the form CVVCV, is also not common. They also noted that monovocalic content words are always long.
==Prosody==
Word stress is predictable in Hawaiian, in certain combinations of syllables.^[1][1][1] A stressed syllable is one that is louder in volume, longer in duration and higher in pitch).^[1]
# (C)VCV, with both vowels short. Examples: ''ahi'', ''kahi''.
# (C)V(C)VCV, same as 1 but preceded by an unstressed syllable. Examples: ''uahi'', ''aloha'', ''huali'', ''kakahi''.
# (C)VV, with either a long vowel or diphthong. Examples: ''ai'', ''wai'', ''ā'', ''nā''.
# (C)V(C)VV, same as 3 but preceded by an unstressed syllable. Examples: ''uai'', ''uhai'', ''kuai'', ''wawai'', ''iā'', ''inā'', ''huā'', ''nanā''
For structures 1 and 2, stress is on the penultimate syllable.
For the rest, stress is on the long vowel/diphthong.
For any Hawaiian word that consists wholly of one of these stress units, such as the example words given, the word stress is predictable. For all other Hawaiian words, it is not predictable. However, every word can be analyzed as consisting of one or more of these stress units.

Phonological processes

Phonological processes at work in Hawaiian include palatalization of consonants, deletion of consonants, raising and diphthongization of vowels, deletion of unstressed syllables, and compensatory lengthening of vowels. Elbert & Pukui^[1] have cited Kinney (1956) regarding "natural fast speech" (vowel raising, deletion of unstressed syllables), and Newbrand (1951) regarding Niihau dialect (free variation of and , deletion of consonants, allophone of , vowel raising).
Kinney (1956) has studied tape recordings of 13-14 native speakers of Hawaiian. She noted assimilatory raising of vowels in vowel sequences. For example, was very frequently pronounced as , was often , and was often . She cited specific words, such as (directional adverb) as , (plural morpheme) as , and ('horse') as . The pronunciation of the island name Maui, ''Maui'', , was , with the quality of compared to that of ''u'' in English ''cut''. She observed deletion of unstressed syllables, such as ('God') pronounced as , and ('go') pronounced as . She also documented pronunciations of ('gotten') as , and ('pig') as .
Newbrand (1951) found that a Niihauan ''wrote'' and interchangeably, and freely varied the pronunciation of both and as or . She found ('no') pronounced as , showing vowel raising of to . She documented ('staying') pronounced as , showing deletion of the glottal consonants and . The vowel quality of stressed short was noted as .
Palatalization of consonants in Hawaiian is demonstrated by the well known pronunciation of (mood adverb) as .^[1][1]

References

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38. see Hawaiian headwords
39. note 4
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41. citing Krupa
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47.
48.

Bibliography

★ Carter, Gregory Lee. (1996). ''The Hawaiian Copula Verbs 'He', 'O', and 'I', as Used in the Publications of Native Writers of Hawaiian: A Study in Hawaiian Language and Literature''. University of Hawaii Ph.D. dissertation. Ann Arbor: U.M.I.

★

★ Kinney, Ruby Kawena. (1956). ''A Non-purist View of Morphomorphemic Variations in Hawaiian Speech''. Journal of the Polynesian Society 65 (3):282–286.

★ An Introduction to the Languages of the World, , Anatole V., Lyovin, Oxford University Press, Inc., 1997, ISBN 0-19-508116-1

★ Newbrand, Helene L. (1951). ''A Phonemic Analysis of Hawaiian''. University of Hawaii M.A. thesis.

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