Hawaiian language - wikipedia Hawaiian language Hawaiian ʻŌlelo Hawai ʻi Native to Hawaiian Islands Region Hawai ʻi, concentrated on Ni ʻihau and Hawai ʻi Ethnicity Native Hawaiians Native speakers 2000 ( 2007 ) Language family Austronesian Malayo - Polynesian Oceanic Polynesian Eastern Polynesian Marquesic Hawaiian Writing system Latin ( Hawaiian alphabet ) Hawaiian Braille Official status Official language in United States ( Hawaii ) Recognised minority language in United States ( California ) ( Utah ) ( Washington ) ( Alaska ) Language codes ISO 639 - 2 haw ISO 639 - 3 haw Glottolog hawa1245 Linguasphere 39 - CAQ - e This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help : IPA. The Hawaiian language ( Hawaiian : ʻŌlelo Hawai ʻi, pronounced ( ʔoːˈlɛlo həˈvɐjʔi ) ) is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawai ʻi, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the State of Hawaii. King Kamehameha III established the first Hawaiian - language constitution in 1839 and 1840. For various reasons, including territorial legislation establishing English as the official language in schools, the number of native speakers of Hawaiian gradually decreased during the period from the 1830s to the 1950s. Hawaiian was essentially displaced by English on six of seven inhabited islands. In 2001, native speakers of Hawaiian amounted to under 0.1 % of the statewide population. Linguists were unsure that Hawaiian and other endangered languages would survive. Nevertheless, from around 1949 to the present day, there has been a gradual increase in attention to and promotion of the language. Public Hawaiian - language immersion preschools called Pūnana Leo were started in 1984 ; other immersion schools followed soon after that. The first students to start in immersion preschool have now graduated from college and many are fluent Hawaiian speakers. The federal government has acknowledged this development. For example, the Hawaiian National Park Language Correction Act of 2000 changed the names of several national parks in Hawai ʻi, observing the Hawaiian spelling. However, the language is still classified as critically endangered by UNESCO. A pidgin or creole language spoken in Hawai ʻi is Hawaiian Pidgin ( or Hawaii Creole English, HCE ). It should not be mistaken for the Hawaiian language nor for a dialect of English. The Hawaiian alphabet has 13 letters : five vowels ( each with a long pronunciation and a short one ) and eight consonants, one of which is the glottal stop called ʻokina. Contents 1 Name 2 Family and origin 2.1 Methods of proving Hawaiian 's linguistic relationships 3 History 3.1 First European contact 3.1. 1 Folk tales 3.2 Written Hawaiian 3.3 Suppression of Hawaiian 3.4 1949 to present 3.5 Niʻihau 4 Orthography 4.1 Origin 4.2 Glottal stop 4.2. 1 History 4.2. 2 Electronic encoding 4.3 Macron 4.4 Pronunciation 5 Phonology 5.1 Consonants 5.2 Vowels 5.2. 1 Monophthongs 5.2. 2 Diphthongs 5.3 Phonotactics 6 Grammar 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 External links Name The Hawaiian language takes its name from the largest island in the Hawaiian state, Hawaii ( Hawai ʻi in the Hawaiian language ). The island name was first written in English in 1778 by British explorer James Cook and his crew members. They wrote it as `` Owhyhee '' or `` Owhyee ''. Explorers Mortimer ( 1791 ) and Otto von Kotzebue ( 1821 ) used that spelling. The initial `` O '' in the name is a reflection of the fact that unique identity is predicated in Hawaiian by using a copula form, o, immediately before a proper noun. Thus, in Hawaiian, the name of the island is expressed by saying O Hawai ʻi, which means `` ( This ) is Hawai ʻi. '' The Cook expedition also wrote `` Otaheite '' rather than `` Tahiti. '' The spelling `` why '' in the name reflects the ( hw ) pronunciation of wh in 18th - century English ( still used in parts of the English - speaking world ). Why was pronounced ( hwai ). The spelling `` hee '' or `` ee '' in the name represents the sounds ( hi ), or ( i ). Putting the parts together, O - why - ( h ) ee reflects ( o - hwai - i ), a reasonable approximation of the native pronunciation, ( o hɐwɐiʔi ). American missionaries bound for Hawai ʻi used the phrases `` Owhihe Language '' and `` Owhyhee language '' in Boston prior to their departure in October 1819 and during their five - month voyage to Hawai ʻi. They still used such phrases as late as March 1822. However, by July 1823, they had begun using the phrase `` Hawaiian Language. '' In Hawaiian, ʻŌlelo Hawai ʻi means `` Hawaiian language '', as adjectives follow nouns. Family and origin Hawaiian is a Polynesian member of the Austronesian language family. It is closely related to other Polynesian languages, such as Samoan, Marquesan, Tahitian, Māori, Rapa Nui ( the language of Easter Island ) and Tongan. According to Schütz ( 1994 ), the Marquesans colonized the archipelago in roughly 300 CE followed by later waves of immigration from the Society Islands and Samoa - Tonga. Their languages, over time, became the Hawaiian language within the Hawaiian Islands. Kimura and Wilson ( 1983 ) also state : `` Linguists agree that Hawaiian is closely related to Eastern Polynesian, with a particularly strong link in the Southern Marquesas, and a secondary link in Tahiti, which may be explained by voyaging between the Hawaiian and Society Islands. '' Methods of proving Hawaiian 's linguistic relationships The genetic history of the Hawaiian language is demonstrated primarily through the application of lexicostatistics, which involves quantitative comparison of lexical cognates, and the comparative method. Both the number of cognates and the phonological similarity of cognates are measures of language relationship. The following table provides a limited lexicostatistical data set for ten numbers. The asterisk ( * ) is used to show that these are hypothetical, reconstructed forms. In the table, the year date of the modern forms is rounded off to 2000 CE to emphasize the 6000 - year time lapse since the PAN era. Numbers in Austronesian languages hide Language 5 6 7 8 9 10 PAN, c. 4000 BCE * isa * DuSa * telu * Sepat * lima * enem * pitu * walu * Siwa * puluq Amis cecay tusa tulu sepat lima enem pitu falu siwa pulu ' Tagalog isá dalawá tatló ápat limá ánim pitó waló siyám sampu Ilocano maysá dua talló uppát limá inném pitó waló siam sangapúlo Cebuano usá duhá tuló upat limá unom pitó waló siyám napulu Chamorro maisa / håcha hugua tulu fatfat lima gunum fiti guålu sigua månot / fulu Malagasy isa roa telo efatra dimy enina fito valo sivy folo Malay / Indonesian sa / se / satu dua tiga empat lima enam tujuh lapan / delapan sembilan sepuluh 미 낭카 ( Ind / Mal ) bau ciek / satu duo tigo ampek / empat limo anam / enam tujuah / tujoh salapan / lapan sɔmbilan sapuluah / sepuloh Japanese hito futa ( huta ) mi ( NonConn. ) yon it ( NonConn. ) mu tana / nana ya ( NonConn. ) kokono to'o Javanese siji loro telu papat limo nem pitu wolu songo sepuluh Tetun ida rua tolu hat lima nen hitu ualu sia sanulu Fijian dua rua tolu vā lima ono vitu walu ciwa tini Kiribati teuana uoua teniua aua nimaua onoua itiua waniua ruaiua tebuina Tongan taha ua tolu fā nima ono fitu valu hiva - fulu Sāmoan tasi lua tolu fā lima ono fitu valu iva sefulu Māori tahi rua toru whā rima ono whitu waru iwa tekau ( archaic : ngahuru ) Tahitian hō'ē piti toru maha pae ōno hitu va'u iva ' ahuru Marquesan tahi ' ua to'u hā ' ima ono hitu va'u iva ' ahu'u Leeward Islands ( Society Islands ) language tahi rua toru fā rima ono fitu varu iva ' ahuru Hawaiian kahi lua kolu hā lima ono hiku walu iwa - ' umi Note : For the number `` 10 '', the Tongan form in the table is part of the word / hoŋo - fulu / ( ' ten ' ). The Hawaiian cognate is part of the word / ana - hulu / ( ' ten days ' ) ; however, the more common word for `` 10 '' used in counting and quantifying is / ʔumi /, a different root. Application of the lexicostatistical method to the data in the table will show the four languages to be related to one another, with Tagalog having 100 % cognacy with PAN, while Hawaiian and Tongan have 100 % cognacy with each other, but 90 % with Tagalog and PAN. This is because the forms for each number are cognates, except the Hawaiian and Tongan words for the number `` 1 '', which are cognate with each other, but not with Tagalog and PAN. When the full set of 200 meanings is used, the percentages will be much lower. For example, Elbert found Hawaiian and Tongan to have 49 % ( 98 ÷ 200 ) shared cognacy. This points out the importance of data - set size for this method, where less data leads to cruder results, while more data leads to better results. Application of the comparative method will show partly different genetic relationships. It will point out sound changes, such as : the loss of all PAN word - final consonants in Tongan and Hawaiian ; lowering of PAN * u to Tagalog ( o ) in word - final syllables ; retention of PAN * t in word - initial and word - medial position in Tagalog and Tongan, but shift to / k / in Hawaiian ; retention of PAN * p in Tagalog, but shift to / f / in Tongan and / h / in Hawaiian. This method will recognize sound change # 1 as a shared innovation of Hawaiian and Tongan. It will also take the Hawaiian and Tongan cognates for `` 1 '' as another shared innovation. Due to these exclusively shared features, Hawaiian and Tongan are found to be more closely related to one another than either is to Tagalog or PAN. The forms in the table show that the Austronesian vowels tend to be relatively stable, while the consonants are relatively volatile. It is also apparent that the Hawaiian words for `` 3 '', `` 5 '', and `` 8 '' have remained essentially unchanged for 6000 years. History For Hawaiian language history before 1778, see § Family and origin. First European contact In 1778, British explorer James Cook made Europe 's initial, recorded first contact with Hawaiʻi, beginning a new phase in the development of Hawaiian. During the next forty years, the sounds of Spanish ( 1789 ), Russian ( 1804 ), French ( 1816 ), and German ( 1816 ) arrived in Hawai ʻi via other explorers and businessmen. Hawaiian began to be written for the first time, largely restricted to isolated names and words, and word lists collected by explorers and travelers. The early explorers and merchants who first brought European languages to the Hawaiian islands also took on a few native crew members who brought the Hawaiian language into new territory. Hawaiians took these nautical jobs because their traditional way of life changed due to plantations, and although there were not enough of these Hawaiian - speaking explorers to establish any viable speech communities abroad, they still had a noticeable presence. One of them, a boy in his teens known as Obookiah ( ʻŌpūkahaʻia ), had a major impact on the future of the language. He sailed to New England, where he eventually became a student at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut. He inspired New Englanders to support a Christian mission to Hawai ʻi, and provided information on the Hawaiian language to the American missionaries there prior to their departure for Hawai ʻi in 1819. Folk tales Like all natural spoken languages, the Hawaiian language was originally just an oral language. The native people of the Hawaiian language relayed religion, traditions, history, and views of their world through stories that were handed down from generation to generation. One form of storytelling most commonly associated with the Hawaiian islands is hula. Nathaniel B. Emerson notes that `` It kept the communal imagination in living touch with the nation 's legendary past ''. The islanders ' connection with their stories is argued to be one reason why Captain James Cook received a pleasant welcome. Marshall Sahlins has observed that Hawaiian folktales began bearing similar content to those of the Western world in the eighteenth century. He argues this was caused by the timing of Captain Cook 's arrival, which was coincidentally when the indigenous Hawaiians were celebrating the Makahiki festival. The islanders ' story foretold of the god Lono 's return at the time of the Makahiki festival. Written Hawaiian In 1820, Protestant missionaries from New England arrived in Hawai ʻi. Adelbert von Chamisso might have consulted with a native speaker of Hawaiian in Berlin, Germany, before publishing his grammar of Hawaiian ( Über die Hawaiische Sprache ) in 1837. When Hawaiian King David Kalākaua took a trip around the world, he brought his native language with him. When his wife, Queen Kapi ʻolani, and his sister, Princess ( later Queen ) Lili ʻuokalani, took a trip across North America and on to the British Islands, in 1887, Lili ʻuokalani 's composition Aloha ʻOe was already a famous song in the U.S. Headline from May 16, 1834, issue of newspaper published by Lorrin Andrews and students at Lahainaluna School In 1834, the first Hawaiian - language newspapers were published by missionaries working with locals. The missionaries also played a significant role in publishing a vocabulary ( 1836 ) grammar ( 1854 ) and dictionary ( 1865 ) of Hawaiian. Literacy in Hawaiian was widespread among the local population, especially ethnic Hawaiians. Use of the language among the general population might have peaked around 1881. Even so, some people worried, as early as 1854, that the language was `` soon destined to extinction. '' Suppression of Hawaiian The decline of the Hawaiian language dates back to a coup that overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy and dethroned the existing Hawaiian queen. Thereafter, a law was instituted that banned the Hawaiian language from being taught. The law cited as banning the Hawaiian language is identified as Act 57, sec. 30 of the 1896 Laws of the Republic of Hawai ʻi : The English Language shall be the medium and basis of instruction in all public and private schools, provided that where it is desired that another language shall be taught in addition to the English language, such instruction may be authorized by the Department, either by its rules, the curriculum of the school, or by direct order in any particular instance. Any schools that shall not conform to the provisions of this section shall not be recognized by the Department. -- The Laws of Hawaii, Chapter 10, Section 123 This law established English as the medium of instruction for the government - recognized schools both `` public and private ''. While it did not ban or make illegal the Hawaiian language in other contexts, its implementation in the schools had far - reaching effects. The banishment was only two years removed from acknowledgement as a legitimate sovereign government. From July 1894 to January 1895, 19 nations, including the United States, recognized Hawai'i as an independent country. Those who had been pushing for English - only schools took this law as licence to extinguish the native language at the early education level. While the law stopped short of making Hawaiian illegal ( it was still the dominant language spoken at the time ), many children who spoke Hawaiian at school, including on the playground, were disciplined. This included corporal punishment and going to the home of the offending child to strongly advise them to stop speaking it in their home. Moreover, the law specifically provided for teaching languages `` in addition to the English language, '' reducing Hawaiian to the status of a foreign language, subject to approval by the Department. Hawaiian was not taught initially in any school, including the all - Hawaiian Kamehameha Schools. This is largely because when these schools were founded, like Kamehameha Schools founded in 1887 ( nine years before this law ), Hawaiian was being spoken in the home. Once this law was enacted, individuals at these institutions took it upon themselves to enforce a ban on Hawaiian. Beginning in 1900, Mary Kawena Pukui, who was later the co-author of the Hawaiian -- English Dictionary, was punished for speaking Hawaiian by being rapped on the forehead, allowed to eat only bread and water for lunch, and denied home visits on holidays. Winona Beamer was expelled from Kamehameha Schools in 1937 for chanting Hawaiian. 1949 to present In 1949, the legislature of the Territory of Hawai ʻi commissioned Mary Pukui and Samuel Elbert to write a new dictionary of Hawaiian, either revising the Andrews - Parker work or starting from scratch. Pukui and Elbert took a middle course, using what they could from the Andrews dictionary, but making certain improvements and additions that were more significant than a minor revision. The dictionary they produced, in 1957, introduced an era of gradual increase in attention to the language and culture. Efforts to promote the language have increased in recent decades. Hawaiian - language `` immersion '' schools are now open to children whose families want to reintroduce Hawaiian language for future generations. The ʻAha Pūnana Leo 's Hawaiian language preschools in Hilo, Hawaii, have received international recognition. The local National Public Radio station features a short segment titled `` Hawaiian word of the day '' and a Hawaiian language news broadcast. Honolulu television station KGMB ran a weekly Hawaiian language program, ʻĀhaʻi ʻŌlelo Ola, as recently as 2010. Additionally, the Sunday editions of the Honolulu Star - Advertiser, the largest newspaper in Hawaii, feature a brief article called Kauakukalahale written entirely in Hawaiian by teachers, students, and community members. Today, the number of native speakers of Hawaiian, which was under 0.1 % of the statewide population in 1997, has risen to 2,000, out of 24,000 total who are fluent in the language, according to the US 2011 census. On six of the seven permanently inhabited islands, Hawaiian has been largely displaced by English, but on Ni ʻihau, native speakers of Hawaiian have remained fairly isolated and have continued to use Hawaiian almost exclusively. Niihau `` Niʻihau is the only area in the world where Hawaiian is the first language and English is a foreign language. Because of many sufficiently marked variations, Niihau people, when visiting or living in Honolulu, substitute the Oahu dialect for their own -- apparently easy to do -- saying that otherwise people in Honolulu have trouble understanding them. Niihau people speak very rapidly ; many vowels and entire syllables are dropped or whispered. '' -- Samuel Elbert and Mary Pukui, Hawaiian Grammar ( 1979 ) The isolated island of Niʻihau, located off the southwest coast of Kauai, is the one island where Hawaiian is still spoken as the language of daily life. Elbert & Pukui ( 1979 : 23 ) states that `` ( v ) ariations in Hawaiian dialects have not been systematically studied '', and that `` ( t ) he dialect of Niʻihau is the most aberrant and the one most in need of study ''. They recognized that Niʻihauans can speak Hawaiian in substantially different ways. Their statements are based in part on some specific observations made by Newbrand ( 1951 ). ( See Hawaiian phonological processes ) Orthography Main article : Hawaiian alphabet Hawaiians had no written language prior to Western contact, except for petroglyph symbols. The modern Hawaiian alphabet, ka pī ʻāpā Hawai ʻi, is based on the Latin script. Hawaiian words end only in vowels, and every consonant must be followed by a vowel. The Hawaiian alphabetical order has all of the vowels before the consonants, as in the following chart. Aa Ee Ii Oo Uu Hh Kk Ll Mm Nn Pp Ww ʻ / a / / e / / i / / o / / u / / h / / k ~ t / / l / / m / / n / / p / / v ~ w / / ʔ / Origin This writing system was developed by American Protestant missionaries during 1820 -- 1826. It was the first thing they ever printed in Hawai ʻi, on January 7, 1822, and it originally included the consonants B, D, R, T, and V, in addition to the current ones ( H, K, L, M, N, P, W ), and it had F, G, S, Y and Z for `` spelling foreign words ''. The initial printing also showed the five vowel letters ( A, E, I, O, U ) and seven of the short diphthongs ( AE, AI, AO, AU, EI, EU, OU ). In 1826, the developers voted to eliminate some of the letters which represented functionally redundant allophones ( called `` interchangeable letters '' ), enabling the Hawaiian alphabet to approach the ideal state of one - symbol - one - phoneme, and thereby optimizing the ease with which people could teach and learn the reading and writing of Hawaiian. For example, instead of spelling one and the same word as pule, bule, pure, and bure ( because of interchangeable p / b and l / r ), the word is spelled only as pule. Interchangeable B / P. B was dropped, P was kept. Interchangeable L / R. R and D were dropped, L was kept. Interchangeable K / T. T was dropped, K was kept. Interchangeable V / W. V was dropped, W was kept. However, hundreds of words were very rapidly borrowed into Hawaiian from English, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Syriac. Although these loan words were necessarily Hawaiianized, they often retained some of their `` non-Hawaiian letters '' in their published forms. For example, Brazil fully Hawaiianized is Palakila, but retaining `` foreign letters '' it is Barazila. Another example is Gibraltar, written as Kipalaleka or Gibaraleta. While ( z ) and ( ɡ ) are not regarded as Hawaiian sounds, ( b ), ( ɹ ), and ( t ) were represented in the original alphabet, so the letters ( b, r, and t ) for the latter are not truly `` non-Hawaiian '' or `` foreign '', even though their post-1826 use in published matter generally marked words of foreign origin. Glottal stop Main article : ʻokina ʻOkina ( ʻoki ' cut ' + - na ' - ing ' ) is the modern Hawaiian name for the symbol ( a letter ) that represents the glottal stop. It was formerly known as ʻuʻina ( ' snap ' ). For examples of the ʻokina, consider the Hawaiian words Hawai ʻi and Oʻahu ( often simply Hawaii and Oahu in English orthography ). In Hawaiian, these words can be pronounced ( hʌˈʋʌi. ʔi ) and ( oˈʔʌ.hu ), and can be written with an ʻokina where the glottal stop is pronounced. Elbert & Pukui 's Hawaiian Grammar says `` The glottal stop, ', is made by closing the glottis or space between the vocal cords, the result being something like the hiatus in English oh - oh. '' History As early as 1823, the missionaries made some limited use of the apostrophe to represent the glottal stop, but they did not make it a letter of the alphabet. In publishing the Hawaiian Bible, they used it to distinguish ko ʻu ( ' my ' ) from kou ( ' your ' ). In 1864, William DeWitt Alexander published a grammar of Hawaiian in which he made it clear that the glottal stop ( calling it `` guttural break '' ) is definitely a true consonant of the Hawaiian language. He wrote it using an apostrophe. In 1922, the Andrews - Parker dictionary of Hawaiian made limited use of the opening single quote symbol, called `` reversed apostrophe '' or `` inverse comma '', to represent the glottal stop. Subsequent dictionaries have preferred to use that symbol. Today, many native speakers of Hawaiian do not bother, in general, to write any symbol for the glottal stop. Its use is advocated mainly among students and teachers of Hawaiian as a second language, and among linguists. Electronic encoding '' ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi `` ( Hawaiian : Hawaiian language ) within single quotes, font : Linux Libertine. The glyph of the two ʻokinas is clearly different from the one of the opening quote. The ʻokina is written in various ways for electronic uses : turned comma : ʻ, Unicode hex value 02BB ( decimal 699 ). This does not always have the correct appearance because it is not supported in some fonts. opening single quote, a.k.a. left single quotation mark : ' Unicode hex value 2018 ( decimal 8216 ). In many fonts this character looks like either a left - leaning single quotation mark or a quotation mark thicker at the bottom than at the top. In more traditional serif fonts such as Times New Roman it can look like a very small `` 6 '' with the circle filled in black : '. Because many people who want to write the ʻokina are not familiar with these specific characters and / or do not have access to the appropriate fonts and input and display systems, it is sometimes written with more familiar and readily available characters : the ASCII apostrophe ', Unicode hex value 27 ( decimal 39 ), following the missionary tradition. the ASCII grave accent ( often called `` backquote '' or `` backtick '' ) `, Unicode hex value 60 ( decimal 96 ) the right single quotation mark, or `` curly apostrophe '' ', Unicode hex value 2019 ( decimal 146 ) Macron A modern Hawaiian name for the macron symbol is kahakō ( kaha ' mark ' + kō ' long ' ). It was formerly known as mekona ( Hawaiianization of macron ). It can be written as a diacritical mark which looks like a hyphen or dash written above a vowel, i.e., ā ē ī ō ū and Ā Ē Ī Ō Ū. It is used to show that the marked vowel is a `` double '', or `` geminate '', or `` long '' vowel, in phonological terms. ( See : Vowel length ) As early as 1821, at least one of the missionaries, Hiram Bingham, was using macrons ( and breves ) in making handwritten transcriptions of Hawaiian vowels. The missionaries specifically requested their sponsor in Boston to send them some type ( fonts ) with accented vowel characters, including vowels with macrons, but the sponsor made only one response and sent the wrong font size ( pica instead of small pica ). Thus, they could not print ā, ē, ī, ō, nor ū ( at the right size ), even though they wanted to. Pronunciation Due to extensive allophony, Hawaiian has more than 13 phones. Although vowel length is phonemic, long vowels are not always pronounced as such, even though under the rules for assigning stress in Hawaiian, a long vowel will always receive stress. Phonology Main article : Hawaiian phonology Consonants Consonants Labial Alveolar Velar Glottal Nasal m n Plosive p t ~ k ʔ Fricative h Sonorant w ~ v l Hawaiian is known for having very few consonant phonemes -- eight : / p, k ~ t, ʔ, h, m, n, l, w ~ v /. It is notable that Hawaiian has allophonic variation of ( t ) with ( k ), ( w ) with ( v ), and ( in some dialects ) ( l ) with ( n ). The ( t ) -- ( k ) variation is quite unusual among the world 's languages, and is likely a product both of the small number of consonants in Hawaiian, and the recent shift of historical * t to modern ( t ) -- ( k ), after historical * k had shifted to ( ʔ ). In some dialects, / ʔ / remains as ( k ) in some words. These variations are largely free, though there are conditioning factors. / l / tends to ( n ) especially in words with both / l / and / n /, such as in the island name Lāna ʻi ( ( laːˈnɐʔi ) -- ( naːˈnɐʔi ) ), though this is not always the case : ʻeleʻele or ʻeneʻene `` black ''. The ( k ) allophone is almost universal at the beginnings of words, whereas ( t ) is most common before the vowel / i /. ( v ) is also the norm after / i / and / e /, whereas ( w ) is usual after / u / and / o /. After / a / and initially, however, ( w ) and ( v ) are in free variation. `` A consonant occurs only before a vowel ; thus two consonants never occur in succession and a syllable always ends with a vowel ''. Vowels Hawaiian has five short and five long vowels, plus diphthongs. Monophthongs Monophthongs Short Long Front Back Front Back Close i u iː uː Mid ɛ ~ e o eː oː Open ɐ ~ ə aː Hawaiian has five pure vowels. The short vowels are / u, i, o, e, a /, and the long vowels, if they are considered separate phonemes rather than simply sequences of like vowels, are / uː, iː, oː, eː, aː /. When stressed, short / e / and / a / tend to become ( ɛ ) and ( ɐ ), while when unstressed they are ( e ) and ( ə ). / e / also tends to become ( ɛ ) next to / l /, / n /, and another ( ɛ ), as in Pele ( pɛlɛ ). Some grammatical particles vary between short and long vowels. These include a and o `` of '', ma `` at '', na and no `` for ''. Between a back vowel / o / or / u / and a following non-back vowel ( / aei / ), there is an epenthetic ( w ), which is generally not written. Between a front vowel / e / or / i / and a following non-front vowel ( / aou / ), there is an epenthetic ( j ) ( a y sound ), which is never written. Diphthongs Short diphthongs Ending with / u / Ending with / i / Ending with / o / Ending with / e / Starting with / i / iu Starting with / o / ou oi Starting with / e / eu ei Starting with / a / au ai ao ae The short - vowel diphthongs are / iu, ou, oi, eu, ei, au, ai, ao, ae /. In all except perhaps / iu /, these are falling diphthongs. However, they are not as tightly bound as the diphthongs of English, and may be considered vowel sequences. ( The second vowel in such sequences may receive the stress, but in such cases it is not counted as a diphthong. ) In fast speech, / ai / tends to ( ei ) and / au / tends to ( ou ), conflating these diphthongs with / ei / and / ou /. There are only a limited number of vowels which may follow long vowels, and some authors treat these sequences as diphthongs as well : / oːu, eːi, aːu, aːi, aːo, aːe /. Long diphthongs Ending with / u / Ending with / i / Ending with / o / Ending with / e / Starting with / o / oːu Starting with / e / eːi Starting with / a / aːu aːi aːo aːe Phonotactics Hawaiian syllable structure is ( C ) V. All CV syllables occur except for wū ; wu occurs only in two words borrowed from English. As shown by Schütz, Hawaiian word - stress is predictable in words of one to four syllables, but not in words of five or more syllables. Hawaiian phonological processes include palatalization and deletion of consonants, as well as raising, diphthongization, deletion, and compensatory lengthening of vowels. Phonological reduction ( or `` decay '' ) of consonant phonemes during the historical development of the language has resulted in the phonemic glottal stop. Ultimate loss ( deletion ) of intervocalic consonant phonemes has resulted in Hawaiian long vowels and diphthongs. Grammar Main article : Hawaiian grammar Hawaiian is an analytic language with verb -- subject -- object word order. While there is no use of inflection for verbs, in Hawaiian, like other Austronesian personal pronouns, declension is found in the differentiation between a - and o - class genitive case personal pronouns in order to indicate inalienable possession in a binary possessive class system. Also like many Austronesian languages, Hawaiian pronouns employ separate words for inclusive and exclusive we ( clusivity ), and distinguish singular, dual, and plural. The grammatical function of verbs is marked by adjacent particles ( short words ) and by their relative positions, that indicate tense -- aspect -- mood. Some examples of verb phrase patterns : ua VERB -- perfective e VERB ana -- imperfective ke VERB nei -- present progressive e VERB -- imperative mai VERB -- negative imperative i VERB -- purposive ke VERB -- infinitive Nouns can be marked with articles : ka honu ( the turtle ) nā honu ( the turtles ) ka hale ( the house ) ke kanaka ( the person ) ka and ke are singular definite articles. ke is used before words beginning with a -, e -, o - and k -, and with some words beginning ʻ - and p -. ka is used in all other cases. nā is the plural definite article. To show part of a group, the word kekahi is used. To show a bigger part, mau is inserted to pluralize the subject. Examples : kekahi pipi ( one of the cows ) kekahi mau pipi ( some of the cows ) See also Hawaii portal Languages portal The list of Hawaiian words and list of words of Hawaiian origin at Wiktionary, a free dictionary and Wikipedia sibling project Languages of the United States List of English words of Hawaiian origin Pidgin Hawaiian ( not to be confused with Hawaiian Pidgin ) Notes Jump up ^ `` Hawaiian ''. Ethnologue. SIL International. 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2016. Location : Hawaiian Islands, mainly Ni ʻihau island, Island of Hawai ʻi, some on all other islands Jump up ^ Hawaiian at Ethnologue ( 19th ed., 2016 ) Jump up ^ Hammarström, Harald ; Forkel, Robert ; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. ( 2017 ). `` Hawaiian ''. Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany : Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. Jump up ^ Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel Hoyt Elbert ( 2003 ). `` lookup of ʻōlelo ''. in Hawaiian Dictionary. Ulukau, the Hawaiian Electronic Library, University of Hawaii Press. Jump up ^ see e.g. ( Hinton & Hale 2001 ) Jump up ^ `` The 1897 Petition Against the Annexation of Hawaii ''. National Archives and Records Administration. Jump up ^ Hawaiian National Park Language Correction Act of 2000 ( S. 939 ) Jump up ^ `` UNESCO Atlas of the World 's Languages in danger ''. www.unesco.org. Retrieved 2017 - 11 - 20. Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 44, 459 ) Jump up ^ Carter ( 1996 : 144, 174 ) Jump up ^ Carter ( 1996 : 187 -- 188 ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 41 ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 61 -- 65 ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 304, 475 ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 108 -- 109 ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 306 ) Jump up ^ Carter ( 1996 :3 Figure 1 ) Jump up ^ Lyovin ( 1997 : 257 -- 258 ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 334 -- 336 ; 338 20n ) Jump up ^ Elbert & Pukui ( 1979 : 35 -- 36 ) Jump up ^ Kimura & Wilson ( 1983 : 185 ) Jump up ^ Lyovin ( 1997 : 1 -- 12 ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 322 -- 338 ) Jump up ^ The Proto - Austronesian ( PAN ) forms are from Li ( 2004 : 4 ). The Tagalog forms are from Ramos ( 1971 ), the Tongan from Churchward ( 1959 ), and the Hawaiian from Pukui & Elbert ( 1986 ). ^ Jump up to : Schütz ( 1994 : 333 ) Jump up ^ Lyovin ( 1997 : 8 -- 12 ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 31 -- 40 ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 43 -- 44 ) Jump up ^ Nettle and Romaine, Daniel and Suzanne ( 2000 ). Vanishing Voices. Oxford University Press. pp. 93 -- 97. Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 85 -- 97 ) Jump up ^ Emerson, Nathaniel B. ( 1909 ). Unwritten Literature of Hawaii : The Sacred Songs of the Hula. Washington Government Printing Office. p. 7. Jump up ^ Sahlins, Marshall ( 1985 ). Islands of History. University of Chicago Press. Jump up ^ Kanopy ( Firm ). ( 2016 ). Nature Gods and Tricksters of Polynesia. San Francisco, California, USA : Ka Streaming. http://[institution].kanopystreaming.com/node/161213 Jump up ^ Elbert & Pukui ( 1979 : 2 ) Jump up ^ Carter ( 1996 : 7, 169 ) example 138, quoting McGuire Jump up ^ Andrews ( 1836 ) Jump up ^ Elbert ( 1954 ) Jump up ^ Andrews ( 1865 ) Jump up ^ quoted in Schütz ( 1994 : 269 -- 270 ) ^ Jump up to : `` Meet the last native speakers of Hawaiian ''. Retrieved 10 May 2017. Jump up ^ Congress, United States. ( 1898 ). Congressional Edition. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 1 - PA23. Retrieved 2017 - 07 - 20. Jump up ^ `` The Republic of Hawaii was given formal diplomatic recognition as the rightful government of Hawaii by at least 19 other nations from July 1894 through January 1895. Liliuokalani herself proclaimed the Kingdom was finished and swore her oath of loyalty to the Republic. Also Japan, in April 1897, raised the status of its office in Honolulu from Consulate to Legation ( a status not previously accorded during the Kingdom period ) ''. Angelfire. Retrieved 2017 - 02 - 10. Jump up ^ Mary Kawena Pukui, Nana i ke Kumu, Vol. 2 p. 61 -- 62 Jump up ^ M.J. Harden, Voices of Wisdom : Hawaiian Elders Speak, p. 99 Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 230 ) Jump up ^ Warner ( 1996 ) Jump up ^ `` Hawaiian Language Preschools Garner International Recognition ''. Indian Country Today Media Network. 2004 - 05 - 30. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 07. Jump up ^ `` Hawaiian News : ʻÂhaʻi ʻÔlelo Ola -- Hawaii News Now -- KGMB and KHNL ''. Hawaii News Now. Retrieved May 12, 2012. External link in work = ( help ) ^ Jump up to : Lyovin ( 1997 : 258 ) Jump up ^ Ramones, Ikaika. `` Niʻihau family makes rare public address ''. http://hawaiiindependent.net. Retrieved 10 May 2017. External link in website = ( help ) Jump up ^ Elbert & Pukui ( 1979 : 23 ) Jump up ^ Wight ( 2005 : x ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 217, 223 ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 98 -- 133 ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 110 ) Plate 7.1 Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 122 -- 126 ; 173 -- 174 ) ^ Jump up to : Lyovin ( 1997 : 259 ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 223 ) Jump up ^ Elbert & Pukui ( 1979 : 27, 31 -- 32 ) Jump up ^ Pukui & Elbert ( 1986 : 406 ) Jump up ^ Pukui & Elbert ( 1986 : 450 ) Jump up ^ Pukui & Elbert ( 1986 : 257, 281, 451 ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 146 ) Jump up ^ Elbert & Pukui ( 1979 : 11 ) Jump up ^ Pukui & Elbert ( 1986 : 62, 275 ) Jump up ^ In English, the glottal stop is usually either omitted, or is replaced by a non-phonemic glide, resulting in ( hʌˈwai. i ) or ( hʌˈwai. ji ), and ( oˈa.hu ) or ( oˈwa.hu ). Note that the latter two are essentially identical in sound. ^ Jump up to : Elbert, Samuel H. ; Pukui, Mary Kawena ( 1979 ). Hawaiian Grammar. Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press. pp. 10, 14, 58. Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 143 ) Jump up ^ Elbert & Pukui ( 1979 : 11 ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 144 -- 145 ) ^ Jump up to : Schütz ( 1994 : 139 -- 141 ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 146 -- 148 ) Jump up ^ `` Hawaii County Real Property Tax Office ''. Retrieved 2009 - 03 - 03. This site was designed to provide quick and easy access to real property tax assessment records and maps for properties located in the County of Hawaiʻi and related general information about real property tax procedures. Jump up ^ `` Hawaiian diacriticals ''. Archived from the original on 2009 - 03 - 02. Retrieved 2009 - 03 - 03. Over the last decade, there has been an attempt by many well - meaning locals ( Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian ) to use substitute characters when true diacriticals are n't available... This brings me to one of my pet peeves and the purpose of this post : misuse of the backtick ( ` ) character. Many of the previously - mentioned well - intentioned folks mistakenly use a backtick to represent an ʻokina, and it drives me absolutely bonkers. Jump up ^ `` Laʻakea Community ''. Retrieved 2009 - 03 - 03. Laʻakea Community formed in 2005 when a group of six people purchased Laʻakea Gardens. Jump up ^ Pukui & Elbert ( 1986 : 109, 110, 156, 478 ) ^ Jump up to : Elbert & Pukui ( 1979 : 14 -- 15 ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 139, 399 ) Jump up ^ Pukui & Elbert ( 1986 : xvii -- xviii ) Jump up ^ Elbert & Pukui ( 1979 : 14, 20 -- 21 ) Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 115 ) ^ Jump up to : Elbert & Pukui ( 1979 : 22 -- 25 ) Jump up ^ Kinney ( 1956 ) Jump up ^ Newbrand ( 1951 ) Jump up ^ Elbert & Pukui ( 1979 : 12 -- 13 ) Jump up ^ Elbert & Pukui ( 1979 : 25 -- 26 ) Jump up ^ Elbert & Pukui ( 1979 ) Jump up ^ Pukui & Elbert ( 1986 ) see Hawaiian headwords. Jump up ^ Schütz ( 1994 : 29 4n ) Jump up ^ Pukui & Elbert ( 1986 : 386 ) Jump up ^ Pukui & Elbert ( 1986 : xvii -- xviii ) Jump up ^ Elbert & Pukui ( 1979 : 16 -- 18 ) Jump up ^ Kinney ( 1956 ) ) Jump up ^ Robert Louis Stevenson, In the South Seas, 1891 page 12, quoted in Schütz ( 1994 : 134 ) ^ Jump up to : Carter ( 1996 : 373 ) Jump up ^ Lyovin ( 1997 : 268 ) Jump up ^ Pukui & Elbert ( 1986 : 164, 167 ) Jump up ^ Elbert & Pukui ( 1979 : 107 -- 108 ) ) References Andrews, Lorrin ( 1836 ). A Vocabulary of Words in the Hawaiian Language. Press of the Lahainaluna high school. Andrews, Lorrin ( 1865 ). A Dictionary of the Hawaiian Language. Notes by William de Witt Alexander. Originally published by Henry M. Whitney, Honolulu, republished by Island Heritage Publishing 2003. ISBN 0 - 89610 - 374 - 9. Carter, Gregory Lee ( 1996 ). The Hawaiian Copula Verbs He, ʻO, and I, as Used in the Publications of Native Writers of Hawaiian : A Study in Hawaiian Language and Literature ( Ph. D. thesis ). University of Hawaiʻi. Churchward, C. Maxwell ( 1959 ). Tongan Dictionary. Tonga : Government Printing Office... Dyen, Isidore ( 1965 ). `` A Lexicostatistical Classification of the Austronesian Languages ''. Indiana University Publications in Anthropology and Linguistics. Memoir 19 of the International Journal of American Linguistics. Elbert, Samuel H. ( 1954 ). `` Hawaiian Dictionaries, Past and Future ''. Hawaiian Historical Society Annual Reports. Elbert, Samuel H. ; Pukui, Mary Kawena ( 1979 ). Hawaiian Grammar. Honolulu : The University Press of Hawaii. ISBN 0 - 8248 - 0494 - 5. Hinton, Leanne ; Hale, Kenneth ( 2001 ). The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice. Academic Press. Kimura, Larry ; Wilson, Pila ( 1983 ). `` Native Hawaiian Culture ''. Native Hawaiian Study Commission Minority Report. Washington : United States Department of Interior. pp. 173 -- 203. Kinney, Ruby Kawena ( 1956 ). `` A Non-purist View of Morphomorphemic Variations in Hawaiian Speech ''. Journal of the Polynesian Society. 65 ( 3 ) : 282 -- 286. JSTOR 20703564. Li, Paul Jen - kuei ( 2001 ). `` The Dispersal of the Formosan Aborigines in Taiwan '' ( PDF ). Languages and Linguistics. 2 ( 1 ) : 271 -- 278. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 2006 - 10 - 12. Li, Paul Jen - kuei ( 2004 ). Numerals in Formosan Languages. Taipei : Academia Sinica. Lyovin, Anatole V. ( 1997 ). An Introduction to the Languages of the World. New York : Oxford University Press, Inc. ISBN 0 - 19 - 508116 - 1. Newbrand, Helene L. ( 1951 ). A Phonemic Analysis of Hawaiian ( M.A. thesis ). University of Hawaiʻi. Pukui, Mary Kawena ; Elbert, Samuel H. ( 1986 ). Hawaiian Dictionary. Honolulu : University of Hawaiʻi Press. ISBN 0 - 8248 - 0703 - 0. Ramos, Teresita V. ( 1971 ). Tagalog Dictionary. Honolulu : The University Press of Hawaii. ISBN 0 - 87022 - 676 - 2. Schütz, Albert J. ( 1994 ). The Voices of Eden : A History of Hawaiian Language Studies. Honolulu : University of Hawaiʻi Press. ISBN 0 - 8248 - 1637 - 4. U.S. Census ( April 2010 ). `` Table 1. Detailed Languages Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over for the United States : 2006 -- 2008 '' ( MS - Excel Spreadsheet ). American Community Survey Data on Language Use. Washington, DC, USA : U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved May 7, 2012. Warner, Sam L. ( 1996 ). I Ola ka ʻŌlelo i nā Keiki : Ka ʻApo ʻia ʻana o ka ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi e nā Keiki ma ke Kula Kaiapuni. ( That the Language Live through the Children : The Acquisition of the Hawaiian Language by the Children in the Immersion School. ) ( Ph. D. thesis ). University of Hawaiʻi. OCLC 38455191. Wight, Kahikāhealani ( 2005 ). Learn Hawaiian at Home. Bess Press. ISBN 1 - 57306 - 245 - 6. OCLC 76789116. Wilson, William H. ( 1976 ). The O and A Possessive Markers in Hawaiian ( M.A. thesis ). University of Hawaiʻi. OCLC 16326934. External links Hawaiian edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Hawaiian language test of Wiktionary at Wikimedia Incubator Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Hawaiian phrasebook. Niuolahiki Distance Learning Program ( a moodle - based online study program for Hawaiian ) Ulukau -- the Hawaiian electronic library, includes English to / from Hawaiian dictionary digitized Hawaiian language newspapers published between 1834 and 1948 Hawaiian Vocabulary List ( from the World Loanword Database ) Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani, College of Hawaiian Language Kulaiwi -- learn Hawaiian through distance learning courses Hawaiian.saivus.org -- Detailed Hawaiian Language Pronunciation Guide Traditional and Neo Hawaiian : The Emergence of a New Form of Hawaiian Language as a Result of Hawaiian Language Regeneration `` Hale Pa'i '' Article about Hawaiian language newspapers printed at Lahainaluna on Maui. Maui No Ka ' Oi Magazine Vol. 12 No. 3 ( May 2008 ). `` Speak Hawaiian '' Article about Hawaiian language resource on iPhone. ( May 2010 ). Glossary of common Hawaiian vocabulary How to Pronounce `` Hawai'i '', Kelley L. Ross, Ph. D, 2008 OLAC Resources in and about the Hawaiian language `` Article about Hawaiian Dictionary resource on iPhone in Honolulu Magazine. ( May 2012 ). http://www.GreatMahele.com Languages of Hawai ʻi Official languages Hawaiian language English Hawaiian Pidgin Sign languages American Sign Language ( ASL ) Hawaiʻi Sign Language ( HSL ) Immigrant languages Spanish Italian German Japanese Filipino Ilokano Cantonese Korean Portuguese Mandarin Chinese French Samoan State of Hawaii Honolulu ( capital ) Topics Constitution Delegations Discovery and settlement Earthquakes Geography Government Hawaiianize History Islands ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian Language ) Kūʻē Petitions Music People State symbols Tourism Transportation Unification Seal of Hawaii Society Hawaiian architecture Crime Culture Demographics Economy Education Energy Folklore Media Politics Sports Main islands Hawai ʻi Kaho ʻolawe Kaua ʻi Lāna ʻi Maui Moloka ʻi Ni ʻihau Oʻahu Northwestern Islands French Frigate Shoals Gardner Kure Laysan Lisianski Maro Reef Necker Nihoa Pearl and Hermes Communities Hilo Honolulu Kahului Kāneʻohe Līhu ʻe Pearl City Waipahu Counties Hawai ʻi Honolulu Kalawao Kaua ʻi Maui Sovereignty Movement Hawaiian Renaissance 2008 occupation of Iolani Palace Fijian -- Polynesian languages Polynesian East Marquesic Hawaiian Mangerevan Marquesan Tahitic Austral Māori Moriori Penrhyn Rakahanga - Manihiki Rarotongan Tahitian Tuamotuan Other Rapa Rapa Nui West Samoic Niuatoputapu Pukapuka Samoan Tokelauan Ellicean Kapingamarangi Nukumanu Nukuoro Nukuria Ontong Java Sikaiana Takuu Tuvaluan Vaeakau - Taumako Futunic Anuta Emae Futunan Futuna - Aniwan Mele - Fila Pukapukan Rennellese Tikopia Wallisian West Uvean Tongic Niuafoʻou Niuean Tongan Fijian East Fijian Gone Dau Lauan Lomaiviti West Namosi - Naitasiri - Serua Western Fijian Other Rotuman GND : 4159314 - 5 NDL : 00563041 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hawaiian_language&oldid=854716238 '' Categories : Hawaiian language Analytic languages Endangered Austronesian languages Languages of the United States Verb -- subject -- object languages Languages attested from the 18th century 18th - century establishments in North America Hidden categories : Language articles citing Ethnologue 19 CS1 errors : external links Articles containing Hawaiian - language text Languages with ISO 639 - 2 code All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from September 2016 Articles containing German - language text Articles with attributed pull quotes Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with NDL identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikibooks Wikivoyage Afrikaans تۆرکجه Bân - lâm - gú Беларуская Bikol Central Български Boarisch Brezhoneg Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Davvisámegiella Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Føroyskt Français Frysk Gaeilge Gaelg Galego 한국어 Hawaiʻi हिन्दी Hrvatski Ilokano Bahasa Indonesia IsiZulu Íslenska Italiano עברית Basa Jawa Коми Kurdî Latina Latviešu Lietuvių Ligure Limburgs Magyar Македонски മലയാളം მარგალური Bahasa Melayu Dorerin Naoero Nederlands Nedersaksies 日本 語 Nordfriisk Norfuk / Pitkern Norsk Norsk nynorsk Occitan Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча پنجابی Piemontèis Tok Pisin Plattdüütsch Polski Português Română Runa Simi Русский Gagana Samoa Scots Seeltersk Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Tagalog தமிழ் ไทย Türkçe Українська اردو Tiếng Việt 吴语 粵語 中文 80 more Edit links This page was last edited on 13 August 2018, at 08 : 47 ( UTC ). 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Question: how many consonants are in the hawaiian language
Answer: eight