Hawaiian phonology

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 IPA| [p] with IPA| [b] , IPA| [t] with IPA| [k] , IPA| [l] with IPA| [ɹ] , and IPA| [w] with IPA| [v] . The IPA| [t] -with-IPA| [k] variation is quite unusual among the world's languages. The eight Hawaiian consonant phonemes are IPA|/p, k, ʔ, h, m, n, l, w/.

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 areIPA|/u, i, o, e, a/.If you count long vowels separately, they areIPA|/uː, iː, oː, eː, aː/.If you count diphthongs separately, they areIPA|/iu, ou, oi, eu, ei, au, ai, ao, ae, oːu, eːi, aːu, aːi, aːo, aːe/.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.

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, [Harvcoltxt|Schütz |1994|p=83-152] and on the descriptions of Hawaiian pronunciation and phonology made by Lyovin, [Harvcoltxt|Lyovin |1997|p=258-260] and Elbert & Pukui. [Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui |1979|p=10-37] [Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui |1986|p=xvii-xviii] Some additional details on glottal consonants are found in Carter. [Harvcoltxt|Carter|1996|p=373-374]

It is notable that Hawaiian does not distinguish between IPA| [t] and IPA| [k] ; few languages do not make that distinction. The American missionaries who developed written Hawaiian during the 1820s found that a IPA| [t] reflex was common at the Kauaokinai ("Tauaokinai") end of the island chain, and a IPA| [k] reflex at the Big Island (island of Hawaiokinai) 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 Niokinaihau Hawaiian. [Harvcoltxt|Schütz |1994|pp=114-116]

The missionaries also found allophonic variation between IPA| [ɹ] and IPA| [ɾ] (written with "d") and IPA| [l] , between IPA| [v] and IPA| [w] , and between IPA| [b] and IPA| [p] . [Harvcoltxt|Schütz |1994|pp=113-125]

Consonants

Hawaiian has one of the smallest consonant inventories (Rotokas, the smallest, has 6) and one of the smallest phoneme inventories. [Harvcoltxt|Lyovin |1997|p=258]

Vowels

Depending on how one analyzes the inventory of Hawaiian vowel phonemes, it has either 5 or 25 phonemes. [Harvcoltxt|Lyovin |1997|p=259] The minimum figure of 5 is reached by counting only IPA|/u/, IPA|/i/, IPA|/o/, IPA|/e/, and IPA|/a/ as phonemes. Diphthongs and long vowels are analyzed as being sequences of two vowels. For example, the written form is phonemically IPA|/au/, and the written form <ā> is phonemically IPA|/aa/. 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." [Harvcoltxt|Lyovin |1997|p=259]

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'. [Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui|1986|pp=164, 167]

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, IPA|/kolu/ loses the IPA|/l/, resulting in IPA|/kou/. "Kolu" is a root form, while "-kou" is found in the plural personal pronouns (indicating three or more referents) "mākou", "kākou", "okinaoukou", and "lākou". [Harvcoltxt|Lyovin |1997|p=268] [Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui |1986|p=164, 167]

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

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: IPA|/alo/ ('front', 'face') contrasts with IPA|/ʔalo/ ('to dodge', 'evade'). Codas and consonant clusters are prohibited in the phonotactics of Hawaiian words of Austronesian origin. [Harvcoltxt|Lyovin |1997|p=260] However, the borrowed word "Kristo" is pronounced IPA| [ˈkri.sto] . [Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui|1979|p=13] One exception is the Hawaiian interjection "kā", because it can be pronounced IPA| [tsæ] or IPA| [tʃæ] . [Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui|1979|p=13] [Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui|1986|p=106]

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. [Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui|1979|p=14]

* V syllables. Every theoretically possible V syllable occurs in Hawaiian. [Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui|1979|p=14]

* CV syllables. Every theoretically possible CV syllable occurs, with the single exception of "wū" [see Hawaiian headwords] ). [Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui|1986|p=1-386 see Hawaiian headwords] The syllable "wu" occurs only in borrowed words. [Harvcoltxt|Schütz |1994|p=29 note 4] 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. [Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui|1986|p=386]

Elbert & Pukui [Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui|1979|p=35 citing Krupa] have pointed out that "Certain combinations of sounds are absent or rare." For example, no content word has the form CVVIPA|ʔV, and the form CVVCV, is also not common. They also noted that monovocalic content words are always long.

tress

Word stress is predictable in Hawaiian for words with three or fewer moras (that is, three or fewer vowels, with diphthongs and long vowels counting as two vowels). In such cases, stress is always on the penultimate mora. [Harvcoltxt|Lyovin |1997|p=259] [Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui|1986|p=xvii-xviii] [Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui|1979|p=16-18] Longer words will also follow this pattern, but may in addition have a second stressed syllable which is not predictable. [Harvcoltxt|Schütz |1994|p=?] In Hawaiian, a stressed syllable is louder in volume, longer in duration and higher in pitch.Fact|date=September 2008

# CVCV, VCV, with both vowels short: "áhi, káhi"
# CVCVCV, CVVCV, VCVCV, VVCV—that is, as in (1) but preceded by a short syllable: "uáhi, alóha, huáli, kakáhi"
# CVV, VV, with either a long vowel or diphthong: "ái, wái, ā (= áa), nā (náa)"
# CVCVV, VCVV, CVVV, VVV—that is, same as (3) but preceded by a short syllable: "uái, uhái, kuái' wawái, iā (= iáa), inā (ináa), huā (huáa), nanā (nanáa)"

For other Hawaiian words longer than three moras, stress is not predictable. However, every word can be analyzed as consisting of a sequence of these stress units: [Harvcoltxt|Schütz|1978|p=?]

*"okinaéle.makúle" "old man", stressed as CVCV plus CVCVCV
*"makúa.híne" "mother", stressed as CVCVV plus CVCV

Etymology is not a reliable guide to stress. For example, the following proper names are both composed of three words, of 1, 2, and 2 moras, but their stress patterns differ:

*"Ka-imu-kī," pronounced "kái.mukíi"
*"Ka-okinaahu-manu," pronounced "kaokinaáhu.mánu"

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 [Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui|1979|p=22-25] have cited Kinney (1956) regarding "natural fast speech" (vowel raising, deletion of unstressed syllables), and Newbrand (1951) regarding Niokinaihau dialect (free variation of IPA| [t] and IPA| [k] , deletion of consonants, allophone of IPA|/a/, 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, IPA|/ai/ was very frequently pronounced as IPA| [ei] , IPA|/au/ was often IPA| [ou] , and IPA|/io/ was often IPA| [iu] . She cited specific words, such as IPA|/mai/ (directional adverb) as IPA| [mei] , IPA|/mau/ (plural morpheme) as IPA| [mou] , and IPA|/lio/ ('horse') as IPA| [liu] . The pronunciation of the island name Maui, "Maui", IPA|/maui/, was IPA| [ˈmʌu.i] , with the quality of IPA| [ʌ] compared to that of "u" in English "cut". She observed deletion of unstressed syllables, such as IPA|/ke akua/ ('God') pronounced as IPA| [ke ˈku.ʌ] , and IPA|/hele akula/ ('go') pronounced as IPA| [ˈhɛ.lɛ ˈku.lʌ] . She also documented pronunciations of IPA|/loaʔa/ ('gotten') as IPA| [ˈlo.ʔʌ] , and IPA|/puaʔa/ ('pig') as IPA| [ˈpu.ʔʌ] .

Newbrand (1951) found that a Niihauan "wrote" and interchangeably, and freely varied the pronunciation of both and as IPA| [t] or IPA| [k] . She found IPA|/ʔaʔohe/ ('no') pronounced as IPA| [ʔaˈʔo.hi] , showing vowel raising of IPA|/e/ to IPA| [i] . She documented IPA|/noho ʔana/ ('staying') pronounced as IPA| [noo ˈʌ.nʌ] , showing deletion of the glottal consonants IPA|/h/ and IPA|/ʔ/. The vowel quality of stressed short IPA|/a/ was noted as IPA| [ʌ] .

Palatalization of consonants in Hawaiian is demonstrated by the well known pronunciation of IPA|/kaa/ (mood adverb) as IPA| [tʃææ] . [Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui|1979|p=101] [Harvcoltxt|Elbert|Pukui|1986|p=106]

References

Bibliography

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