Languages – Hawaiian & Pidgin – Local Lingo

While English is the official language in Hawaii, two others will be heard while you are here, Hawaiian and the ever-present Pidgin. While you can visit Molokai knowing and using only English, you will acquire a feeling of “belonging” the more you use Hawaiian and Pidgin words and phrases.   This article will provide a simple introduction to both.

The Hawaiian language contains only 13 letters, – five vowels, seven consonants and the ‘okina, which is called a ‘glottal stop’ in English. The okina indicates a break in the sound when the word is spoken, like the break when you say “uh oh” in English. Simple, right?

Here is the Hawaiian alphabet;

A, E, I, O, U, H, K, L, M, N, P, W,’

Here are the four basic rules,

~ All words end in a vowel.

~ Every consonant is followed by at least one vowel.

~ Every syllable ends in a vowel.

~ Two consonants never appear next to each other.

The okina is only found between two vowels or at the beginning of a word.

The word Lanai (verandah, porch) with no okina would be pronounced ‘Lah-nigh’, with the okina, it is Lana’i (the island 10 miles south of us) and pronounced ‘Lah-nah-ee.’

‘Molokai’ written without the okina, it is pronounced ‘Moh-loh-kai.’
Written with the okina, it reads Moloka’i and is pronounced ‘Moh-loh-kah-ee.’

Either pronunciation is acceptable, but often a missing okina will change the meaning of a word.

Another grammatical mark is the kahako, a symbol that looks like a dash (-) that is placed over a vowel. It means that it is a long vowel – simply drag the vowel out a bit longer.

The vowels are pronounced pretty much as in Spanish,

A = “ah”

E = “eh”

I = “ee”

O = “oh”

U = “oo”

Traditionally, the W in Hawaiian sounds like the letter “V” in English.

Vowels are pronounced separately except when they appear as diphthongs.

‘AI’ sounds like the ‘i’ in ice.

‘AE’ Sounds like I or eye.

‘AO’ like ‘ow’ in how.

‘AU’ like the ‘ou’ in house.

‘EI’ like ‘ei’ as in eight.

‘EU’ like ‘eh-oh’

‘IU’ like ‘ew’ in few.

‘OI’ as in the word voice

‘OU’ sounds like the ‘ow’ as in bowl.

‘UI’ sounds like the ‘ooey’ in gooey.

Grammar

English speakers learning Hawaiian should remember Hawaiian grammar word order. English sentences are arranged in subject-verb-object order. Hawaiian sentences are arranged verb-subject-object.