Languages In the World (33 page)

Hawaiian is striking for its relatively small phonemic inventory. With eight consonants and five vowels that contrast for length, the entire inventory of 18 phonemes falls just below the threshold of 20–50 that is a worldwide norm for phonemic inventories. The consonants are: [p, k, ʔ, h, l, m, n, v/w]. The
‘okina
[ʔ] ‘glottal stop' (literally ‘break') is represented in writing as ‘, and it is found in the traditional way to write the name of the state, Hawai‘i [havaiʔi].
¹⁹
We saw at the beginning of Chapter 7 that another Polynesian language, Tahitian, has a glottal stop where the other languages have a medial -ng-, -g-, or -n-. So, a tendency for consonants to become glottal stops is not unusual in the Polynesian family. In Hawaiian, it is the case that the glottal stop tends to correspond to [k] in related languages. In Tuamotu, the word
tiki
‘image' is cognate with Hawaiian
ki
‘
i
. We noted in Chapter 7 that
^*
[t] became [k] in Hawaiian.

The glottal stop [ʔ] is phonemic in Hawaiian, as can be illustrated by the following minimal pairs:

The only other consonant that merits discussion is [w], which varies geographically. On The Big Island, the variant [v] is heard, exemplified by the name of the state,
noted above. On the islands of Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau, the variant [w] is heard. There is also some evidence to suggest that [w]/[v] are allophones, with [v] appearing after unround vowels, for example,
iwa
‘nine' pronounced
iva
, and [w] appearing after round vowels, for example,
‘auwa‘i
‘ditch' pronounced as spelled.

The consonant [k] is the most common one in the language. When it comes to rendering English words in Hawaiian, [k] is often used and can substitute for 10 English consonants. For instance, the native
kika
means ‘slippery.' It can, however, also be used for ‘sister,' ‘cider,' and ‘tiger,' which might be alternatively spelled
tita
,
sida
, and
tiga
, respectively, although there is no [t], [s], [d], or [g] in the language. Similarly, the native word
kini
, meaning ‘multitude,' could also be used for the English words
king
,
kin
,
zinc
,
Guinea
,
Jean
,
Jane
, and
Jennie
.

The vowels are: [i, e, a, o, u, ī, ē, ā, ō, ū]. Vowel length is phonemic, as the following minimal pairs illustrate:

There is almost no limitation on the number of vowels that can be used together, as in the word:

and there can be entire phrases without consonants except for glottal stops (and offered here without grammatical analysis):

There are no consonant clusters in Hawaiian, and all syllables end with a vowel. Given the syllable structure and the phonemic inventory, the following substitutions occur:

 

The Russian–American linguist Roman Jakobson is known for having said, “Languages differ essentially in what they
must
convey and not in what they
may
convey.” We have seen/will see various examples of this dictum throughout the Language Profiles at the ends of Chapters 4–12. For instance, English requires a distinction between
he
and
she
,
his
and
her
, and
him
and
her
, which many languages
do not, although those languages could differentiate between a third-person male and female person in some way, if necessary.

Similarly, Hawaiian requires distinctions in the pronoun system that English does not, but English speakers could make them, by means of phrases. The distinctions are:
kā
- ‘inclusive' and
mā
- ‘exclusive' along with -
ua
and -
lua
‘dual' (probably historically related to
lua
‘two') and -kou ‘plural, more than two' (likely historically related to
kolu
‘three'); -
lā
is third person.

This 11-way pronoun system is characteristic of Austronesian languages. So,
Ike
au
is ‘
I
know,' whereas
Ike
kāua
is ‘
we
(you and I) know,' and
Ike
māua
is ‘
we
(he and I) know.'

Hawaiian pronouns differ from English pronouns in at least three further ways:

1. pronouns are frequently omitted, unless there is ambiguity; the answer to the question ‘Do you know?' is normally
   Ike
   ‘Know';
   
2. in the imperative, the subject is expressed; instead of ‘Go way' we find
   E hele
   ‘
   oe
   ‘
   You
   go away'
   
3. the pronoun subject of successive verbs follows the last verb rather than the first one.
   

This pronoun system is complicated by a further distinction, namely one of alienable/ inalienable possession that runs throughout the possessive pronouns (
my
,
your
,
his
/
her
, etc.). These are formed by adding #k- to the forms above and infixing either an
a
or an
o
. To give but one example,
kā
kā-kou
is ‘our' (plural, inclusive, alienable), while
kō
kā-kou
is ‘our' (plural, inclusive, inalienable). There are over 20 forms for the possessive pronouns, whereas English has about six.

Hawaiian is VSO. We have just seen that pronouns follow verbs, which already suggests that the subject follows the verb, as it regularly does:

 

We see, furthermore, that the tense marker precedes the verb, as expected, while an indirect object will also conform to expectations of V–S–O–IO, that is, by following the direct object, as in:

Adjectives follow nouns, and word order, as opposed to any kind of adjectival marking, expresses the relationship among the terms. Thus, the word
maka‘i
can function as the noun ‘goodness' or ‘beauty,' or as the adjective ‘good' or ‘beautiful,' depending on its position:

kāna wahine maika‘i

his wife beautiful

‘his beautiful wife'

as opposed to:

kona maika‘i wahine

her beauty womanly

‘her feminine beauty'

In the order of the elements in the name of the language ‘
Olelo Hawai‘i
, the second element is the adjective ‘Hawaiian,' and the first
‘olelo
can function in different contexts as the verb ‘to speak, to call, to give a name.' Hawaiian has a wide range of particles to show grammatical relationships, and the
‘o-
marks a subject, which can also be thought of as showing slight emphasis, where to direct one's attention. If your name is Pua, you will answer the question `What's your name?' with the answer: `O Pua'.

There are two kinds of possessives in Polynesian languages, sometimes distinguished by the terms
alienable
and
inalienable
. Other pairs of terms have been proposed, such as
active
and
passive
as well as
acquired
and
inherited
. In Hawaiian, possessives are marked with the postpositions
a
and
o
(
ā
and ō preceding syllables with long vowels and diphthongs). The postposition
a
indicates alienable, active, and acquired possession of the type:

ka lei
a
Pua

`the lei
of
Pua' (the one she is going to sell)

ka ki‘i
a
Pua

`the picture
of
Pua' (the one she took or painted)

Pua's lei and picture are not an integral part of her. She did something active to acquire them; she caused ownership. She can also do something to dispose of them, say, sell them or give them away. Most material objects take
a
.

The postposition
o
indicates inalienable, passive, and inherited possession of the type:

na iwi
o
Pua

`the bones
of
Pua' (the bones in her body)

Pua did nothing active to acquire those bones. She did not cause them. She inherited them. She also cannot dispose of them. Body parts take
o
, and this feeling of inalienability extends to clothing, since it is in intimate contact with the body. Thus,

ka lei
o
Pua

`the lei
of
Pua'

clearly means that this is the lei she wears. Similarly,

ka ki‘i
a
Pua

`the picture
of
Pua'

means that this a photograph of her. It is (inalienably) her photograph. A few further material objects take
o
, such as one's house, canoe, land, and sometimes adzes (ax-like tools). These objects are considered important, inalienable, and likely inherited, and are things the owner will not part with. Modern things such as horses and automobiles also take
o
, likely through analogy with the canoe.

In the realm of kinship, these two kinds of possession are logical: one's generational blood relations and all ancestors are inherited, and take
o
; one's relations by marriage and all later generations are acquired, and take
a
. Thus,

k
ō
na kupuna

`his/her grandparent'

k
ā
na keiki

`his/her child'

One inherits one's grandparents. One is active in producing one's own child.