The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Hawaiian pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.
English approximations are in some cases very approximate, and only intended to give a general idea of the pronunciation. For more detail, see Hawaiian language#Phonology (currently more accurate than Hawaiian phonology).
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| Vowels
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| IPA |
Examples |
nearest English equivalent
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| साँचा:square bracket openopen front unrounded vowel|aː]]साँचा:yesno
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Lānaसाँचा:okinai
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father
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| साँचा:square bracket opennear-open central vowel|ɐ]]साँचा:yesno
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Oसाँचा:okinaahu, Molokaसाँचा:okinai[६]
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nut
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| साँचा:square bracket openmid-central vowel|ə]]साँचा:yesno
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Hawaiसाँचा:okinai, Mauna Loa[६]
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sofa
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| साँचा:square bracket openclose-mid front unrounded vowel|eː]]साँचा:yesno
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Kēōkea
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hey without the y sound
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| साँचा:square bracket openopen-mid front unrounded vowel|ɛ]]साँचा:yesno
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Pele[७]
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bed
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| साँचा:square bracket openclose-mid front unrounded vowel|e]]साँचा:yesno
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Kahoसाँचा:okinaolawe[७]
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Spanish e
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| साँचा:square bracket openclose front unrounded vowel|iː]]साँचा:yesno
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Waikīkī
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peel
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| साँचा:square bracket openclose front unrounded vowel|i]]साँचा:yesno
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wikiwiki
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Spanish i
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| साँचा:square bracket openclose-mid back rounded vowel|oː]]साँचा:yesno
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[[ʻŌʻū|साँचा:okinaōसाँचा:okinaū]]
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low without the w sound
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| साँचा:square bracket openclose-mid back rounded vowel|o]]साँचा:yesno
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Honolulu
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Spanish o
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| साँचा:square bracket openclose back rounded vowel|uː]]साँचा:yesno
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साँचा:okinaōसाँचा:okinaū
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moon
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| साँचा:square bracket openclose back rounded vowel|u]]साँचा:yesno
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Honolulu
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Spanish u
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| Diphthongs
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Diphthongs are iu [ju], ou [ou], oi [oi], eu [eu], ei [ei], au [ɔu], ai [ɛi], ao [], ae [].
These are pronounced like sequences of vowels, but without a [w] or [j] in the middle.
iu is pronounced somewhat like yu, so kiu ≈ "cue".
In rapid speech, au as in Mauna and ai as in Waikīkī tend to be pronounced like ou and ei.
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Notes
- ↑ The y sound [j] is not written, but appears between a front vowel (i, e) and a non-front vowel (a, o, u)
- ↑ अ आ [k] and [t], spelled k, are variants of a single consonant. [k] is almost universal at the beginnings of words, while [t] is most common before the vowel i. [t] is also more common in the western dialects, as on Kauaʻi, while [k] predominates on the Big Island.
- ↑ In some dialects the letter l is tends to be pronounced [n], especially in words with an n in them. On the western islands it tends to be pronounced as a tap, [ɾ].
- ↑ अ आ [w] and [v], spelled w, are variants of a single consonant. [w] is the norm after back vowels u, o, while [v] is the norm after front vowels i, e. Initially and after the central vowel a, as in Hawaiसाँचा:okinai, they are found in free variation. [w] also occurs, though it is usually not written, between a back vowel (u, o) and a non-back vowel (i, e, a).
- ↑ Stress falls on the penultimate vowel, with diphthongs and long vowels counting double. (That is, a final long vowel or diphthong will be stressed.) Longer words may have a second stressed vowel, whose position is not predictable.
- ↑ अ आ Short a is pronounced [ɐ] when stressed and [ə] when not.
- ↑ अ आ Short e is [ɛ] when stressed and generally when next to l, n, or another syllable with a [ɛ]; otherwise it is [e].