The Hawaiian language was an oral tradition. The Hawaiian alphabet (piapa), was written by 19th century missionaries. The alphabet contains 12 English letters: 5 vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and 7 consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p, w). There are also two diacritical marks: the ʻokina (glottal stop) and the kahakō (macron). The ʻokina is considered a consonant and sounds like the "-" in "oh-oh". The kahakō stresses a vowel and tells you to hold it slightly longer. You will never find 2 consonants together, a vowel always follows a consonant or the vowel stands alone. The ʻokina and kahakō alter the meaning of the word.

Pronunciation

Consonants

w

after i and e, sounds like a v; after u and o, it sounds like w; after an a it is either w or v.

all others

pretty much like in English

Vowels

For diphthongs, stress the first letter followed by the unstressed second letter.

Now try pronounce our state fish — the humuhumunukunukuapuaa!

Unicode Representation