Ka Pî`âpâ Hawai`i

Ka Pî`âpâ Hawai`i

The Hawaiian Alphabet

Pî`âpâ [PEE AH PAH] was the name of the first primer (spelling book) in Hawai`i. Like the word "alphabet", the word pî`âpâ was formed by the first two letters of the Greek, "a" and "b". When the missionary said, "b a ba", the Hawaiian student, using a "p" for "b", replied, "pî â pâ." It is similar to the expression, "A, B, C's".

Letters as they appear in written form:	How to pronounce letters aloud to another person:	Phonetic pronunciation
a	" `â "	[ AH ]
e	" `ê "	[ EH ]
i	" `î "	[ EE ]
o	" `ô "	[ OH ]
u	" `û "	[OO ]
â	" `â kô "	[ AH KOH ]
ê	" `ê kô "	[ EH KOH ]
î	" `î kô "	[ EE KOH ]
ô	" `ô kô "	[ OH KOH ]
û	" `û kô "	[ OO KOH ]
h	" hê "	[ HEH ]
k	" kê "	[ KEH ]
l	" lâ "	[ LAH ]
m	" mû "	[ MOO ]
n	" nû "	[ NOO ]
p	" pî "	[ PEE ]
w	" wê / vê "	[ WEH ] / [ VEH ]
`	" `okina "	[ oh kee nah ]

From my class notes:

There are 10 vowels (five vowels without kahakô; five, with) and eight consonants, h k l m n p w ` (`okina).

To repeat: `okina is a consonant (a letter that is not a vowel); " `oki " means "to cut" and " na " is an ending that makes a verb into a noun. `. In English, it is known as a "glottal stop", which means "stop the flow of air at that point". The sounds occurs as break between the two "oh's" in "Oh-oh, you're in trouble now!"

Kahakô literally means " a mark which lengthens a sound." Remember this. It does NOT mean, "raise the pitch of your voice". It does not mean, "say it louder."

When î is written, the i is not dotted. Instead the kahakô (written as straight line over the i) replaces the dot.

How to Spell Aloud in Hawaiian
Spelling Vocabulary
ma`aka	capital, uppercase, "big"
na`ina`i	lowercase, "small / little"
hua `ôlelo hou	new / next word
How Does It Sound to Spell a Word in Hawaiian?
If a vowel has a kahakô over it, it is indicated by saying "kô" after the vowel. For example, â is spelled " `â kô ".
Before spelling the next word, say: "hua `ôlelo hou".
To indicate a capital letter, say the letter first then say "ma`aka."
To indicate a lower case letter, say the letter first then say "na`i na`i".

Spelling Practice
Word:	Word spelled aloud:
manakô	"mû / `â / nû / `â / kê / `ô kô"
Lâna`i	"lah ma'aka / `â kô / nû / `â / `okina / `î"
P / p ("Big/Capital p, little/lower case p")	"pî ma`aka / pî na`ina`i "
Nâ `Âumâkua	"nû ma`aka / `â kô / hua `ôlelo hou / `okina / `â kô ma`aka / `û / mû / `â kô / kê / `û / `â "
Iz Ka`ano`i Kamakawiwo`ole	" `î ma`aka / zê / hua `ôlelo hou / kê ma`aka / `â / `okina / `â / nû / `ô / `okina / `î / hua `ôlelo hou / kê ma`aka / `â / mû / `â / kê / `â / vê / `î / vê / `ô / `okina / `ô / lâ / `ê"

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Aloha a hui hou, Leilani