Re: 33 Observations on Hawaii

From: tschibasch <tschibasch_at_yahoo.com_at_hypermail.org>
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 05:55:35 -0000

--- In OliveStarlightOrchestra_at_y..., "Joya Trian" <joyat_at_f...> wrote:
> .
> .
> 16. Most road names start with "K" and continue for at least ten
letters.
> .
> .

The reason for this is that the definite article in Hawai'ian is "ka"
or "ke", which is dictated by vowel euphony. Consider the following
words:

"ka awa" == the harbor
"ka ai" == the food
"ke ola" == the life
"ke one" == the sand

In standard spelling the articles will append to the noun and any
following adjectives, appearing as a single word. Elision is also
frequently employed. Note that there are only 12 letters in the
alphabet. These are: a, e, i, o, u, h, k, l, m, n, p, w. Words tend
to be longer and more cumbersome than other languages in the same
family (called Polynesian), which are Samoan, Tahitian, and the Maori
dialects. A benefit of this language is its rich set of descriptive
terms for rains, winds, and geographic locations.

A neat thing about the grammar itself is a fully productive use of
the dual form. Therefore, the first personal pronoun appears as:

"owau" == I
"maua" == the two of us
"makou" == the three or more of us

And in a verbal conjugation, with say, "hana" which is 'to do':

"ke hana nei au" (frequently spelled kehananeiau) == I do
"ke hana nei maua" (or kehananeimaua) == the two of us do
"ke hana nei makou" (or kehananeimakou) == we all (3 or more) do

The collapsed form "au" for first person singular is the standard
conjugation form.


John
Received on 2002-09-24 22:55:39