Help:IPA/Hawaiian

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Hawaiian on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Hawaiian in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Hawaiian language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

See Hawaiian phonology for more detail on the sounds of Hawaiian.

Consonants
IPA	Examples	Nearest English equivalent
h	Honolulu	hat
j	Mauna Kea [ˈkɛjə]^[1]	yes
k	Kamehameha^[2]	sky
l	Honolulu, Lānaʻi^[3]	lean
m	Maui	moon
n	Lānaʻi	note
p	Pele	spy
t	Waikīkī, wikiwiki^[2]	steal
v	wikiwiki^[4]	vision
w	Loa [ˈlowə], Kīlauea [tiːlɐwˈwɛjə]^[4]	wall
ʔ	Hawaiʻi, Oʻahu	uh-oh! (a catch in the throat)
Stress
IPA	Example	Note
ˈ	Honolulu [honoˈlulu]	placed before the stressed syllable^[5]

Vowels
IPA	Examples	Nearest English equivalent
aː	Lānaʻi	father
ɐ	Oʻahu, Molokaʻi^[6]	nut
ə	Hawaiʻi, Mauna Loa^[6]	sofa
eː	Kēōkea	hey
ɛ	Pele^[7]	bed
e	Kahoʻolawe^[7]	Spanish seta
iː	Waikīkī	beat (long)
i	wikiwiki	beat (short)
oː	ʻōʻū	more (long)
o	Honolulu	more (short)
uː	ʻōʻū	cool (long)
u	Honolulu	cool (short)
Diphthongs
Short diphthongs
ju	kiu	cue
ow	kākou	mole
o̯i	poi	queen
ew	heu	roughly like go (some dialects^[8]); Portuguese and Spanish neutro
ej	lei	May
ɐw	Mauna^[9]	cow
ɐj	Waikīkī^[9]	light
ɐo̯	haole	Spanish caos
ɐe̯	koaea	Spanish trae
Long diphthongs
oːw	ʻōuli	American no way; RP, Aus, NZ Norway
eːj	kēia	may you
aːw	kāu	RP far west
aːj	kāia	RP far younger
aːo̯	ʻāoka	crowd
aːe̯	māea	^{[example needed]}

^ The y sound [j] is not written, but appears between a front vowel (i, e) and a non-front vowel (a, o, u)
^ ^a ^b [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 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].
^ ^a ^b [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 Hawaiʻi, 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 as two (that is, a final long vowel or diphthong will be stressed). Longer words may have a second stressed vowel, whose position is not predictable.
^ ^a ^b Short a is pronounced [ɐ] when stressed and [ə] when not.
^ ^a ^b Short e is [ɛ] when stressed and generally when next to l, n, or another syllable with a [ɛ]; otherwise it is [e].
^ These dialects include Southern England (including Received Pronunciation), English Midlands, Australian, New Zealand, the Southern American, Midland American, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Western Pennsylvania and younger Californian English. Other dialects of English, such as most other forms of American, Northern England, Welsh, Scottish and Irish English, have no close equivalent vowel.
^ ^a ^b In rapid speech, /ɐw/ and /ɐj/ tend to be pronounced [ɔw] and [ɛj], respectively.

[1] The y sound [j] is not written, but appears between a front vowel (i, e) and a non-front vowel (a, o, u)

[tk-2] [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.

[3] In some dialects the letter l 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].

[wv-4] [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 Hawaiʻi, 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).

[5] Stress falls on the penultimate vowel, with diphthongs and long vowels counting as two (that is, a final long vowel or diphthong will be stressed). Longer words may have a second stressed vowel, whose position is not predictable.

[a-6] Short a is pronounced [ɐ] when stressed and [ə] when not.

[e-7] Short e is [ɛ] when stressed and generally when next to l, n, or another syllable with a [ɛ]; otherwise it is [e].

[8] These dialects include Southern England (including Received Pronunciation), English Midlands, Australian, New Zealand, the Southern American, Midland American, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Western Pennsylvania and younger Californian English. Other dialects of English, such as most other forms of American, Northern England, Welsh, Scottish and Irish English, have no close equivalent vowel.

[dip-9] In rapid speech, /ɐw/ and /ɐj/ tend to be pronounced [ɔw] and [ɛj], respectively.

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