Readers may reach Buck through Gene Owens at 317 Braeburn Drive, Anderson SC 29621 or send e-mail to Please let Buck know what town you’re from. ![]() Clarisse Van Beauregard asked as Heidi Schwartzkopf stepped off the plane from Honolulu.Įither the "v” or the "w” sound is considered correct. "Is the correct pronunciation ‘Hawaii’ or ‘Havaii’?” Ms. The state constitution of Hawaii decrees: "English and Hawaiian shall be the official languages of Hawai’i.” "Hawaiian” is considered an English word, so it doesn’t take the okina. Oklahomans usually pronounce "Hawaii” as if it were spelled "Hawah-ye.” Native Hawaiians would pronounce it "Hawai-Ee” or "Havai-Ee.” But since standard English fonts don’t include the okina, the apostrophe is substituted. The true okina is an upside-down apostrophe, like the numeral 6 with the circle colored in. A glottal stop is a sound produced by closing the opening between the vocal cords, as you do when you’re indicating "no” by saying "ah-ah” or "oops” by saying "uh-oh.” It’s a mark common to languages of the South Seas, and it indicates a glottal stop between two vowel sounds. The reason is that the Hawaiian language has only 13 phonemes (not counting allophones). ![]() Okina ( ‘ ), which is the glottal stop, counts as a letter. Why does the Hawaiian alphabet only have 13 letters Hawaiian alphabet has 13 letters. What you see is, strictly speaking, not an apostrophe but an okina. There are some pronunciation tips for consonants: Pronounce P and K as in English but with less aspiration. It hasn’t changed, Jerry, but "Hawai’i” isn’t often seen in mainland spellings.
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