|
No edit summary
|
No edit summary
|
||
| Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
Hawaiian islands, Hawaiian has been displaced by English and is no |
Hawaiian islands, Hawaiian has been displaced by English and is no |
||
longer widely used as the daily language of communication. The exception |
longer widely used as the daily language of communication. The exception |
||
to this is [[Niihau]] which because of |
to this is [[Niihau]] which because of its isolation still uses Hawaiian |
||
in daily communications. |
in daily communications. |
||
Hawai'ian is the language of the orginal polynesian inhabitants of Hawai'i.
It is notable for having a small phoneme inventory, like many of its Polynesian cousins. Especially notable is the fact that it lacks the phoneme [t], one of only a few languages to lack such a phoneme. Its inventory consists of the consonants [p], [k], ['], [m], [n], [w], [l], [h] and the vowels [a], [e], [i], [o], [u]. Vowel length is phonemic.
Hawai'ian is related to Samoan, Maori, Fijian, and other languages spoken throughout Polynesia, and more distantly to some Southeast Asian and Indian Ocean languages. Information and a resource link on Hawai'ian can be found at http://home.attbi.com/~pgdt/Phonology/austro.html. On most of the Hawaiian islands, Hawaiian has been displaced by English and is no longer widely used as the daily language of communication. The exception to this is Niihau which because of its isolation still uses Hawaiian in daily communications.
