Post #146112 by tikibars on Fri, Mar 11, 2005 10:17 AM

Speaking broadly, in Hawaiian dialects, you pronounce the W sound, and in Tahitian/Rapanui dialects you pronounce the V.

But that said, in words like Wahine and Hawaii, the Hawaiians often pronounce the W as a V also.

Other intersting differences:

Any K sound in Hawaiian is a T sound in Tahitian.

Any glottal stop (spelled with an apostrophe) in Hawaiian is a K in Tahitian.

Therefore the Hawaiian word Ki'i...

...in Tahitian becomes TIKI!

And the Hawaiian word Kahiki...

...in Tahitian becomes Tahiti!