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Tiki Central / General Tiki

Wahine or Vahine?

Pages: 1 12 replies

JD
Johnny Dollar posted on 03/11/2005

according to dictionary, they are both variants, "Hawaiian, from Proto-Polynesian *fafine"

T
Turbogod posted on 03/11/2005

Witco or Vitco?

JD
Johnny Dollar posted on 03/11/2005

On 2005-03-11 06:28, Turbogod wrote:
Witco or Vitco?

velly funny, reloy!

E
exotica59 posted on 03/11/2005

I finished reading Thors' AKU-AKU last month and wondered about the differance. Now I now--thanks johnny$$$

JD
Johnny Dollar posted on 03/11/2005

i'm reading aku-aku too, and last thursday i saw a gauguin "vahine no te vi ~ woman with a mango." started wonderin'.

N
naugatiki posted on 03/11/2005

Reminds me of a joke I haven't since I was in elementary school on Oahu (and is probably funnier if you're in elementary school).

Tourist- Is it Hawaii or Havaii?

Native Hawaiian- Havaii

Tourist- thank you

Native Hawaiian -you're Velcome

D
dangergirl299 posted on 03/11/2005

my Hawaiian resident friends informed me that the plural of wahine is awahine, not wahines (for what it's worth).

thus, plural menehune = amenehune (not menehunes)

T
tikibars posted on 03/11/2005

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!

PJ
purple jade posted on 03/11/2005

Vhat you talkin 'bout, Villis?

T
Tiki_Bong posted on 03/11/2005

On 2005-03-11 09:48, dangergirl299 wrote:
my Hawaiian resident friends informed me that the plural of wahine is awahine, not wahines (for what it's worth).

thus, plural menehune = amenehune (not menehunes)

Sorry Dangergirl, incorrect.

To pluralize wahine, you place a kahako or macron over the 'a' in wahine. A kahako increases (or stresses) the length of the vowel.

There are only a few words in Hawaiian that you actually pluralize. So, to write 'woman' (singular), it would be 'wahine' without a kahako or macron over the 'a'; to write 'women' (plural) you would place a kahako or macron over the 'a'.

You pluralize most all words by the form of the word 'the'; it's either 'ka' or 'na'. 'Na' implies many, and 'ka' implies singular.

The same works with the word 'person' or 'people'. To write 'person', you would write 'kanaka' without the kahako over the 'a', to write 'people' you would write 'kanaka', with a macron over the 'a'.

The way most words are pluralized is in the 'the'; for example, if you said 'ka hale', you would be saying 'the house'; if you said 'na hale', you would be saying 'the houses'.

If you really want to get techical about the use of the Hawaiian language, check this: there is no 't' in Hawaiian, so 'tiki' does not really exist in the Hawaiian language.

Your call...

[ Edited by: Tiki_Bong on 2005-03-11 15:21 ]

H'T
Hau 'oli Tiki posted on 03/13/2005

Tikibong, you been to hawaiianlanguage.com? I'm impressed! Love the web site- have picked up a lot of ole timey lingo and pidg.

UB
Unga Bunga posted on 03/13/2005

On 2005-03-11 07:15, Johnny Dollar wrote:
"vahine no te vi ~ woman with a mango." started wonderin'.

Stupid me, I thought it meant "woman with nice mangos".

T
Tiki_Bong posted on 03/13/2005

On 2005-03-12 16:07, Hau 'oli Tiki wrote:
Tikibong, you been to hawaiianlanguage.com? I'm impressed! Love the web site- have picked up a lot of ole timey lingo and pidg.

Actually,

I take Hawaiian language internet courses from U of Hawaii, and practice with one of my surf mates.

Pages: 1 12 replies