Wahine or Vahine?

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

Witco or Vitco?

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

velly funny, reloy!

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

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

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

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)

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!

Vhat you talkin 'bout, Villis?

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 ]

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

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".

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.