Appendix: Pronunciation Guide to the Hawai'ian Alphabet
For the Virtu gallery of Robert J. Fairbanks, M. A.

Five vowels:

A (as in "ah")
E (as in "vein")
I (as in "see")
O (as in "no")
U (as in "do")

Seven consonants:

H, K, L, M, N, P, and W.

You may hear the "W" pronounced like a "V", but this only happens when the W is in the middle of a word.

Vowels may follow each other but consonants are always followed by a vowel, creating syllables with only two letters. Words never end in a consonant and because there is no "S" in the Hawaiian language, nouns are not pluralized.

Sometimes you see a word spelled with an apostrophe (') between two vowels, as in Ali'i. This is called an "okina", the glottal stop, and creates an abrupt break in the word, such as "oh-oh".

The second to the last syllable is usually stressed. If there are only two syllables, the last one receives the emphasis.

Until the 1820s, Hawai'ian was only a spoken language. In the 1820s, the Calvinist missionaries from New England began to write down phonetically the Polynesian based words. But they arbitrarily eliminated some letters like the letter "R".

Words also have different nuances to their meaning according to their pronunciation and the context they are being used in a sentence. These subtleties were (and still are) completely ignored by non-Hawai'ian speaking peoples.

The Hawai'ians, having a happy and delightful attitude towards life, enjoy word puns, jokes, and new ways of creating subtle meanings to words, not used before. English speaking peoples would understand the language better if they would think of it in terms of poetry, and what they see poets do with word manipulation, rather than their everyday language. But, for the Hawai'ian this flexibility is what makes their language a "living language of power".

The ancient Mayan cultural of Meso-America had a similar appetite for word play in their text. Even in their religious text they enjoy these word play and absurd puns. This attitude was so foreign to Western thinkers, that it prevented the translation of the Mayan language for decades.

ae - yes.
ali'i - a Hawai'ian chief or noble.
A hui hou - Good-bye.
akamai - smart.
aloha - means both hello and good-bye, welcome or farewell, romantic love, affection, or best wishes.
Aloha ahiahi - Good evening.
Aloha au ia oe - I love you.
Aloha kakahiaka - Good morning.
Aloha nui loa - much love, fondest regards.
aole - no.
hale - house or building.
hana - work.
haole - Caucasian (originally meant foreigner).
Hauoli la hanau - Happy birthday.
Hauoli makahiki hou - Happy New Year.
Heiau - temple, ancient worship ground.
hele - go or walk around.
hiamoe - to sleep.
ho'olohe - to listen.
hui - a group, meeting, or society.
hula - native Hawai'ian dance.
imu - underground oven.
ipo - sweetheart, lover, girl - or boyfriend.
ka'a - car.
kahuna - teacher or priest.
kai - ocean.
kamaaina - native born, long-time island resident, local.
kane - man.
kapu - forbidden.
kaukau - food.
keiki - child.
komo mai - please come in, enter, welcome.
kupuna - grandparentkokua - help.
lanai - porch or patio.
lei - traditional garland of flowers or vines.
lomi lomi - traditional Hawai'ian massage.
lua - toilet, rest room.
luau - a Hawai'ian feast featuring poi, imu-baked pork and other traditional foods.
mahalo - thank you.
Mahalo nui - Thank you very much.
Mai'ai - Come and eat.
maika'i - fine.
makai - toward the sea.
malihini - newcomer, visitor.
mauka - toward the mountains, inland.
mauna - mountain.
mele - a Hawai'ian chant or song.
Mele kalikimaka - Merry Christmas.
menehune - a Hawai'ian dwarf or elf. (Originally it met a person without legitimate lineage, or without property, poor, of low social stature - small or little importance. It is assumed the Hawai'ian myths about the menehune who lived in the mountains, and only came out a night, were a group of people who already lived on the islands. They were driven into the mountains when the "New" Polynesians came - displaced from their lands and sea. They obviously were a different racial looking group, as many legitimate stories indicate they could be recognized instantly by their features.
    The Hawai'ian use of this word as meaning, "the little people", met of little status, of no importance, without lineage. The literal translation, "little people" was mis-understood by the European/American foreigner for their own myths about elves, dwarfs, and leprechauns.)
moana - ocean.
nani - beautiful.
ohana - family.
Okole maluna - cheers, bottoms up.
'Olu'olu - please.
ono - delicious, delightful, the best.
opu - stomach.
pali - cliff.
paniolo - a Hawai'ian cowboy.
pau - finished.
Pehea'oe? - How are you?
pono - excellent.
pua - flower.
puka - a hole of any size.
punee - bed.
pupu - an appetizer, snack, hors d'oeuvres.
pupule - crazy.
tapa - traditional paper cloth made from beaten bark.
tutu - grandmother.
wahine - woman.
wai - fresh water.
wiki - quickly, fast.