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To question of pronouncing things correct. I have a question. I live/stay near so many names of area on the BI. My favorite spot in island. Wa'a Wa'a.- also Red Dirt road, King Kemhameha highway, Honolulu landing. So most I know pronounce Wa Wa, or would it be Wa Wa without W but V? Va 'a Va'a. Even locals Hawaiians don't seen to change the W to V lack of change or lack of culture pronounce? have been wondering? Anyone know? I know Wa' a mean canoe right?
My understanding is that "W" is the English sounding "W" at the start of a word, but "V" sounding in the middle of a word. So 'Ewa is pronounced "eva" but "Wailua" is "why-lew-ah". The only one that doesn't seem to fit this that I've heard is "Wahiawa" which I swear everyone says as "Wah-hee-wah" but looks to me like it should be "Wah-hee-avah" or something to me.
Because English is not the official language of the state. Hawaii Constitution, Article 15, Section 4: "English and Hawaiian shall be the official languages of Hawaii,..."
The counties, and I believe the state, have naming statutes, ordinances and regulations which require the use of Hawaiian names for some subjects (e.g., street names unless there is a historical reason to use an English or other language name) and encourage the use of Hawaiian for other subjects. My guess is that public offices would fall into the "encourage" area, but it could actually be mandated.
I would like to point out I would never hire you in you spelt it Hawai'i. When you are applying to a job you apply in that jobs language. For example if you wrote Москва, Российская Федерация on your english resume instead of Moscow, Russia you wouldn't get through the front door. Hawai'i may be the proper HAWAI'IAN spelling (which is its only language) but its not English and as such should not be on your resume. I have worked in eight countries now and believe me I don't have a resume chalked full of Japanese, Cyrillic, and Arabic spellings.
This isn't an English v. Hawai'in thing either, if your entire resume was in Hawai'in then feel free to spell it that way.
Since anyone in Hawai'i would be able to read it either way, these examples written in entirely different alphabets are way off the mark. If you're looking for an analogy, it's probably closer to "Peking" vs. "Beijing." Either is understood, but one is preferred and considered "correct."
Having recently hired an employee, I saw resumes with Hawai'i written both ways, and didn't consider it a factor. Unless you're applying for a specific job where knowledge of Hawaiian language and spelling is a requirement, this is not an issue to worry about.
By and large, the W and V sounds are interchangeable and generally a matter of dialect. There are a few words, such as 'Ewa that have specific pronunciations (" 'Eva "--NOT " 'Ewa "), however those are the exceptions. Both "Hawai'i" and "Havai'i" are acceptable and proper.
Side note: "Hawai'i" (with the 'okina--glottal stop--between the two letter i's) is a Hawaiian word and should contain the 'okina. "Hawaiian" is an English word and does not contain the 'okina.
Also, the correct character for the 'okina is ʻ (which is similar to a single left quote), however many fonts, particularly on Windows, don't have the correct character, so using ' or ` or even the single left quote ‘ are all generally acceptable alternatives. The 'okina is actually a letter, not punctuation, so leaving it out "woud be ike speing this without the etter 'L'".
I would like to point out I would never hire you in you spelt it Hawai'i. When you are applying to a job you apply in that jobs language. For example if you wrote Москва, Российская Федерация on your english resume instead of Moscow, Russia you wouldn't get through the front door. Hawai'i may be the proper HAWAI'IAN spelling (which is its only language) but its not English and as such should not be on your resume. I have worked in eight countries now and believe me I don't have a resume chalked full of Japanese, Cyrillic, and Arabic spellings.
This isn't an English v. Hawai'in thing either, if your entire resume was in Hawai'in then feel free to spell it that way.
The name "Hawai'i" IS English. The Hawaiian language has no original written form, much less an okina character.
I know some folks have posted that the okina is a letter, but the use of the ' isn't specific to Hawaiian. It's also used for other languages written with Western letters
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Other
Other examples of languages using a phonemic glottal stop are Nahuatl (and many other Native American languages), Samoan, Hebrew and the constructed Klingon language from the TV series Star Trek.
Last edited by Yac; 03-30-2010 at 07:48 AM..
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