I know how to pronounce a word with it in the middle…the glottal stop like when I say “oh oh.” But what if it’s at the beginning of a word?
For example, ahi means fire and ̒ahi means tuna.
What is the difference between how those two words are pronounced?
I’m not a native speaker of Hawaiian and so I could be wrong about this, but if you’re like most speakers of English (Or well, American English, at least), you probably already pronounce it correctly. When pronouncing a word that starts with a vowel, most Americans first close the glottis and then percussively open it before the vowel sound. You can try and see this for yourself. Try to say ‘ahi very slowly, concentrating especially at the beginning. You’ll notice that as you feel the air coming up, it collects in your throat until it all suddenly bursts out at once. That’s starting with a glottal stop, the ‘okina. It’s probably actually harder for you to pronounce ahi without the ‘okina. Again, try saying the word slowly, but this time, see if you can keep your glottis open (now that sounds dirty) and let the “a” come out unobstructed. While I understand the mechanics, it’s still pretty hard for me to do. Anyone else know any better?
Capoeirista, that makes complete sense.
After years and years of traveling to Hawai’i, I’d never noticed words beginning with it. I purchased a dictionary yesterday and noticed many words beginning with it.
Thanks!
I think you explained it well.
One further thing to cover is that there is a difference between words being pronounced (a) in isolation and (b) in a stream of conversation. An initial 'okina may not have particular salience in a word pronounced alone, but it will make a big difference for that same word pronounced after a vowel-final word.
Here’s an example: when pronouncing a phrase like Ke ka’a nui 'ula (“The big red car”) at conversational speed, the 'okina at the beginning of 'ula changes how that word “flows” from the preceding word nui. Without the 'okina, it would be more like noo-ee-yoo-lah (where a brief “y” sound slips in as the mouth moves from “ee” to “oo”).
With the 'okina in place, however, you don’t get that little “y” sound – it’s replaced by the glottal closure as detailed in Capoeirista’s post.
That is a really good description. It’s much easier to understand in context. I totally forgot about that.