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**Alan Wheeler** · 04-03-2008, 20:45

That's interesting. Down here, our Maori language is very similar with the spelling of words and some words mean the same and some very different. I remember years ago telling Scott about what Kai Nui ment down here. In Maori, Kai means food. Wai is for water. Yet Nui means big here as well. The Maori vowels are A= arr (but keep it short) E=aah(short again) I=ee, O=Oh, U=Ooo

Kiwikat · 04-03-2008, 23:26

Wild Thing is the boat's name. When we were building her it was always going to be that, by name by nature - that being both her and her owners so to speak

(twenty years younger of course). For her first 14 years her graphics on the hull was of a Pink Panther in a reclined position, glass off bubbly in one hand, stilletto cigarette in the other. The Enigma we thought. Now we have ditched the graphics and tend to think Tame Thing would be a little more appropriate

.

Screen name: well we are Kiwis who want to get a cat as our next boat. Simple (but still little wild things).

Cheers
Kiwikat

dacust · 05-03-2008, 07:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaoJones

I have to disagree, Kai Nui.

In the Polynesian languages, as I recall, all vowels are pronounced. Thus, Hawai'i is correctly pronounced (Hah vah EE ee or Hah wah EE ee, both are acceptable). And the island of Kaho'olawe, which most haoles (whites, or all foreigners) foolishly mispronounce kuh HOO luh wee, is correctly pronounced Kah ho oh LAH ve or Kah ho oh LAH we, with the concluding sound the same as wet, or vet, with the "t" omitted.

So I would pronounce Faiaoahe: Fah ee ah oh AH he, with the vowel sound in the concluding "he" sounding more like the e in "bet" or "help." The concluding sound is not, in my understanding, the same as "hay," as in hay fever.

I would be curious to know how Celestialsailor pronounces it.

TaoJones

I have noted with interest that the Hawaiian pronuciation of vowels is very close to Japanese. But from what you're sating it sounds like they don't run the vowels together like the Japanese. Like the Japanese for "yes" is spelled hai, most people pronounce "hi" which is close. But pronouncing each vowel, it's ha-i (the i is pronounced like the long e). ha-e pronounced fast sounds almost like Hi. (same thing with samurai, etc)

So my esoteric question is, is Hawaiian pronounced with the vowels distinctly different or are they similarly run together? When I've heard it pronounced it sounds to me like it's run together. Inquiring minds want to know...

dacust · 05-03-2008, 07:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaoJones

I don't mean this to be a buzz-kill, dacust. I just wanted to make you aware of the jeopardy that can accompany copyright infringement.
TaoJones

You are absolutely correct. The Schultz clan has never militantly gone after non-commercial use of their images. It's a risk, but probably worst case is I have to remove it. Once I get my Captains license, if I ever wanted to charter the boat (I can't imagine ever doing it with this boat), I would of course be well advised to remove it.

TaoJones · 05-03-2008, 09:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by dacust

I have noted with interest that the Hawaiian pronuciation of vowels is very close to Japanese. But from what you're sating it sounds like they don't run the vowels together like the Japanese. Like the Japanese for "yes" is spelled hai, most people pronounce "hi" which is close. But pronouncing each vowel, it's ha-i (the i is pronounced like the long e). ha-e pronounced fast sounds almost like Hi. (same thing with samurai, etc)

So my esoteric question is, is Hawaiian pronounced with the vowels distinctly different or are they similarly run together? When I've heard it pronounced it sounds to me like it's run together. Inquiring minds want to know...

I believe that Hawaiian, like all spoken languages, is subject to the uses and practices of its native speakers, evolving over time, and for that reason you will hear many variations of pronunciation. A written language is an attempt to assign symbols in such a way that an educated reader can render those symbols back into correctly spoken language.

The phenomenon you describe, dacust, is called a diphthong, defined as:

"American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

diph·thong

(dĭf'thông', -thŏng', dĭp'-) Pronunciation Key
n. A complex speech sound or glide that begins with one vowel and gradually changes to another vowel within the same syllable, as (oi) in boil or (ī) in fine."

Thus, the blending of two adjacent vowels into what often sounds like a single syllable, and when speakers of a given language speak quickly, it can be difficult to hear the individual sounds.

The opposite phenomenon also occurs; i.e. those who speak a language slowly often create additional sounds that a word doesn't contain. Think of how Americans native to the southern states pronounce a single-syllable word: trip comes out "tree-up," or can becomes "kay-uhn."

So, with native Hawaiian speakers, those who speak quickly seem to blend the many adjacent vowels into indistinct sounds, while a more careful native speaker would voice the individual vowels, even if briefly, to connote status, class, education or refinement.

dacust · 05-03-2008, 10:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaoJones

So, with native Hawaiian speakers, those who speak quickly seem to blend the many adjacent vowels into indistinct sounds, while a more careful native speaker would voice the individual vowels, even if briefly, to connote status, class, education or refinement.

So it sounds like you are saying proper speaking in Hawaiian you would speak the vowels more distinctly, whereas it is proper speech in Japanese to pronounce it that way. They vary the amount, too, of course.

In other words, the diphthong is part of the language in Japanese, but mainly occurs in Hawaiian as a part of common speech. Is that about right?

Palarran · 05-03-2008, 12:38

My current boat, which is a 26' power boat, and my screen name are rigamarole. My wife came up with it when I bought the boat. She looked at me that certain way woman can and said " You need a lot of rigamarole in your life". Way to true.

SkiprJohn · 05-03-2008, 21:35

One of my old boats, "Ka Ipo Moana." Hawaiian for Ocean's Sweetheart. Ka Eepoh Moh-ahna.
JohnL

cooper · 06-03-2008, 03:44

I have a great deal of interest in polynesian culture and history.(I am a out and out anglo) I would not for a second add anything about pronuciatian. A new and very rare book from a historian has been published recently called "Beach Crossings" An extrodinary work of personel history, and culture. One for the explorers of time, religion and culture. Put out by Miegunyah press....Beach Crossings is a book of extraordinary richness that crosses genres as well as beaches, blending memoir and social history, ethnography and elegy, ...www.mup.unimelb.edu.au/catalogue/0-522-84886-9.html
Not for the faint hearted .

I believe they are the most extrodinary exponents of discovery and marine travel ever...

fenceguy2 · 06-03-2008, 04:45

GREAT THREAD!! My screen name is pretty obvious, I am in the fence industry. But the boat name, "tawooyou", came about by chance really, My girlfriend and I, were driving back to Savannah from Brunswick after looking at her when she asked why I wanted to buy a sailboat. My girlfriend has been sailing since she was 2 years old with her parents, and since her and I have been together I have owned nothing but power boats. I told her that I missed sailing from when I lived in the BVI, she looked at me with her "i know your full of sh*t look" and asked why I really was buying a sailboat, and I said "to woo you", she had never heard that expression and asked what it meant. I explained that it meant to win ones affection, she smiles and said, ta woo you, that would be a great name for a boat. she sent me an email a few days later with a bunch of differt spellings, ex. towhooyou, tawuyou, etc, and I finallly decided on tawooyou, because thats how it sounds when she says it. Next I started playing around with all the different fonts on microsoft word and found one where the o's looked like hearts, so I went to a sign shop and had them make me one. When we went down to brunswick 2 weekends later to pick her up I had snuck down and changed her name to surprize her.