A Short Synopsis of the Most Essential Points of Hawaiian Grammar

By Alexander, W. D.

Book Id: WPLBN0002096986
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 10.00 MB
Reproduction Date: 6/7/2011

Title:	A Short Synopsis of the Most Essential Points of Hawaiian Grammar
Author:	Alexander, W. D.
Volume:
Language:	Hawaiian
Subject:	Non Fiction, Drama and Literature, Hawaiian Language Education
Collections:	Education, Sociolinguistics, Authors Community, Philosophy, Language, Literature, Naval Science, Favorites in India
Historic Publication Date:	1891
Publisher:	Press Publishing Co. Print

Member Page:	Hale Kuamoʻo Hawaiian Language Center
Citation APA MLA Chicago W. D, B. A. (1891). A Short Synopsis of the Most Essential Points of Hawaiian Grammar. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.us/

Description
As all former grammars of the Hawaiian language are out of print, at the solicitation of friends, I have revised and enlarged a brief synopsis of Hawaiian grammar, which was originally written for my pupils, and published in 1864. This little work does not pretend to be a philosophical treatise, or to be a complete account of the struct ure and peculiarities of the Hawaiian branch of the Polynesian language. But it is hoped that it may be of service to those who wish to study the genuine, uncorrupted idiom as spoken by the older Hawaiians, as well as to students of comparative philology. The terms and divisions of European grammars have been retained for the convenience of students, although they are only partially applicable to languages of a radically different type. I have to acknowledge my obligations to Rev. L. Andrews’ Hawaiian Grammar, to Dr. Maunsell’s New Zealand Grammar, and to M. Gaussin’s able work on the Polynesian language.

Excerpt
§ 1. All purely Hawaiian sound can be represented by twelve letters, of which five are voxels and seven, consonants, viz: a, e, i, o, u, h, k, l, m, n, p, w. A la sounded as in father, e as in they, i as in marine, o as in note, u as in rule, and not as in male. In a few words, as maka, make, mana, &c., the sound of a approaches that of a short u in tub. In the compounds of waho and in Oaku, it has a broad sound like that of a in fall.