The Correct Spelling of ‘Ukulele
March 23, 2009
This came through my inbox a week ago from one of the ‘ukulele mailing lists I belong to. I read with fascination, as this piece of the Hawaiian language and culture was so beautifully presented by Auntie Anuhea. I contacted Auntie Anuhea for permission to reprint her message on this site. She responded and said that I may. I hope you gain as much as I did from this letter.
I am of Hawaiian ancestry, born and raised in Hawai’i. As a child the Hawaiian language was never spoken conversationally in our home, the result of prohibition in the mid to late 1800’s. My fluent-speaking grandparents never spoke the language to us, my parents understood it but did not speak it. None of my brothers and sisters (8 of us) understood it or spoke it. The only time we articulated the language in an expressive and extended way was while singing the traditional songs and hymns. Over the years we have learned bits and pieces but we are still far from fluent.
One thing I do know is the correct Hawaiian spelling of the name of the instrument we are all enjoying … ‘ukulele. The Hawaiian spelling includes the ’okina (’) at the beginning. The ‘okina is one of 8 consonants in the Hawaiian alphabet and is written as an apostrophe which curves toward the next letter. I find it interesting that the Hawaiian/English dictionary lists ukulele (without the ‘okina) in the English section and translates it to Hawaiian as ‘ukulele (with the ‘okina). Another Hawaiian word which begins with an ‘okina is ‘ohana. Please check the online Hawaiian/English dictionary at ulukau.org to verify the information I have shared here.
The language of my ancestors has been forced into many changes, some out of necessity (i.e. the expansion of its vocabulary), some out of lack of knowledge and some out of self-righteous motives (prohibition initiated by the missionaries). Please accept my comments here as my sincere and humble effort to contribute to the spread of the correct usage of the Hawaiian language. I don’t know how ukulele (without the ‘okina) can be considered an English word, but if you prefer to omit the ‘okina… I guess technically you would not be wrong.
Anyway, thank you for this opportunity to add my two cents to this chit chat.
‘Owau no me ka ha’aha’a (Humbly yours),
Anuhea
Thank you Auntie for giving me permission to reprint this here.
~Hippie Guy
Thank you for contributing to my education as to the correct spelling in Hawai’ian of ‘ukelele but Auntie Anuhea didn’t give an ignorant haole like me any clue as to how to pronounce the ‘okina at the front of ‘ukelele (leaving aside the fact tha6t, as it printed on my screen, your ‘okina pointed the wrong way, i.e. **away** from the next letter). Can you enlighten me?
Aloha,
Denny
Great catch Denny!
You are right on both accounts. How ‘ukulele is pronounced: oo-koo-ley-ley, with the first syllable (oo) said like you were punched in the stomach. It’s not really obnoxious, but enough to make a difference. I’ll see if I can post an mp3 of me and/or one of my contacts saying it.
Which way the ‘okina points: due to the restrictions of a formal keyboard it’s hard to determine which way it points. It could ether be: ‘ukulele or `ukulele. I’ll see if I can get in touch with Auntie Anuhea and see what her feelings are towards this.
Thanks for the heads up,
~Hippie Guy
Ok Denny,
I heard back from Auntie Anuhea.
“u” sounds like “oo”, “e” sounds like “bet”. I was wrong, don’t say “lay-lay” that would be like “lei-lei”. Instead use that short “e”. oo-koo-le-le.
She agrees that it is hard to write the ‘okina on the computer. The ‘okina should flow towards the following letter. When you can’t do that with different fonts, just use the apostrophe key. She says that a straight up and down or slightly leaning ‘okina is better than none at all. This is interesting about using XP with the Hawaiian language: http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/pub/WordXP.pdf
She adds: “Incidentally, Denny, thanks for bringing up the word Hawai’ian. It is often confused as a word within the Hawaiian language vocabulary. It is not. It is, in fact, an English word and hence doesn’t include the ‘okina between the two “i’s”. Confusing? Hope not. Check ulukau.org for clarification. ”
I hope that clears all of your questions up. Thank you for having interest in this matter, I think it is taken lightly by too many,
~Hippie Guy