LANGUAGES OF PONAPE AND HAWAII. 423. 
On this table it is necessary to remark that Hawaiian h is h 
aspirate. Ponape possesses no such character, but h lene is not 
an unusual sound. Both tongues are alike in the use of h, save 
that occasionally the Hawaiian presses on it ¢ dental, Kawai 
becoming Tawai, while Ponape softens & to ng, especially when 
the guttural is preceded by its own letter. Thus rok ki is pro. 
nounced rong ki. Hawaiian J often becomes 7. There is no 
change in Ponape. M and n hold their usual powers in both 
tongues.’ The labial p is also common to both, though p of Ponape 
is often softened to m when p precedes itself. Thus kap pul (yam 
soft) is pronounced kam pul. W in sound is common to both 
languages, but in Ponape is unsatisfactorily represented by w. 
J, t, r, find no place among the pure Hawaiian sounds, though 
afterwards introduced. In Ponape ng is manifest and common ; 
but in Hawaiian has passed into n.° 
In the vowels there is a wider diversity between the two 
tongues. This may be accounted for by the finer ear of the 
Ponapean. His language is vocalic, but this fact is not a radical 
break between the languages. 
§ 3. SYLLABLES. 
In Hawaiian a syllable may consist of a single letter or vowel, 
thus : 
a, prep. of i, adj. stingy. 
a, to burn, as fire o, prep. of 
e, adv. yes 0, to stab 
* _ @, to enter u, to rise on tiptoe 
i, to speak u, grief 
All this is purely Ponapean ; thus: 
8, pron. his i, sail u, to rise up 
1The writer has not noticed the nasal m, represented in Ponape at first 
Pe and now by mu. This sound is common in Melanesia. 
The P onape j represents sounds which may be represented by the 
atid in jump, ch in chin, and is nearly sh or ts. ae 
with Onape has also the sound known as the Melanesian q (really kpw, bu 
one of the elements obscured). It was written pw, mpw, now Pu 
