THE LANGUAGE OF HAWAII. 
45 
light, were applied to different sounds of the same class. Now 
it happens that his classes are precisely those in which the 
Polynesian ear makes no distinction. For instance, with the 
labials p and b, we may say either taburoa or kapuloa; we 
may say Honorourou or Honolulu. As a matter of fact, the 
first form is invariably found in the earlier accounts of the 
islands. Ask a Kanaka which is right, taburoa or kapuloa , 
the reply will invariably be that his ear detects no differ¬ 
ence. The term means great taboo and is used now as an 
injunction against trespass. This shows that the Ha- 
waiians, in their inability to distinguish between b and p , 
d and t, g and k , l and r, and v and w, are following a natu¬ 
ral law of human utterance, namely, that certain sounds 
similarly made readily coalesce, and without impairing the 
context may be used interchangeably. The fact also became 
evident when the problem of writing English phonograph- 
ically was confronted. In phonographic characters, p and b 
have the same length and slope. They only differ in shad¬ 
ing, a detail of minor importance, since the substitution of 
one sound for the other in the spoken word involves little 
uncertainty in the meaning. 
Two invariable rules lie at the foundation of all Polynesian 
speech. Every word must end in a vowel, and no two conso¬ 
nants can be pronounced without at least one vowel interven¬ 
ing. Only one word has ever been printed in Hawaiian with 
two consonants together. That word is Kristo Christ. But 
any number of vowels may be pronounced consecutively, as in 
the word hooiaioia meaning certified, where we have eight con¬ 
tinuous vowel sounds. Compare this with the English word 
“ strengths,” where we have nine letters and only one vowel. 
Before attempting the pronunciation of this word an Ha¬ 
waiian would have to transform it by the introduction of at 
least eight vowels. No less would suffice to make it utterable 
by Polynesian organs of speech, and the probability is that 
many more would be interjected in the hopeless struggle to 
give birth to such an angular product of English speech. 
Take also the expression, Eiaeoe ia ia, meaning Speak thou to 
7—Bull. Phil. Soc., Wash., Vol. 14. 
