Title

Dr. Kenneth L. Rehg

<rehg@hawaii.edu>

Department of Linguistics
University of Hawai'i at Mānoa

Does Hawaiian have Diphthongs?

And How Can You Tell?

The label ‘diphthong’ is commonly employed in descriptions of Austronesian languages, and diphthongs are sometimes included in the phonemic inventories of these languages. Yet, underlying diphthongs are apparently uncommon among these languages, and probably few, if any, languages of the Oceanic subgroup have phonemic diphthongs.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that this anomalous situation has arisen as a consequence of (a) inconsistency in the use of the term ‘diphthong’, and (b) uncertainty about the means by which one can determine the phonemic status of surface ‘apparent diphthongs’. Using Hawaiian as an exemplar, this paper will thus address two issues: (1) ‘Does Hawaiian have diphthongs?’, and (2) How can you tell?

What we can learn from a careful examination of Hawaiian has implications for the study of other languages, Austronesian or not. Thus, this talk is designed to be of use, not only to those studying Hawaiian, but to those working in the areas of phonology and language description as well.  I also hope that it will also be of interest to those among you whose love for language is unconditional.