nā hōʻailona ʻōlelo is an abugida designed to write the Hawaiʻian language and constructed by Isaac Mayer. Hawaiʻian has a notoriously small inventory of phonemes (7 consonants and 5 vowel sounds) and a strict CV phonotactic structure, making it ideal for the use of an abugida. nā hōʻailona ʻōlelo was designed with this in mind.
In the Phoenician abjad, the ultimate ancestor of almost every phonemic writing system in common use today, the different consonantal glyphs were designed, assigned sounds, and named based on common objects or animals whose name started with that consonant. nā hōʻailona ʻōlelo was designed through the same practice - each consonant’s basic shape was based on an object that would be familiar to the ancient Hawaiʻians. So, for instance, the consonant /h/ is marked with a simplified depiction of a grass hut, the traditional house or ‘hale’ in use in Hawaiʻi.
Hānau kū'oko'a 'ia nā kānaka apau loa, a ua kau like ka hanohano a me nā pono kīvila ma luna o kākou pākahi. Ua ku'u mai ka no'ono'o pono a me ka 'ike pono ma luna o kākou, no laila, e aloha kākou kekahi i kekahi.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They
are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another
in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Information about Hawaiian | Phrases | Numbers | Family words | Tower of Babel |
Ajalaptlajkuilolistli, Čveneburuli / Judeo-Georgian, Grekoiberieraren Alfabeto Berria, Hágrít Nyelv, Inglith, iŋliʃ fidæl, nā hōʻailona ʻōlelo, Pikchukunap Qillqa, Ṣəḥəfätä Ǝsəraelawi, Tianjinjiao, Yahudi Türkçesi, Yūdu lipi
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