Tahitian/Alphabet and pronunciation
< Tahitian
The pronunciation is very easy:
| letter | name | pronunciation | notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | English approximation | |||
| a | ’ā | /a/, /ɑː/ | a: opera, ā: father | |
| e | ’ē | /e/, /eː/ | e: late, ē: same but longer | |
| f | fā | /f/ | friend | becomes bilabial [ɸ] after o and u |
| h | hē | /h/ | house | becomes [ʃ] (as in English shoe) after i and before o or u |
| i | ’ī | /i/, /iː/ | as in machine | may become diphthong ai in some words like rahi |
| m | mō | /m/ | mouse | |
| n | nū | /n/ | nap | |
| o | ’ō | /ɔ/, /oː/ | o: nought, ō: same but longer | |
| p | pī | /p/ | sponge (not aspirated) | |
| r | rō | /r/ | - | It's an alveolar trill: |
| t | tī | /t/ | stand (not aspirated) | |
| u | ’ū | /u/, /uː/ | u: foot, ū: moo | strong lip rounding |
| v | vī | /v/ | vine | becomes bilabial ([β]) after o and u |
| ’ | ’eta | /ʔ/ | uh-oh | A glottal stop, beginning each syllable. Sounds like this: |