Eric Christopherson, replying to me, wrote:
>> I've never heard the native pronunciation of "Hawai'i" or "Maui"-- but
>> theoretically, historically, they should be 4 and 3 syllables
respectively.
>From the spelling and etymology, it seems reasonable to me to assume
<Hawai'i>
>should be pronounced something like /ha.wa.i.?i/. In any case, it really
>annoys me when people say /ha.wa.?i/, since I figure they should at least
be
>pronouncing the other /i/ in there, whether there's a glottal stop or
hiatus
>or what. Myself, I go with /h@wa.i/ or more probably /h@waji/.>
That last one seems common for Amer.Engl. speakers; at least it's
not as grating as [h@waja]... (a New Yorker saying "How are you?")
>BTW, is <Hawai'i> with a ' a "standard" spelling? I've only seen it within
>the last few years.
Now that you mention it, I'm not sure. It's probably what the Native
Hawaiian movement would prefer. But OTOH, it's possible that glottal stop
is automatic between identical vowels, so needn't be written in this case.