There really is at least one that I know of.
2006-10-10 22:29:48 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Answerers DO, of course, have to know what a sibilant is...
2006-10-10 22:36:54 · update #1
Actually, Hawaiian is one of a group of Eastern Polynesian languages [in the Oceanic group of the Austronesian language family] which lack silbilants. The group also includes Tongan, Tahitian, Maori.
http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/linguist/issues/13/13-1596.html
http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter32/text32.htm
For a fuller list of the languages, see the list under the "Eastern Polynesian" branch in this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Polynesian_languages
Note that this lack of sibilants fits a common feature of the Austronesian languages in general, viz., a very limited number of phonemes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austronesian_languages#Structure
2006-10-11 03:49:06 · answer #1 · answered by bruhaha 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hawaiian has no sibilants.
2006-10-11 10:26:26 · answer #2 · answered by steiner1745 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
whats a sibilant
2006-10-11 05:34:36 · answer #3 · answered by steve 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Wow, I learned something from this question. Although, when I thought about it, it made complete sense, since I know that the phonetic inventory of Hawaiian is so limited...
2006-10-12 01:43:19 · answer #4 · answered by drshorty 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋