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Grammar of the New Zealand Language
U
page 4
U
This sound is also uniform in kind, and always corresponds to oo in book, &c. It sometimes, however, experiences a more quick, sometimes a more slow pronunciation.
The following table exhibits two variations beginning with the shorter:—
| 1 | 2. |
|---|---|
| t[gap — reason: unclear]uri, a knee. | tūtū, disobedient. |
| t[gap — reason: unclear]ut[gap — reason: unclear]u, same as tupakihi of Ngapuhi. | tūtū (manu), a birdstand. |
| k[gap — reason: unclear]uk[gap — reason: unclear]u, a shell. | kūkū, a pigeon |
| k[gap — reason: unclear]uhu. | tūtūa. |
| hūna. | |
| [gap — reason: unclear]utŭ, to pay. | ūtu, to draw water. |
In pronouncing u the speaker will have to guard against the error of those who prefix the aspirate when no aspirte is admissible. Accoridng to them u, utu, &c., are pronounced as if spelt hu, hutu.
He will also have to beware of the more common and stubbora error of giving u the dipthongal sound of u in cube, tube, mute, &c.—Tonu, ketu, tonutia, are, in this way, pronounced as if spelt toniu, toniutia, ketiu.
U, again, is sometimes, by careless speakers, confounded with o, and vice versa. Thus ihu, nose; niho, tooth; have been erroneously pronounced as if spelt iho, nihu