Home › Glossary › Letter H

Hula

Dance
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A Hawaiian dance that tells stories through gesture, chant, and flowing movement. In poetry, it can convey landscape, memory, and narrative embodied in the body.

Detailed Definition
Hula is a Hawaiian dance tradition in which movement, chant, music, and gesture work together to tell stories and preserve knowledge. Hand motions may depict elements of landscape, plants, weather, relationships, or historical events, making hula especially resonant for poets concerned with the expressive power of the body. A careful literary reference should recognize its cultural depth rather than reduce it to a decorative image of the tropics. In verse, hula can suggest an art in which place and memory are carried through practiced motion.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Her hula hands became waves, then rain, then the flight of a bird” recognizes hula’s storytelling gestures; A poet can let repeated hand images carry a narrative rather than merely describing costume; “The hula chant held the island’s history in its measured steps” connects dance, language, and cultural memory; Careful imagery of chant, chant rhythm, and gesture can honor hula as a living Hawaiian practice
Additional Notes
Hula is a storytelling art in which hands, chant, and movement convey place and history. Use the term respectfully, recognizing its Hawaiian cultural traditions.
Also Known As
Hawaiian Hula
Skip to main content