User:Masako/naho

Syntax

Kala is primarily SOV (Subject-Object-Verb), but throughout this grammar is referred to as APV (Agent-Patient-Verb). The patient is most often marked for the accusative case (-n), however pronouns are marked with e-, and a topic marker ke is precedes the patient that is being topicalized.

na tiyan ueha

/na ˈtiːjan ˈwɛːɦa/

1s bread-ACC want

I want bread.

Given that Kala is a pro-drop language, and makes use of modal affixes, the above can be reduced:

tiyaue

/tiˈjaːwe/

bread-DES

(I) want bread.

This would be grammatical, and more common in spoken discourse. Note the lack of case marking, however there is no confusion as to what is desired.

Particles

Syntactic particles that mark phrases in various ways ...

• ka is the interrogative particle [Q] and always occurs finnaly.

ta anya ka

2SG see Q

Do you see?

Conjunctions

• pa - although; even though; even if

• ma - and; also; too; as well (as), basic noun phrase conjunction

• nya - for; because; in order to

Interjections

Cursing

• tsaya - damn (it); hell

Nouns

Pronouns

Kala agent pronouns are often omitted when the person is obvious from context. There are four persons in Kala. The 4th being inanimate, or indefinite. The pronoun na'am is used as the 1st person plural exclusive, meaning "We, but not you." The 3rd person plural is irregular, all other pronoun decline regularly. Pronouns do not inflect for gender; if gender is significant, one can use words like naka, tlaka, nahi, tahi (the woman, the man, the girl, the boy), etc.

Personal pronouns:

• na - 1st person
• ta - 2nd person
• ha - 3rd person
• tla - 4th person ("it", "one") (used for inanimate nouns)

Modifiers:

• -m - plural
• -nku - reciprocal (only attaches to plural pronouns)
• e- - patient
• -i - reflexive
• -yo - possessive

Other pronouns include:

• tlokua - everyone, everybody
• kola - someone, somebody; whomever, anyone, anybody
• tlok - no one, nobody
• nokua - everything
• nola - something; whatever, anything
• nok - nothing

nkalo

	Agent	Patient	Reflexive	Possessive	Reciprocal
1sg	na	ena	na'i	nayo	-
2sg	ta	eta	ta'i	tayo	-
3sg	ha	eha	ha'i	hayo	-
4sg	tla	etla	tla'i	tlayo	-
1pl 1pl exclusive	nam na'am	enam ena'am	nami na'ami	namyo na'amyo	nanku na'anku
2pl	tam	etam	tami	tamyo	tanku
3pl	kam	ekam	kami	kamyo	kanku
4pl	tlam	etlam	tlami	tlamyo	tlanku

Pronominal constructions

The agent and patient pronouns are linked in most constructions. That means that the agent and the patient form one word. This is done with the pronominal patient marking affix -e-.

• neha anya

1s-P.3s see

I see her.

• kameta motoyek

3pl-P.2s remember-PST-NEG

They didn’t remember you.

• tametla yohauek

2pl-P.4s have-DES-NEG

You (all) don’t want to have it.

• nya tena tapya ka

for 2s-P.1s follow Q

Why are you following me?

A/P	1sg	2sg	3sg	4sg	1pl	1pl.EXCL	2pl	3pl	4pl
1sg	-	neta	neha	netla	-	-	netam	nekam	netlam
2sg	tena	-	teha	tetla	tenam	tena'am	-	tekam	tetlam
3sg	hena	heta	-	hetla	henam	hena'am	hetam	-	hetlam
4sg	tlena	tleta	tleha	-	tlenam	tlena'am	tletam	tlekam	-
1pl	-	nameta	nameha	nametla	-	-	nametam	namekam	nametlam
1pl.EXCL	-	na'ameta	na'ameha	na'ametla	-	-	na'ametam	na'amekam	na'ametlam
2pl	tamena	-	tameha	tametla	tamenam	tamena'am	-	tamekam	tametlam
3pl	kamena	kameta	-	kametla	kamenam	kamena'am	kametam	-	kametlam
4pl	tlamena	tlameta	tlameha	-	tlamenam	tlamena'am	tlametam	tlamekam	-

Reflexives and Reciprocals

Kala handles reflexives and reciprocals using suffixes that can be added to either the pronoun or the verb. The reflexive suffix added to pronouns is –i, when added to verbs it is –ki, from ki meaning “self; essence”. The reciprocal suffix added to pronouns and verbs is –nku, , from anku meaning “reciprocate; [in] return”.

• na'i sepaye

1s.REFL injure-PST

I hurt myself.

• ha'i tlela

3s.REFL bathe

She bathes herself.

• kanku ke onta nayo itsa

3pl.RECP O parent 1s.GEN love

My parents love each other.

• na'anku amyapak

1pl.EXCL.RECP like-ABIL-NEG

We (but not you) are not able to like each other.

In order to differentiate non-singular reflexives from reciprocals, -li (“each; every”) can be added – to the subject for reflexives, and to the object for reciprocals. Note however that this construction usually implies that all members of the subject group were actually affected by the action.

• tanakoli matakiye

fight-AG-each kill-REFL-PST

Each one of the warriors killed himself.

• kanku ke tanakoli matakiye

3pl.RECP O fight-AG-each kill-REFL-PST

The warriors killed each other [and nobody survived].

Gender

Gender is not normally marked...

• Masculine gender [MASC] is marked with -ta from tlaka meaning "man; male".

• Feminine gender [FEM] is marked with -na from naka meaning "woman; female".

Verbs

Moods

• Abilitative mood [ABIL] is marked with -pa from pala meaning "be able; can; possible". It can also be thought of as the potential mood [POT].
• Desiderative mood [DES] is marked with -ue from ueha meaning "want; desire; wish (for)". It can also be thought of as the volitive, or optative mood.