Kalo

Introduction

Kalo is intended to be a minimalist artlang, not an auxlang. It draws on vocabulary from the five most spoken languages in the world; Mandarin, Spanish, English, and Arabic (Hindi is used sparingly although it is spoken by more speakers than Arabic). The grammar is mostly isolating with very few elements of inflection, mostly to show plurality or possession.

Phonology

kalo has nine consonants (/p, t, k, s, m, n, l, j, w/) and five vowels (/a, e, i, o, u/). Stress is word final.

consonants

	Labial	Coronal	Dorsal
Nasal	m	n
Plosive	p	t	k
Fricative		s
Approximant	w	l	j (y)

vowels

Vowels	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid	e	o
Open	a

diphthongs

There are two diphthongs [ai̯] ai, and [au̯] au. These are rare and typically only occur word-finally.

syllable structure

All syllables are of the form (C)V(N), that is, optional consonant + vowel + optional final nasal, or V, CV, VN, CVN.

phonotactics

A few syllables sequences are disallowed; /ji, wu, wo/. Also, a syllable-final nasal may not occur before /m/ or /n/ in the same root.

syllables

a	e	i	o	u
pa	pe	pi	po	pu
ta	te	ti	to	tu
ka	ke	ki	ko	ku
ma	me	mi	mo	mu
na	ne	ni	no	nu
sa	se	si	so	su
wa	we	wi
la	le	li	lo	lu
ya	ye		yo	yu

allophony

The nasal at the end of a syllable can be pronounced as any nasal stop, though it is normally assimilated to the following consonant. That is, it typically occurs as an [n] before /t/ or /s/, as an [m] before /p/, as an [ŋ] before /k/, and as an [ɲ] before /j/. Because of its small phoneme inventory, kalo allows for quite a lot of allophonic variation. For example, /p t k/ may be pronounced [b d ɡ] as well as [p t k], /s/ as [z] or [ʃ] as well as [s], /l/ as [ɾ] as well as [l], and vowels may be either long or short. Both its sound inventory and phonotactics (patterns of possible sound combinations) are found in the majority of human languages and are therefore readily accessible.

Syntax

Kalo is an SVO (subject-verb-object) language. Modifiers generally follow what they modify, as do prepositional phrases and subordinate clauses.

• wa kome - 1S eat - I eat. (SV)

• wa amo ko - 1S love 3S - I love her. (SVO)

• o ona amo - DO woman love - The woman is loved. (OV)

questions

The interrogative particle ma (taken from Chinese (嗎) is used in conjunction with various nouns, adverbs, and adjectives to form specific questions.

non-polar questions

• ma - what; which
• ma ko - who, whom
• ma koyo - whose, of whom
• ma tenpo - when

• ma loka - where
• ma moto - how
• ma laka - how much, how many
• ma liyo - why

polar questions

Any statement can become a polar question by adding the interrogative particle ma at the end of the sentence.

• wa wite le kasa

1S see PST house

I saw the house.

• ni wite le kasa ma

2S see PST house Q

Did you see the house?

phrases

• ola - Used for "hello; goodbye; farewell; welcome"

• ola yuma - Used for "Good morning, Good afternoon"

• ola note - Used for "Good evening, Good night"

• moto niyo ma - manner 2s.POSS Q - How are you?

• tenpo ta ne wite - time big no see - Long time no see

Nouns

Nouns only decline for number and possession. They are altered with -lo to show plurality, and possessiveness with -yo.

pronouns

kalo has three basic pronouns; wa [1sg], ni [2sg], and ko [3sg]. These do not indicate gender. These can be made plural using the suffix "-lo", and possessive with "-yo".

• walo wite ni - 1pl see 2s - We see you.

• kolo ne sapa wa - 3pl NEG know 1s - They don't know me.

Verbs

Verbs do not change and are only ever modified by particles.

• maka - do; make; cause (from make)
• yo - possess; have; hold (from 有)

tense

Past tense is indicated by the particle le (了) following the verb. Future tense is indicated by the particle sa (سَـ).

tense/mood	particle	example	translation
present	-	wa ila	I go
past	le	wa ila le	I went
future	sa	wa ila sa	I will go
conditional	kisa	wa ila kisa	I would go

• ko ne kome le - 3sg NEG eat PST - He didn't eat.

• walo wite sa ko - 1pl see FUT 3sg - We will see her.

Number

Kalo	number	English	Kalo	number	English
sunya	0	zero	na	7	seven
wa	1	one	pa	8	eight
li	2	two	nun	9	nine
san	3	three	ye	10	ten
si	4	four	aku / -ku	100	(one) hundred
pen	5	five	mila	1000	(one) thousand
we	6	six

When numbers one through ten occur independently, the indicator "ke" precedes the number.

• ko yo le o kasa ke li

3s have PST O house NUM two

She had two houses.

• wa wite o nano ke si

1s see O man NUM four

I see four men.

Higher Numbers

• yewa - 11; eleven
• yeli - 12; twelve
• liye - 20; twenty
• liyesi - 24; twenty-four
• kuyeli - 112; one-hundred-twelve
• sankuweyepen - 365; three-hundred-sixty-five

Lexicon

word	POS	meaning	source	language	category
aki	n	brother; male cousin	أخ	Arabic	kinship
amo	v	like; enjoy; love	amo	Spanish	verb
ko	n pro	person; individual he; she [3sg]	個	Mandarin	pronoun
kome	v	eat; consume	comer	Spanish	verb
maka	v	do; make; cause	make	English	verb
ne	part	no; not; none	nay	English	particle
ni	pro	you [2sg]	你	Mandarin	pronoun
pala	n	word; morpheme	palabra	Spanish	language
wa	pro num	I; me one; single	我 واحد	Mandarin Arabic	pronoun number
yo	v	have; possess	有	Mandarin	verb