User:Masako/Kalo

introduction

• Kalo (taken from caló) is intended to be a minimalist artlang, not an auxlang. It draws primarily 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. The goal is to have around 1000 words.

• Notable features:

Subject-Verb-Object

highly analytical grammar

invariance between word types

only 14 (base) sounds, 9 consonants, and 5 vowels

simple phonotactics, or syllable structure (C)V(N)

only ~1000 core words

easy-to-follow word compounding

phonology

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

consonants

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

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.

syntax

Classical Arabic is primarily VSO, but MSA (Modern Standard Arabic) tends to be SVO, favoring full agreement over partial.

Chinese is classified as an SVO language. Transitive verbs precede their objects in typical simple clauses, while the subject precedes the verb.

Spanish unmarked word order for affirmative declarative sentences is SVO; however, as in other Romance languages, in practice, word order is mostly variable.

English word order is almost exclusively SVO.

Hindi is primarily an SOV language.

Based on the above information about the main source languages for Kalo, it is primarily an SVO (subject-verb-object) language. Modifiers generally follow what they modify, as do prepositional phrases and subordinate clauses.

• wa toma - 1S consume - I eat. (SV)

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

• o pan toma - DO food consume - The bread is eaten. (OV)

nouns

...

pronouns

• wa - I; me [1sg] - (ZHO) 我
• ni - you [2sg] - (ZHO) 你
• ko - he; she [3sg] - (ZHO) 個

possession

• Possession is shown with the particle te (SPA/ZHO de/的) - of; from

• Plurality is marked with the suffix -lo - a pile - (ZHO) 摞

• kasalo te ko

house-PL of 3sg

His homes

• kasa te walo

house of 1sg-PL

Our home

number

Kalo	number	English	Kalo	number	English
nulu (SPA) nulo	0	zero	na (JPN) なな	7	seven
wa (ARA) واحد	1	one	pa (ZHO) 八	8	eight
li (SPA) 两	2	two	nun (PIE) h₁néwn̥	9	nine
san (ZHO) 三	3	three	ye (KOR) 열	10	ten
si (ZHO) 四	4	four	aku / -ku (JPN) ひゃく	100	(one) hundred
pen (ELL) πέντε	5	five	mila (SPA) mil	1000	(one) thousand
we (PIE) swéḱs	6	six

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

• ko yo le kasa ke li

3s have PST house NUM two

She had two houses.

• wa wite apa ke si

1s see 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 (sanwepen) - 365; three-hundred-sixty-five

verbs

common verbs

• kan or kana (ARA/HEB كان/כן) - v - be; exist; live; occur

n - existence

part - yes; thus

• yo - have; possess - (ZHO) 有