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

Nouns

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.