Latest revision as of 12:47, 30 December 2021

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.

alphabetical order

Kalo uses English alphabetical order: a e i k l m n o p s t u w y

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)

lexicon

Words in Kalo tend to function in multiple roles. * elefen.org/vocabulo_fundal.html

ARA - Arabic
ELL - Greek
ENG - English
FRE - French
GER - German
HEB - Hebrew
HIN - Hindi

JPN - Japanese
KOR - Korean
PIE - Proto-Indo-European
SPA - Spanish
TUR - Turkish
ZHO - Mandarin

adj - adjective
n - noun
num - number/numeral
part - particle
prep - preposition
pro - pronoun
v - verb

particles

kai - should; ought to; need to; have to (ZHO 該)

ni kai ila - 2s should go - You should leave.

ke - number marker (ZHO 個)
kisa - maybe; perhaps; possibly (SPA quizá)
le - past tense marker [PST] (ZHO 了)

wa toma le - 1s consume PST - I ate.

ma - what; which; question marker [Q] (ARA/ZHO ما/嗎)
ne - no; not; negative; neither (ENG nay)
o - direct object marker [DO] (JPN を)
sa - future tense marker [FUT] (ARA سَـ)

nilo ne wite sa ko - 2pl NEG see FUT 3sg - You all will not see her.

se - reflexive marker [REFL] (SPA se)

ko se lawa le - 3s REFL wash PST - She bathed herself.

determiners

pu - this; these (TUR bu)
su - that; those (TUR şu)

pronouns

wa - I; me [1sg] (ZHO 我)
ni - you [2sg] (ZHO 你)
ko - person; individual; adult / he; she [3sg] (ZHO 個)
ayo - whichever; whatever; any/something [INDEF] (ARA أي)

possession

Possession is shown with the particle te - of; from, or with the suffix -yo - have; possess
Plurality is marked with the suffix -lo - a pile

kasalo te ko

house-PL of 3sg

His homes

kasa te walo

house of 1sg-PL

Our home

ipin wayo

child 1sg.POSS

my child

pu kana te kolo

this COP of 3pl

this is theirs

conjunctions

asi - like this/that; as [such]; thus; so; therefore (SPA así)
awa - or; either; other (ARA أو)
e - and; also; too; as well (SPA/ZHO e/和)
ita - if; whether (ARA إذا)
me - but; however; although; yet (FRE mais)

common verbs

kan(a) - yes; be; exist; live; occur; thus (ARA/HEB كان/כן)
maka - do; make; cause; happen (ENG make)
pana - become; come from; derive from (HIN बनना)
pote - be able; can; possible; potential (SPA poder)
suya(u) - need; require; necessity; a must (ZHO 需要)
wan - want; desire; wish (for) (ENG want)
yo - have; possess (ZHO 有)

basic movements

arrive; come (back); enter
depart; leave; exit; go; travel; walk
fall
fly
follow
jump
raise; rise; lift
roll
run
sit
stand; stay
stop
swim

thought

believe
decide
dream
forget
know (a fact)
know, be acquainted with
learn
make a mistake, err
remember
think
understand, comprehend

quantity

laka - count; number; enumerate; numeral; digit; amount; sum (ARA رقم)
lo - plural marker [PL] (ZHO 摞)
nupa - enough; sufficient; appropriate (ENG enough)

numbers

nulu - zero; 0; empty; nothing (SPA nulo)
wa - one; 1; single; singular; alone (ARA واحد)
li - two; 2; double; duo (ZHO 两)
san - three; 3; triple (ZHO 三)
si - four; 4 (ZHO 四)
pen - five; 5 (ELL πέντε)
we - six; 6 (PIE swéḱs)
na - seven; 7 (JPN なな)
pa - eight; 8 (ZHO 八)
nun - nine; 9 (PIE h₁néwn̥)
ye - 10; ten (KOR 열)
aku/-ku - hundred; 100; many; much; a lot (JPN ひゃく)
mila - thousand; 1000 (SPA mil)

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

time

anyo - year; 365 days (SPA año)
note - night; darkness (SPA noche)
saman - time; age; period; passing of events (ARA/HIN زمن/समय)
yuma - day; daylight; 24 hour period (ARA يوم)

location words

ante - before; in front; forward; ahead; facing (SPA ante)
ila - be toward; at; go; walk; travel; leave (ARA إلى/SPA ir)
loka - place; location; point; spot (SPA local)
nai - in(side); interior; during; among (JPN 内)
po - by; for; through; across; about (SPA por/para)
te - of; from; about (SPA de/ZHO 的)
wela - out(side); exterior (SPA fuera)
yu - in; at; to; by; than; out of (ZHO 於/于)

basic adjectives

pula - bad; spoiled; broken; to break down; wicked; evil (HIN बुरा)

pula maso - "worse" >> pula ta - "worst"

tipa/tupa - good; pleasant; agreeable; nice; sweet; OK (ARA/HEB طيب/טוב)

tipa maso - "better" >> tipa ta - "best"

people

family

Because of the ubiquity of a bilabial plosive and nasal being used for "father" and "mother" words respectively, the words used in Kalo sound, and look very familiar and possibly derived from any one of numerous languages. However, this section will explain how the Kalo words came to be, and indicate that all other words are gender neutral, unless modified by the gender affixes.

apa - father; man; husband (-pa masculine gender)

Mandarin: 爸 /pa˥˩/

Arabic: أب /ʔab/

Spanish: padre /ˈpadɾe/

English: papa /ˈpɑː.pə/

Hindi: पिता /pɪ.t̪ɑː/

uma - mother; woman; wife (-ma feminine gender)

Mandarin: 媽 /ma˥/

Arabic: أم /ʔumm/

Spanish: madre /ˈma.ð̞ɾe/

English: mama /ˈmɑmə/

Hindi: माता /mɑː.t̪ɑː/

other terms

ami - friend; acquaintance; colleague (SPA amigo/a)
amo - like; love; adore / affection; adoration; love (SPA amor)
(i)pin - child; offspring; kid; daughter; son (ARA ابن)

pinama - "daughter; niece" / pinapa - "son; nephew"

pama - parent; mother; father (apa + uma)
(s)aki - sibling; cousin; shared (grand)parents (ARA شقيق/أخ)

akima - "sister; female cousin" / akipa - "brother; male cousin"

sawa - spouse; husband; wife; sweetheart; mate; partner (ARA زوج)
waya - adult; mature thing / grow; mature; develop (HIN वयस्क)

adult
aunt
baby
boy
brother
child
cousin
daughter
divorce
enemy
family
father
friend
girl
granddaughter
grandfather
grandmother
grandson
husband
in-law
man
marriage
mother
Mr., sir, gentleman, lord
Mrs., Miss, Ms., ma’am, lady
name
nephew
niece
person
sister
son
teenager
uncle
wife
woman

food

pan - food; bread; sustenance (SPA pan/ZHO 飯)
sosa - juice; sauce; gravy; dressing (ENG sauce)
wino - alcohol; beer; wine; drink ~ (SPA vino)
toma - consume; eat; drink (SPA tomar)

phrases

wikitravel.org/en/Category:Phrasebooks

Hello - salama (formal)

ola (informal)

How are you? - moto ni ma?

Please (used to make a polite request) - po tipa ("for good")

Thank you (very much) - tanka (ta)

Yes - kan(a) (it is)

No - ne

Maybe - kisa

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