User:Masako/nkala

Word order

Kala has an extremely regular grammar, with very few exceptions to its rules. Sentences are made up of one or more phrases. Each phrase consists of a verb and a subject. The basic word order is always <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subject–object–verb" target="_blank">SOV</a>.

yohano empa
John run
John runs. or John is running.

maliya yohano anya
Mary John see
Mary sees John. or Mary is looking at John

Nouns

The roles of nouns in a sentence are indicated through prepositions and word order. There are no cases.

Plurals are not marked as frequently as in English and tend to only be marked for accuracy. They are never marked if another quantifying suffix is used, or if there is a number present. Plural nouns are formed by appending -m or -lo if the final syllable contains m. This does not alter the stress:

tsaka - tsakam
house - house-pl
house - houses

yama - yamalo
mountain - mountain-pl
mountain - mountains

Gender is typically not indicated. If necessary, nouns may be modified by -ta (male) or -na (female):

uma - umata - umana
horse - horse-MASC - horse-FEM
horse - stallion - mare

Pronouns

There are no gender distinctions between "he" and "she". If gender is significant, one can use words like tlaka, naka, tahi, nahi (man, woman, boy, girl), etc.

na - 1sg - I, me
ta - 2sg - you
ha - 3sg - he; she
tla - 4sg - it (inanimate; also used for impersonal)

kam - 3pl - they, them
na'am - 1pl.EXCL - we (but not you)

Pronoun modifiers:

-m - PL - plural
-nku - RECP - reciprocal
e- - P - patient (object)
-i - REFL - reflexive
-yo - POSS - possessive

Adjectives

There are no adjectives as such in Kala. Those notions expressed as adjectives in English (such as big, tired) are expressed by verbs in Kala (be big, be tired). A verb expressing a state or quality can be used immediately following a noun to modify that noun.

ntahi tsanka
child (be)tire(d)
tired child or The child is tired.

sima ketla
chair (be)red
red chair or The chair is red.

Adverbs

Any verb in Kala can be used as an adverb by adding the suffix –n. It correlates to the English endings –ly, -ish, -ity, -ous, -ness, -ship, etc.:

tlaka mase noyan
man dance be.happy-ADV
The man dances happily.

na’eta anupak taman
1SG-P.2SG hear-able-NEG be.good-ADV
I cannot hear you well

Other adverbs, such as temporal adverbs, tend to precede the phrase they modify:

yomaye na kema
yesterday 1sg work
I worked yesterday.

Adverbs sometimes occur alone, functioning more or less as exclamations:

kyolon
quick-ADV
Quickly!

kyo'an
quiet-ADV
Quietly!