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Revision as of 16:00, 18 February 2016
The Kala conlang...
Introduction
Word Order
Borrowing
Kala borrows extensively from various natural languages. This is a very small sample of borrowings:
- kala – to speak, talk, converse; from Arabic takallama
- na – I, me; from Arabic ʾanā
- pato – duck (Anatidae); from Spanish pato
- tsenka – orange; from Chinese chéng
- uasi – to take, get, acquire; from Lakota wasichu
- myonta – to allow, permit; from Finnish myöntää
- a – to be, exist, yes; from Japanese aru
Parts of Speech
Kala has three parts of speech, each with several subgroups. Nouns and verbs are substantive, while particles tend to be only functional.
- noma - nouns
- nkalo - personal pronouns
- uatse - demonstratives
- uati - verbs
- pusa - adverbials
- tatse - locative verbs (prepositions)
- keyo - descriptive verbs (adjectives)
- peya - particles
- nita - interjections
- eka - affixes
Phonology
- Where ~ appears, it indicates free variation between phonemes.
Consonants
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
central | lateral | |||||
Nasal | m (m) | n (n) | ɲ (ny) | |||
Plosive | p~b (p) | t~d (t) | k~g (k) | ʔ (`) | ||
Affricate | ts (ts) | t͡ɬ~tl (tl) | t͡ʃ (ts) | |||
Continuant | s (s) | l~ɾ (l) | ʃ (s) | h~ɦ (h) | ||
Semivowel | j (y) | w (u) |
- Prenasalized: /ᵐp ⁿt ᵑk/
- Labialized:/pʷ kʷ mʷ nʷ ʃʷ hʷ t͡ʃʷ/
- Palatalized: /pʲ kʲ mʲ hʲ/
Note: Because of its small phoneme inventory, Kala 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 l h/ as [ʃ ɾ ɦ], and /t͡s t͡ɬ/ as [t͡ʃ t͡l]; also, vowels may be either long or short.
Vowels
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i~ɪ (i) | u~u: (u) | |
Mid | e~ɛ (e) | o~o: (o) | |
Open | a~a: (a) |
Kala has five vowels /i/, /e/, /a/, /o/ and /u/. Each occurs in both stressed and unstressed syllables. Phonetic nasalization occurs for vowels occurring between nasal consonants or when preceding a syllable-final nasal, e.g. tsunka [ˈt͡ʃũᵑka] ('bug').
Diphthongs
Phonetically, Kala has only two diphthongs, both falling; [aɪ̯] and [aʊ̯], but there are five syllables that can be analyzed as rising diphthongs; [wa], [we], [ja], [je], and [jo]. The two triphthongs [waɪ̯] and [jaʊ̯] are very rare but should be noted as possible.
Phonotactics
Syllable Structure
Kala syllable structure is ((N)C)(y, u)V(F). As in most languages, CV is the most common syllable type, accounting for the majority of Kala lemmas. The finals /n/, /m/, and /k/ are grammatical and indicate adverbs, plurals, and negatives, respectively. They only occur word finally. So, nkapa (alcohol) is permitted, but nakpa is not; kyopo (fear) is acceptable, but koypo is not, etc. There is a limited set of syllables allowed by Kala phonotactics, similar to Japanese or Chinese. They are listed here: Syllable Chart, or here.
- Only /l/ cannot occur word initially (except in loan words and toponyms).
Morphology
Nouns
Number
general plural
Kala does not require the plural be marked if it is understood through context, and only animate pronouns are marked, whereas inanimate nouns need not be marked. General plurals are formed with –m (or –lo if the final syllable contains m).
- mita / mitam - dog / dogs
- kuma / kumalo - bear / bears
mass nouns
Mass nouns include liquids, powders, and substances, such as maya (water), hyeka (sand), and tleno (wood). They do not normally require determiners or the plural. However, one may add these to indicate specific examples or different types:
- tlenom – woods (e.g. various kinds)
- mayam - waters (e.g. various locations)
collective
The collective plural is marked by tli-, derived from tatli, meaning group; collection; gathering. It is mainly used to indicate collectives of animals, but can also indicate groups of flora, geographic features, and various other groupings. This is called the collective plural (COL).
- mita – dog / tlimita – pack of dogs
- yama – mountain / tliyamalo – mountain range
- tsaka – house / tlitsaka – neighborhood
- puku – clothing / tlipuku – wardrobe
other quantifiers
Personal Pronouns
Kala agent pronouns are often omitted when the person is obvious from context. Kala personal pronouns also encode clusivity. That is, there are different words for "we" depending on whether the speaker is including the person spoken to or not. Pronouns do not inflect for gender; if gender is significant, one can use words like naka, tlaka, nahi, tahi (the woman, the man, the girl, the boy), etc.
Agent | Patient | Reflexive | Possessive | Reciprocal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1sg | na | ena | na'i | nayo | |
2sg | ta | eta | ta'i | tayo | |
3sg | ha | eha | ha'i | hayo | |
4sg | tla | etla | tla'i | tlayo | |
1pl 1pl exclusive |
nam na'am |
enam ena'am |
nami na'ami |
namyo na'amyo |
nanku na'anku |
2pl | tam | etam | tami | tamyo | tanku |
3pl | kam | ekam | kami | kamyo | kanku |
4pl | tlam | etlam | tlami | tlamyo | tlanku |
Demonstratives
Proximal i- |
Medial ua- |
Distal ye- |
Inclusive -kua |
Negative -k |
Indefinite -la | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
mo place |
hina here |
uana there |
yemua over there |
mokua everywhere |
mok nowhere |
mola somewhere; anywhere |
ko person |
iko this person |
uako that person |
yeko that person (over there) |
tlokua everyone |
tlok no one |
kola someone; anyone |
uku amount |
iku this much |
uaku that much |
- | kua all; every |
ok none |
ula some; any |
ama time |
ima now, at present |
uama then; at that time |
- | kuama always |
amak never |
tlama sometime; anytime |
so kind, type |
iso this kind |
so'o that kind |
yeso that kind (over there) |
sokua all kinds |
sok no kind (at all) |
sola some/any kind |
no thing |
itla this |
uatla that |
yetla that (over there) |
nokua everything |
nok nothing; none |
nola something; anything |
to manner, way |
yoto thus; like this; this way |
uato that way |
ato that way (over there) |
tokua every way |
tok no way |
tola somehow; anyway |
Verbs
Tense
Kala has three simple tenses; past, present, and future. Present tense is unmarked. However, past and future tenses can be modified to include immediate future ("is about to..."), distant future ("will...in a long while"), recent past ("just ..."), and remote past ("...a long while ago"). These distinctions are made with the augmentative and diminutive endings -ha and -hi.
- The present tense can show immediacy by using the adverb ima, "now; at this time":
- ima mita ina - now dog eat - The dog is eating right now.
- If a temporal adverb is used, the tense suffix may be omitted.
- Example: yomaye nam ina - yesterday 1pl eat - We ate yesterday.
Kala | gloss | English | |
---|---|---|---|
Present | mita ina | dog eat | The dog eats. |
Past | mita inaye | dog eat-PST | The dog ate. |
Recent Past | mita inayehi or -hye |
dog eat-REC | The dog just ate. |
Remote Past | mita inayeha | dog eat-REM | The dog ate a long while ago. |
Future | mita inatli | dog eat-FUT | The dog will eat. |
Immediate Future | mita inatlihi or -tlai |
dog eat-IMM | The dog will eat soon. |
Distant Future | mita inatliha | dog eat-DIS | The dog will eat a long while from now. |
Aspect
progressive
Also called the continuous [CONT], this is used to express an incomplete action or state in progress at a specific time. It is marked with -nko, from nkoso - "to continue; proceed; progress".
- mita inanko - dog eat-CONT - The dog is eating.
- mita inankoye - dog eat-CONT-PST - The dog was eating.
- mita inankotli - dog eat-CONT-FUT - The dog will be eating.
perfective
This aspect indicates that an action is completed [PFV]. It is often translated by the English present perfect (have done some-thing). It is marked with -pua, from opua - "to end; finish; complete".
- mita inapua - dog eat-PFV - The dog has eaten.
- mita inapuaye - dog eat-PFV-PST - The dog had eaten.
- mita inapuatli - dog eat-PFV-FUT - The dog will have eaten.
inchoative
This aspect refers to the beginning of a state [INCH]. It is marked with -mu, from mula - "to begin; start; initiate".
- mita inamu - dog eat-INCH - The dog is beginning to eat.
- mita inamuye - dog eat-INCH-PST - The dog started to eat.
- mita inamutli - dog eat-INCH-FUT - The dog will begin to eat
frequentative
This aspect refers to a repeated action [FREQ]. It is marked with -nua, from nua - "frequent; often; regular".
- mita inanua - dog eat-FREQ - The dog eats often.
- mita inanuaye - dog eat-FREQ-PST - The dog ate regularly.
- mita inanuatli - dog eat-FREQ-FUT - The dog will eat often.
Mood
negative
The negative mood (always marked finally) is indicated by the suffix –k or –nke (when the last syllable contains /k/).
- mita inayek - dog eat-PST-NEG - The dog did not eat.
- mita mokunke - dog sleep-NEG - The dog does not sleep.