User:Masako/nkala

sounds

consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p	t		k	(ʔ)
Affricate		ts~tʃ
Fricative		s~ʃ
Nasal	m	n
Approximant		l (t͡ɬ)	j	w

vowels

	Short		Long
	Front	Back	Front	Back
Close	i	u	iː	uː
Open	ɑ ~ ə		aː

nouns

Nouns can be marked for gender, number, size, and in several other ways.

pronouns

subject

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st	wa-	pwá-	kwa-
2nd	ni-	pí-	(n)ki-
3rd	∅	ú-	ku-

object

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st	mwa-	twá-	skwa-
2nd	mi-	(n)tí-	ski-
3rd	(m)pu-	tú-	sku-

verbs

• Pronominal prefix - VERB STEM - tense/aspect-modal

tenses

There are three tenses...nonpast, past, and distant past.

• -á - non-past [NPST]

wanuyá - wa-nuy-á - 1S-eat-NPST - I eat.

• -í - past [PST]

ninuyí - ni-nuy-í - 2S-eat-PST - You ate.

• -ayí - distant past [DSPT]

pwánuyayí - pwá-nuy-ayí - 1DU-eat-DPST - We (two) ate long ago.

other modifiers

Various moods (or modals), aspects, and syntactic markers are used to add nuance and subtlety.

• -ank- - negative [NEG]

skumatankí - sku-mat-ank-í - 3PL-kill-NEG-PST - They were not killed.

mwanapanká - mwa-nap-ank-á - 1SG.OBJ-hear-NEG-NPST - I am not heard. | She/he doesn't hear me.

• -iy- - obligation [OBG]

walakiyá - wa-lak-iy-á - 1SG-go-OBG-NPST - I should go.

ninapiyí - ni-nap-iy-í - 2SG-listen-OBG-PST - You should have listened.

• -úy- - ability [ABIL]

tumúyá - tum-úy-á - attend-ABIL-NPST - She/he is able to attend.

lexicon

These are listed by stem, and do not distinguish nominal and verbal meanings or usages.

• kál - say; tongue; voice; language; talk
• káw - love; desire; dear; care
• kay - earth; ground; land
• kúp - show; evident; witness
• (t)lak - go; move; mobile
• mat - cut; kill; knife
• nak - season; suit; opportune
• nuy - eat; nourish; bread
• pun - vegetable; herb green
• (t)sat - meet; contact
• tan - limit; wall; city
• tum - serve; tend; attend
• túy - advise; prompt; urge

examples

speak

• kál - speak
• wakálá - I speak   
• nikálí - you spoke
• wakálutlá - I may speak to him
• pukálámí - did he speak to someone else?
• nikálí - you had spoken
• inikálí - you were spoken to
• nikál! - speak to me!
• kálúna - made to speak
• nimpukálí - you were speaking to him
• únyikálanká - they are not speaking to each other
• kálanyá - and he keeps on speaking

break

• put - break
• puputí - it broke
• puputásá - it’s beginning to break
• wampuputí - I broke it
• mwaputúní - he made me break it
• puputanyá - it is broken again