Kala

The Kala conlang...

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Introduction

Kala is a personal conlang (actually more of an artlang), based on my aesthetic preferences, not attached to any conworld or conculture. This language draws on natlangs (natural language), other conlangs, and of course imagination. Kala was started in late 2009. The phonemic inventory is based on Classical Nahuatl while the syllable structure and vowels are based on the strict (C)V structure of Japanese, and the presence of prenasalized stops is influenced by Bantu languages. Kala’s grammar was initially based on Japanese but has changed based on influence from several natural and constructed languages. Many – if not most – of Kala lexemes are derived or inspired by natural languages. A few have been taken from previous projects or constructed languages such as Ajara (a cipherlang from my youth), Qatama (a conlang that I abandoned several years ago).

Characteristics

Kala has two parts of speech. Nouns and verbs are content words, while particles (and others) tend to be only functional. Many content words can be used as both nouns and verbs. The best, and most common example would be ina /iːˈna/ "food; to eat". Kala is a context-oriented language. In most cases, the more important elements of a phrase are clustered toward the end of the sentence (e.g. verbs and their modifiers). The less important an element is to the understanding of a sentence, the more likely it is to be dropped. Consequently, many Kala sentences end-up consisting solely of a verb (or adjectival verb). More so in conversation than in written Kala, these short phrases are grammatically correct and natural. Here are some examples:

• muya ka - do Q - (What are you) doing?
• ina - eat - (I am) eating.
• tamatse - good-seem - (That looks) good.
• ueha ka - want Q - (Do you) want (some)?
• nyasak - thank-NEG - No, thank (you).

Notice that none of the above contain any pronouns, or nouns. Any contextually understood elements may be omitted unless indispensable.

Borrowing

Kala borrows extensively from various natural languages. This is a very small sample of borrowings:

See also: etymology

• pato – duck (Anatidae); from Spanish pato
• kala – to speak, talk, converse; from Arabic takallama
• myonta – to allow, permit; from Finnish myöntää
• na – I, me; from Arabic ʾanā
• tsenka – orange; from Chinese chéng
• uasi – to take, get, acquire; from Lakota wasichu
• a – to be, exist, yes; from Japanese aru

Phonology

Consonants

• Where ~ appears, it indicates free variation between phonemes.

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m (m)	n (n)		ɲ (ny)
Plosive	p~b (p)	t~d (t)			k~g (g)	ʔ ( ' )
Affricate		ts~t͡ʃ (ts)	t͡ɬ~tl (tl)
Continuant		s~ʃ (s)	l~ɾ (l)			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

Vowels

	Front	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

Kala words are typically made up of open syllables of the type CV (consonant-vowel) with most words having syllables exclusively of this type. There is a limited set of syllables allowed by Kala phonotactics, similar to Japanese or Chinese.

• /l/ cannot occur word initially (except in loan words and toponyms).

Syllables

the 136 basic Kala syllables

	a	e	i	o	u	ua	ue	ya	ye	yo	ai	ao	uai	yao
p	(m)pa	(m)pe	(m)pi	(m)po	(m)pu	pua	pue	pya	pye	pyo	pai	pao	puai	pyao
t	(n)ta	(n)te	(n)ti	(n)to							tai	tao
k	(n)ka	(n)ke	(n)ki	(n)ko	(n)ku	kua	kue	kya	kye	kyo	kai	kao	kuai	kyao
m	ma	me	mi	mo	mu	mua	mue	mya	mye	myo	mai	mao	muai	myao
n	na	ne	ni	no	nu	nua	nue	nya	nye	nyo	nai	nao	nuai	nyao
s	sa	se	si	so	su	sua	sue				sai	sao	suai
h	ha	he	hi	ho	hu	hua	hue	hya	hye	hyo	hai	hao	huai	hyao
ts	tsa	tse	tsi	tso	tsu	tsua	tsue				tsai	tsao	tsuai
tl	tla	tle	tli	tlo							tlai	tlao
l	la	le	li	lo							lai	lao
-	a	e	i	o	u	ua	ue	ya	ye	yo	ai	ao	uai	yao

Syllables such as nsa, ntla, or ntsa can occur but usually only in place names or loanwords. The red syllables above occur infrequently and most often as the final syllable of a word.

Stress

Stress generally falls on the penultimate syllable, which means that stress is de facto initial in most lemma given that stems are most often (CVCV).

Orthography

• Kala conscripts are many and varied. Rather than multiple pages explaining each of them, this page serves as a working list with a consistent example across each script. The most commonly used script is the Hangul adaptation for Kala.

Morphology

Kala is a mostly agglutinative, polysynthetic language that makes extensive use of compounding, incorporation and derivation. That is, it can add many different prefixes and suffixes to a root until very long words are formed, and a single word can sometimes constitute an entire sentence.

Nouns

Nouns in Kala are inflected only for number. Other relevant distinctions are animacy and possession, but these are not marked on the noun itself. Animacy plays a role both for pronoun choice and for the validity of some syntactic constructions.

Number

• Most nouns in Kala distinguish singular and plural number. There are several different “regular” ways to form the plural, which are to a certain degree predictable from the phonological shape of the singular form. Nouns can be marked plural (PL) by -m (or -lo if the final syllable contains /m/ or /p/, or, if the word begins with a vowel).
  • In general the plural suffix is not used when the plurality of the noun is clear from context. For example, while the English sentence "there are three dogs" would use the plural "dogs" instead of the singular "dog", the Kala sentence mita ha'o a "dog three exist" keeps the word mita "dog" in its unmarked form, as the numeral makes the plural marker redundant.
  • 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).

• ata - name > atalo - names
• mita – dog > mitam - dogs > tlimita – a pack of dogs
• yama – mountain > tliyamalo – mountain ranges
• tsaka – house > tlitsaka – neighborhood
• puku – clothing > tlipuku – wardrobe

Gender

Gender is not normally marked but can be by -na (FEM), -ta (MASC), or nouns such as naka, tlaka, nahi, or tahi (the woman, the man, the girl, the boy), etc. A gender neutral suffix, -nta may be used when the gender is unknown or ambiguous.

Pronouns

Kala agent pronouns are often omitted when the person is obvious from context. There are four persons in Kala. The 4th being inanimate, or indefinite. There is a special pronoun na'am which is used as the 1st person plural exclusive, meaning "We, but not you." The 3rd person plural is irregular, all other pronoun decline regularly. 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.

Personal pronouns:

• na - 1st person
• ta - 2nd person
• ha - 3rd person
• tla - 4th person ("it", "one") (used for inanimate nouns)

Modifiers:

• -m - plural
• -nku - reciprocal (only attaches to plural pronouns)
• e- - patient
• -i - reflexive
• -yo - possessive

Other pronouns include:

• tlokua - everyone, everybody
• kola - someone, somebody; whomever, anyone, anybody
• tlok - no one, nobody
• nokua - everything
• nola - something; whatever, anything
• nok - nothing

nkalo

	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

Determiners & Demostratives

The demonstratives can be prefixed to any noun to show deixis. Kala makes a three-way distinction. Typically there is a distinction between proximal or first person (objects near to the speaker), medial or second person (objects near to the addressee), and distal or third person (objects far from both).

• itla (i-) - this (near me)
• uatla (ua-) - that (near you)
• yetla (ye-) - that (over there)

Examples:

• imitami - PROX-dog-few - These few dogs
• yemitampa - DIST-dog-many - Those many dogs (over there)
• uamitali - MED-dog-each - Each dog (each of those dogs) (near you)

Quantifiers follow the noun that modify.

• kua (-kua) - all; every; whole
• oli (-li) - each; every
• ula (-la) - whatever; any; some
• mi (-mi) - few; little
• nke (-k) - none
• mpa (-mpa) - many; much; a lot
• maha - more; plus
• ohi - less; fewer

Correlatives

uatse

	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

Numbers

Kala	number	English	Kala	number	English	Kala	number	English
ye'o	0	zero	tsa'o	6	six	nya'o	500	five hundred
na'o	1	one	ka'o	7	seven	tle'o	103	(one) thousand
ta'o	2	two	pa'o	8	eight	mue'o	104	ten thousand
ha'o	3	three	sa'o	9	nine	kye'o	105	(one) hundred thousand
ma'o	4	four	ue'o	10	ten	nte'o	106	(one) million
ya'o	5	five	nye'o	100	(one) hundred	hue'o	109	(one) billion

Forming Larger Numbers

• uena'o - eleven / 11
• taue'o - twenty / 20
• nyeka'o - one hundred seven / 107
• hanyetauetsa'o (long form) / hatatsa'o (short form) - three hundred twenty six / 326
• tsatletauema'o - six thousand and twenty four / 6024

Other Number Forms

Kala	number	English	ordinal	multiple	fractional
na'o	1	one	kina'o first	tina'o once	-
ueta'o	12	twelve	kiueta'o twelfth	tiueta'o twelve times	iueta'o a twelfth
yauema'o (yama'o)	54	fifty four	kiyama'o fifty fourth	tiyama'o 54 times	iyama'o a fifty fourth
nyetsa'o	106	one hundred (and) six	kinyetsa'o 106th	tinyetsa'o 106 times	inyetsa'o a 106th
katle'o	7000	seven thousand	kikatle'o seven thousandth	tikatle'o 7000 times	ikatle'o 1/7000

Math Operations

• ha'o ma ya'o ke pa'o a

3 and 5 O 8 COP

Three plus five is eight.

• tsa'o ma ya'ok ke na'o a

6 and 5-NEG O 1 COP

Six and five-less is one.

• ha'o ma tima'o ke ueta'o a

3 and multiple-4 O 12 COP

Three times four is twelve.

• tama'o ma ha'o ke pa'o yeka

24 and 3 O 8 division

Twenty-four divided by three is eight.

Verbs

Kala relies on analytic serial verb constructions, and can therefore get by with very little verbal morphology. Each verb has at most two possible forms: the active and the stative. Passivity is marked on the subject thus verbs are unmarked and must be analyzed based on surrounding morphology. Active verbs solely denote actions and occurrences and never states in Kala. Stative verbs are the words that modify nouns in an attributive and often adjectival way. They often express a state like a quality or result. Verbs can be marked with several suffixes to add or change meaning. The modals and tense affixes can be added in different order to a verb to create a new meaning; their placement is not always fixed. The negative, adverbial, and plural endings are always final, while other affixes can be varied, but in general they should be ordered:

STEM-(SIZE/IMPORTANCE)-(MOOD)-(ASPECT)-(TENSE)-(NEGATIVE)

Example:

Verb Stem	Size/Importance	Mood	Aspect	Tense	Negative
empa	-hi	-pa	-nko	-ye	-k
run	DIM	ABIL	PROG	PST	NEG

• na empahipankoyek

1SG run-DIM-able-PROG-PST-NEG

I was not able to keep jogging.

Tense

Kala has three simple tenses; past, present, and future. Present tense is unmarked. However, past (-ye) and future (-tli) 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:

yomaye nam ina - yesterday 1pl eat - We ate yesterday.

eme

	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. (action just finished)
Remote Past	mita inayeha	dog eat-REM	The dog ate long ago. (before the lifetime of the speaker)
Future	mita inatli	dog eat-FUT	The dog will eat.
Immediate Future	mita inatlihi or -tlai	dog eat-IMM	The dog will eat soon. (within the day)
Distant Future	mita inatliha	dog eat-DIS	The dog will eat a long while from now. (months from now)

Aspect

There are four aspects in Kala. The 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". The perfective 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". The inchoative aspect refers to the beginning of a state [INCH]. It is marked with -mu, from mula - "to begin; start; initiate". The frequentative aspect refers to a repeated action [FREQ]. It is marked with -nua, from nua - "frequent; often; regular".

ti'a

	Kala	gloss	English
Progressive	mita inanko	dog eat-CONT	The dog is eating.
Perfective	mita inapua	dog eat-PFV	The dog has eaten.
Inchoative	mita inamu	dog eat-INCH	The dog begins to eat.
Frequentative	mita inanua	dog eat-FREQ	The dog eats 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.

Attributives

The attributive form of a verb is used in non-predicative situations, performing an adjective-like function. With intransitive verbs it describes the subject; with transitive verbs it usually describes the patient or theme and is thus roughly comparable to a passive participle in meaning. Essentially, Kala does not have adjectives as a distinct part of speech. Instead, many intransitive verbs can be used as adjectives. This leaves open to interpretation many phrases.

• mita inya - dog be.hungry
  • The dog hungers.
  • The dog is hungry.
  • The hungry dog.
  • A hungry dog.

• tsaka ketlahi - house be.red-DIM
  • The house is a little red.
  • The light-red house.
  • A pale red house.

• taki saua - coat be.wet
  • The coat is wet.
  • The wet coat.
  • A wet coat.

• umalo tahaku - horse-PL be.big-extreme
  • The horses are extremely large.
  • The very big horses.

Comparison

In Kala the concepts of comparative and superlative degree of an adjective (verb) are merged into a single form, the elative. How this form is understood or translated depends upon context and definiteness. In the absence of comparison, the elative conveys the notion of “greatest”, “supreme.”

• tsaka hayo ke nayo tahaka

house 3sg.POSS O 1sg.POSS big-AUG

His house is bigger than mine.

• ke mauam tayo yanaha

O flower.PL 2sg.POSS yellow-AUG

Your flowers are the most yellow.

• iyapo ke tsaka tayo pakoha

PROX-building O home 2sg new-AUG

This building is newer than your home.

Relative

In a relative clause, the verb has the suffix -tle (or -le if the final syllable contains /tl/) added to it. The order of the words in relative clauses remains the same as in regular clauses. The use of participles in Kala is rather different than in English and at first sight is difficult to understand. This is mainly due to the fact that the relative pronouns who, what, which, where are not used in Kala as in English.

• yalapa - to be able to walk produces: yalapatle - who/which/that can walk
• yalapak - to not be able to walk produces: yalapanketle - who/which/that can't walk

This nominalizes the verb in some cases, and makes it possible for it to be either the subject or the object.

• na ke tlaka nya inama talatle unya

1sg O man for eat-time come-REL know

I know the man who is coming to lunch.

• ke naka patlole pako

O woman sweep-REL young

The woman who is sweeping is young.

The relative suffix is most often in the final position. In some cases, it may be followed by the negative -k.

• itsaka na sutahuetle

PROX-house 1sg reside-LOC-REL

This is the house in which I live.

• itsaka na sutahueyetlek

PROX-house 1sg reside-LOC-PST-REL-NEG

This is the house in which I did not live.

Adpositionals

Kala does not have prepositions (or postpositions) as a distinct part of speech. Instead, many locative verbs can be used as adpositionals, in which case they precede the noun they modify. There is one general locative (-hue) which is affixed to nouns (and occasionally verbs) to indicate the sense of “at; in; on”. Here are some common verbs used as adpositions:

• pahe - against; touching
• pa'e - apart from; other than; except for
• paye - beyond; exceeding; farther than
• pue - after; back; behind; rear
• tahe - below; beneath; under
• ka'e - to; towards; at [moving toward]
• kaye - around; encircling; surrounding
• mahe - around; approximate; close to
• ma'a - with [accompanied by / furnished with]
• ma'e - before; in front
• maye - between; among

• nahe - in [located inside of]; internal
• nyaue - outside of; exterior to
• sahe - across; opposite; other side
• saye - along; following [a line]
• hue / -hue - at [in the same location as] [LOC]
• tsa'e - across; through
• ua'e - above; over / on
• uaye - from [moving out of or away from]
• ya'e - near; close to
• yomo - to the right of
• yoso - to the left of

• na ke ito yamahue anyapa

1sg O tree hill-LOC see-ABIL

I can see a tree on the hill.

• ntahim nyaue tsaka yoti

child-PL outside.of house play

The children are playing outside of the house.

Word formation

Compounding

New nouns are usually created through head-initial compounding, using both nominal and verbal stems as the second, dependent element of the compound. The resulting lexical entries usually behave as single phonological words, which, however, have four full syllables: kuatlatloha "grass snake". Compounding of more than two elements is not common.

• kayapusu - "earthquake" > kaya - earth + pusu - vibrate
• asuaseka - "leather" > asua - skin + seka - dry

There are also numerous affixes used to form new meanings. A few examples are;

• tiyasu - "bakery" > tiya - bread + -su - market; shop
• onyomo - "school" > onyo - learn + -mo - place; location
• kuhasa - "kitchen" > kuha - cook + -sa - room; chamber
• pyetampu - "egg-shaped" > pyeta - egg + -mpu - shape; form

Derivation

Verbalization

Causative verbs (as well as achievement verbs) can be formed from other verbs by adding -mya (from muya - "do, make, cause") or -la (from ela - "become; change into; turn into"). This type of derivation is fairly common; however, verbs created in this way are syntactically defective and tend to appear only in serial verb constructions.

• tinamya - "bend" < tina - be bent
• pitamya - "hollow out" < pita - be hollow; void
• enomya - "annoy, bother" < eno - be angry
• tsipuela - "slow down" < tsipue - be slow
• kyolola - "speed up" < kyolo - be quick

Intensive verbs can be formed from other verbs by adding -mpa (from mpa - "many; much; very"), or more commonly -hu (from kyohu - "be drastic; extreme; aggressive").

• ketsahu - "dismiss, reject, repudiate" < ketsa - doubt
• amyampa - "fall in love with" < amya - be fond of; like; prefer (of people)

Adjective-like stative verbs which name an associated quality may be formed from nouns by -n (from no - "thing" (-ish, -ly, -ous)).

• timan - "be cruel, be bloody" < tima - blood
• amyan - "be welcoming, be hospitable" < amya - be fond of

Nominalization

Agentive

Nouns referring to a human subject of a verb (usually in a habitual sense) can be formed with the agentive suffix -ko (from ko - "individual; person"). This suffix changes to -tlo when a velar stop is present in the preceding syllable.

• kitlako - "craftsman" < kitla - create; invent; make-up
• sutako - "inhabitant (of)" < suta - live; reside; dwell; inhabit; settle
• yekatlo - "unmarried young adult" < yeka - be separate, be on one's own
• makatlo - "musician" < maka - music; play ~; tune
• tsaniko - "storyteller" < tsani - recite, tell (a story)

Instrumental

Instrument nouns and names for tools and other inanimates can be derived from verbs or from other nouns by adding the suffix -nyo (from mayo - "device; equipment; tool").

• hitanyo - "atlatl (spear-thrower)" < hita - throw; cast; expel
• amonyo - "handle (for carrying)" < amo - transport; carry
• kusunyo - "clasp, brooch, fibula" < kusu - squeeze
• toponyo - "lock" < topo - door; gate

Locative

Location nouns can be formed from both nouns and verbs by several suffixes. These indicate specific places where either something happens, or something resides there are a few affixes which modify both verbs and nouns.

-mo (from mo - "location; place; site"). This suffix is used to form the general idea of where something happens or resides.

• tanamo - "battlefield; boxing ring; wrestling mat, etc." < tana - fight; combat
• uelomo - "bicycle-place; bike path; bike rack, etc." < uelo - bicycle; bike
• inamo - "eat-place; dining room; restaurant" [This can also mean food-place; pantry, etc.] < ina - food; eat
• onyomo - "learn-place; school" < onyo - learn; study

-su (from suku - "market; shop; store"). This suffix is used to specify a business where items are produced and/or sold.

• tiyasu - "bread-shop; bakery" < tiya - bread
• inasu - "food-market; grocery store; restaurant" < ina - food; eat
• uelosu - "bicycle-shop" < uelo - bicycle; bike

-kyo (from hakyo - "college; school; university"). This suffix is used to specify a location where students learn. This can also be used to indicate a school of thought, or ideology.

• tanakyo - "dojo; martial arts training academy; etc." < tana - fight; combat
• kuhakyo - "culinary-school; chef’s academy" < kuha - cook; prepare food
• tsiyakyo - "liberalism" < tsiya - freedom; liberty
• ya'akyo - "medical-school" < ya'a - medicine; drug; cure

-sa (from sala - "chamber; room; section"). This is more specific than -mo and used primarily for spaces inside buildings.

• kuhasa - "cook-room; kitchen" < kuha - cook; prepare food
• mokusa - "sleep-room; bedroom" < moku - sleep; rest
• inasa - "eat-room; dining room" < ina - food; eat
• onyosa - "learn-room; classroom" < onyo - learn; study

Syntax

The basic structure of a Kala sentence is:

AGENT--PATIENT--VERB (or SOV)

The agent is the person or thing doing the action described by the verb; The patient is the recipient of that action. The importance of word order can be seen by comparing the following sentences:

• mita tlaka anya

dog man see

The dog sees the man.

• tlaka mita anya

man dog see

The man sees the dog.

In both sentences, the words are identical, the only way to know who is seeing whom is by the order of the words in the sentence.

Simple sentences

Intransitive clauses

Intransitive clauses in Kala minimally consist of a subject followed by an intransitive verb, giving SV word order.

• nta'i moku

baby sleep

The baby sleeps.

• mita ina

dog eat

The dog eats.

• sama nala

sun shine

The sun shines.

• kamahi ke naha ya'e

town-DIM O river be.near

There is a village near the river.

• ke apua muyapua

O song do-PFV

The song has been sung.

Transitive clauses

Clauses with transitive verbs follow a SOV pattern.

• ona ke matla kuha

mother O stew cook

The mother is cooking stew.

• tasako ke masala yake

hunt-AG O deer-INDEF chase

The hunters are chasing some deer.

• kyali ke itohuatla peha

spear O tree-oak pierce

The spear pierces the oak tree.

• tasako ke mitla hita ma ne masa mata

hunt-AG O arrow cast and DO deer kill

The hunter shoots an arrow and kills the deer.

Predication

Nominal predicates are formed with the copula a, using SOV word order. However, more common is the idiomatic omission of the copula and object marker.

• tsola ke haya a

fox O animal COP

The fox is an animal. (grammatical)

• tsola haya

fox animal

The fox is an animal. (idiomatic)

• itlaka ke taya nayo a

PROX-man O husband 1sg.POSS COP

This man is my husband. (grammatical)

• itlaka ke taya nayo

PROX-man O husband 1sg.POSS

This man is my husband. (idiomatic)

Oblique participants

Kala verb phrases have only a single object slot. As a result, the patient of a ditransitive clause needs to be introduced with the help of a preposition.

Dative and benefactive

Dative participants are marked with the preposition nya ‘for, by, via’.

• ntahi ke nyotlomi nya kinti yeta

child O nut-PAUC BEN squirrel give

The child gives a few nuts to the squirrel.

• ikema nya na tlahi

PROX-task BEN 1sg be.easy

This task is easy for me.

Benefactive participants are also marked with the preposition nya ‘for, by, via’.

• mekatlo nya ntakum ke tsani yomu

holy-AG BEN sibling-PL O story recite

The shaman recites a story for the siblings.

Antibenefactive participants are marked like ordinary datives using nya:

• tekim nya kamahi namyo tanyaye

enemy-PL BEN town-DIM 1pl.POSS destroy-PST

The enemies destroyed our village.

Instrumental

Instrumental participants are marked with the preposition wo ‘with, by, using’.

• ona ke nta'i hayo ma'a tlimu nohya

mother O baby 3sg.POSS with blanket wrap

The mother wraps her baby in a blanket.

In passive sentences, agents may be reintroduced with the preposition nya ‘by’:

• ke aha nya ntahi apua'u

O melody by child sing-PFV

The song has been sung by the child.

Negation

Negation, both of noun phrases and of clauses, is made with the negating suffix -k (or -nke), which affixes to the negated element. Kala utilizes multiple negation, like tlok ak (AG-NEG COP-NEG) - (there isn't anyone / there is no-one).

• intahi ke nok onyotlik

PROX-child O thing-NEG learn-FUT-NEG

This child will learn nothing.

• mita inyak

dog hunger-NEG

The dog is not hungry.

The suffix -nke also marks the abessive, meaning without, or lacking.

• ha ke’e hatsanke nya potsi hayo kayoye

3SG so luck-ABE for wallet 3SG.POSS lose-PST

He was unlucky enough to lose his wallet.

Interrogatives

There are two types of questions: Polar, those which may be answered "yes" or "no," and those which require explanations as answers.

Polar questions

Any statement can become a polar question by adding the interrogative particle ka at the end of the sentence.

• mita ina

dog eat

The dog eats.

• nta'i moku

baby sleep

The baby is sleeping. / The baby sleeps.

• ta ke tlo'o anyaye

2SG O elephant see-PST

You saw the elephant.

• tekatlo eta ke ya'a yetaye

heal-AG P.2SG O medicine give-PST

The doctor gave you the medicine.

• mita ina ka

dog eat Q

Does the dog eat?

• nta'i moku ka

baby sleep Q

Is the baby sleeping?

• ta ke tlo'o anyaye ka

2SG O elephant see-PST Q

Did you see the elephant?

• tekatlo eta ke ya'a yetaye ka

heal-AG P.2SG O medicine give-PST Q

Did the doctor give you the medicine?

Content questions

Questions that give a list of possible answers are formed like polar questions, with the conjunction ue ‘or’ introducing each alternative (which must appear in the form of a noun phrase).

• ta ke nkapa ue maya inuue ka

2SG O beer or.EXCL water drink-VOL Q

Do you want to drink beer or water?

• uala ta ke sinka mataye ue empa ma koma ka

truly 2sg O lion kill-PST or.EXCL flee CONJ hide Q

Did you really kill the lion, or did you run away and hide?

Open content questions are most easily formed with the correlatives, such as ko ‘person’, mo ‘place’, to ‘manner’, etc. These correlatives always appear clause-initially:

• ko ta ka

person 2sg Q

Who are you?

• itla ka

this Q

What is this?

• to kihu ka

manner weather Q

What's the weather like?

The other type contains a question word and is followed by ka:

kanyo

	Kala	gloss	English
object	ke mita ina ka	O dog eat Q	What does the dog eat?
person	ko ina ka	person eat Q	Who eats?
possession	koyo mita ina ka	person-POSS dog eat Q	Whose dog eats?
manner	to mita ina ka	manner dog eat Q	How does the dog eat?
place	mo mita ina ka	place dog eat Q	Where does the dog eat?
reason	nye mita ina ka	reason dog eat Q	Why does the dog eat?
time	ama mita ina ka	time dog eat Q	When does the dog eat?
amount	uku mita ina ka	amount dog eat Q	How much/many does the dog eat?
which	ula mita ina ka	any dog eat Q	Which dog eats?

Passives

The passive voice is formed by prefixing e- (patient marker) to pronouns, and the object marker ke for nouns, or nya "for, by, via". Compare these simple sentences:

• matla kuha

stew cook

The stew cooks.

• ha yatsi

3sg bite

She bites.

• ha yapo

3sg build

She builds.

• ke matla kuhapua

O stew cook-PFV

The stew has been cooked.

• eha yatsi

P.3sg bite

He is bitten.

• etla nya ha yapo

P.4sg by 3sg build

It is built by him.

Kala can also passivize some intransitive verbs (especially verbs that describe activities rather than states). This has the effect of creating an impersonal predicate without any syntactic subject, often carrying existential semantics.

• ke kema

O work

There is work to do. (lit. it is work)

• ke hina kyo'a

P.4sg by 3sg build

It's quiet around here. (lit. here is quieted)

Reflexives and reciprocals

Kala has reflexive and reciprocal pronoun forms, and as such declarative phrases are regular and predictable.

• na'i sepaye

1sg.REFL injure-PST

I hurt myself.

• ha'i tlela

3sg.REFL bathe

She bathes herself.

• kanku ke onta nayo itsa

3pl.RECP O parent 1sg.POSS love

My parents love each other.

• na'anku amyapak

1pl.EXCL.RECP like-ABIL-NEG

We (but not you) are not able to like each other.