User:Masako/nkala

kamalo

phonology

consonants

• nasals: /m n ɲ/ m n ny
• plosives: /p t k kʷ/ p t k kw
• affricates: /t͡ɬ/ tl
• continuants: /l h~ɦ/ l h
• semivowels: /j w/ y w

All plosives, except the glottal stop, can be prenasalized: /ᵐp ⁿt ᵑk ᵑkʷ/.

vowels

Kamalo only uses three vowels; /a e o/, occasionally they contrast for length. ā ē ō

morphology

Kamalo is an agglutinative and 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 constitute an entire sentence.

nouns

pronouns

	singular	dual	plural
1	wa-	pwa-	kwa-
2	ne-	(m)pe-	(n)ke-
3	(h)o-	po-	ko-

possession

Possession is marked by the nominal suffix -o and a pronominal prefix attached to a stem.

• kwamalo - 1pl-speak-NOM - our word
• tlayemo - MASC-eat-NOM - his food
• popato - 3du-be.aware-NOM - their awareness
• wanyako - 1s-burn-NOM - my fire

pronominal prefixes

Verb arguments (i.e. subject, direct object, indirect object) are indicated with pronominal affixes which are added to verb stems. The pronominal affixes are inflected according to number (singular, dual, and plural) and person (1st, 2nd, etc.).

subject	object	verb	tense / aspect / mood
ko-	wa-	kop	-e
3pl	1sg	harm	PST
kowakope
They harmed me.

noun modifiers

• he- - color of ~
• ye- - feminine; female [FEM]
• tla- - masculine; male [MASC]
• -o - marks noun; nominalizer [NOM]

number

Nouns are marked for various quantities:

• pa- - dual; pair of; both [DU]
• ka- - plural [PL]
• te- - few; little [quantity]
• ma- - many; much
• mo- - group; collection; mass of
• mwa- - all; every
• no- - one; a
• yo- - piece of

verbs

The kamalo verb is quite complex and inflects for many grammatical categories. The verb is composed of a root, prefixes, and suffixes. The prefixes indicate the person of the subject, and person and number of the object and indirect object, whereas the suffixes indicate tense, aspect, mood and possession.

• wakoyemapotla

wa-ko-yem-ap-otl-a

1sg-3pl-eat-CAUS-DES-NPST

"I want to feed them"

verb modifiers

• -a - active; present tense [ACT]
• -ap- - causative [CAUS]
• -at- - augmentative; large [AUG]
• -atl- - tentative; possible [TENT]
• -e - past tense; perfective [PST]
• -em- - interrogative [INT]
• -ok- - negative [NEG]
• -otl- - desiderative [DES]

particles

• ma - interrogative particle [INT]; "is it that"

used to form questions of all types

• oka - "no"

used as a negative response to polar questions

• we - "but" / "or"

used in conjunctions, and in contrasts

roots

• pat- - be awake; aware; focused
• t- - be; exist [COP]
• kam- - symbol; write; mark
• kop- - harm; hurt; corrupt
• mak- - want; desire; love
• mal- - speak; talk
• n- - know; see
• nay- - loud; noise; roar
• nyak- - fire; burn; light
• hen- - colored; non-white; non-ferrous (metals)
• wap- - rhythm; pulse; meter
• way- - go; move; walk
• lom- - sleep; rest; relax
• tlel- - bathe; wash
• y- - have; belong; get
• yam- - delight; happy; toy; glad
• yap- - be green; foliage; plant
• yat- - hand; five; grab
• yem- - eat; nourish; bread

samples

• wanemaka - 1-2-love-ACT - I love you.
• koyematloka - 3-eat-TENT-NEG-ACT - He might not eat.
• newaneme - 2-1-see-INT-PST - Did you see me?

wordgen seed

C=ptkqmnfhwylx
V=aeo

q|kw
f|ny
x|tl
wo|wa

Prefixes

kamalo	meaning	kamalo	meaning	kamalo	meaning
pa	XX	(m)pe	you (two) [2du]	po	XX
ta	XX	te	few; a little	to	XX
ka	XX	(n)ke	you [2pl]	ko	XX
kwa	we; us [1pl]	kwe	XX	-	XX
ma	XX	me	XX	mo	XX
na	XX	ne	you [2sg]	no	one; a
nya	XX	nye	XX	nyo	XX
ha	XX	he	XX	ho	XX
la	XX	le	XX	lo	XX
tla	masculine [MASC]	tle	XX	tlo	XX
wa	I; me [1sg]	we	XX	-	XX
ya	XX	ye	feminine [FEM]	yo	XX
a	XX	e	XX	(h)o	s/he; it [3sg]