Kala

The Kala conlang...

• calendar
• etymology
• lexicon
  • thematic lexicon
• phrases
• syllables
• word formation
• writing

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 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.

parts of speech

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 (food; to eat).

• na ina - 1SG eat - I eat.
  • na ke ina anya - 1SG O food see - I see the food.

borrowing

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

See also: etymology

• 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

glossing

Glossing abbreviations.

• 1; 2; 3; 4 - Person
• ABE - Abessive
• ABL - Ablative
• ADV - Adverbial
• AG - Agent
• ATT - Attemptative
• AUG - Augmentative
• BEN - Benefactive
• CAUS - Causative
• COL - Collective
• COMP - Comparative

• CONJ - Conjunction
• COP - Copula
• DIM - Diminutive
• DIS - Distant future tense
• DIST - Distal
• DUB - Dubitative
• EQU - Equative
• EXCL - Exclusive
• FEM - Feminine
• FUT - Future tense
• GEN - Genitive

• HON - Honorific
• HORT - Hortative
• IMM - Immediate future tense
• IMP - Imperative
• INE - Inessive
• MASC - Masculine
• MED - Medial
• PROX - Proximal
• PST - Past tense
• REC - Recent past tense
• REM - Remote past tense

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.

syllable structure

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.

word order

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.

content words

nouns

plural

• 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 – 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)

Here is a chart with all regular declensions of Kala pronouns.

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

demonstratives

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 - A few of these dogs
• yemitampa - DIST-dog-many - Many of those dogs (over there)
• uamitali - MED-dog-each - 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

verbs

Verbs in Kala are either active or or stative. 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.

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.

Example: 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

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.

affix ordering

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, adjectival, and plural ending 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.

adjectives

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

numbers

uku

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

function words

conjunctions

There are three coordinating conjunctions in Kala and three correlative conjunctions:

coordinating

• ma - and; also

mita ina ma moku - dog eat and sleep - The dog eats and sleeps.

• ua - or

mita ina ua moku - dog eat or sleep - The dog eats or sleeps.

• ehe (me) - but; yet

mita ina ma mokunke - dog eat but sleep-NEG - The dog eats but does not sleep.

correlative

• yema - both X and Y

mita ina yema empa - dog eat both.X.and.Y run - The dog eats and runs.

• ue - either X or Y

mita ina ue empa - dog eat either.X.or.Y run - The dog is either eating or running.

• uenke (uek) - neither X nor Y

mita ina uenke empa - dog eat neither.X.nor.Y run - The dog is neither eating nor running.

questions

There are two types of questions: Polar, those which may be answered "yes" or "no," and those which require explanations as answers. 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.
  • mita ina ka - dog eat Q - Does the dog eat?

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?