User:Masako/pataka
akana.conlang.org/wiki/Ronc_Tyu
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.
Types of words
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
- 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.
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
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
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.
Types of words
Content words
Nouns
Pronouns
Verbs
Numbers
Function words
Particles
Conjunctions
Interjections
Word formation
Compounding
Derivation
Verbalization
Nominalization
Basic 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:
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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
Comitative
Locative
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.
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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?