User:Masako/pataka
Introduction
Kala is a personal artistic language, or constructed language (conlang). It is the culmination of my life-long appreciation and fascination with language and linguistics. This fascination began in my youth, c. 1988 when I received a book about ciphers and codes. I have studied multiple natural languages since that time, including several European languages, Arabic, Japanese, and Chinese (Mandarin), to name only a few. I have focused much of my interest in the subfield of writing systems, which will likely be apparent to anyone familiar with Kala and its many varied writing systems.
Kala 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 considerably based on influence from several natural and constructed languages. Many – if not most – of Kala lexemes are derived from or inspired by natural languages. A few have been taken from previous projects or constructed languages such as Ajara (a cipherlang from my youth) and Qatama (a conlang that I abandoned several years ago).
Characteristics
Kala is a mostly agglutinative 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. The words of Kala can be divided into two basic functional classes: verbs and nouns as content words, and particles and others as functional. Adjectives do not exist, instead, stative verbs explain the state of the subject, i.e. “to be red”. The few adverbs that exist fall into the class of particles or are derived from verbs. The most important element of Kala lexemes to keep in mind is that they may function as a verb, noun, adjective, or an adverb based on where they fall in the phrase, and any various endings that may be affixed. Kala has two basic parts of speech. 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 - /muːja gaː/ - do Q - (What are you) doing?
- ina - /iːna/ - eat - (I am) eating.
- tamatse - /tamaːˌt͡ʃɛ/ - good-seem - (That looks) good.
- ueha ka - /weːɦa kaː/ - want Q - (Do you) want (some)?
- nyasak - /ɲaːʃak/ - thank-NEG - No, thank (you).
Notice that none of the above contains any pronouns, or nouns. Any contextually understood elements may be omitted unless indispensable. There can be considerable divergence from what is grammatical, and what is acceptably idiomatic. The spectrum of formality and grammatical to idiomatic can be seen in the example below:
- netla muyaye – 1sg-P.4sg do-PST – I did it. > [grammatical, formal]
- etla muyaye – P.4sg do-PST – (I) did it. >> It was done. > [grammatical, formal, passive]
- na muyaye – 1sg do-PST – I did (it). > [grammatical, informal]
- muyaye – do-PST – (I) did (it). > [semi-grammatical, idiomatic]
- muyye – /muːɟɛ/ – do-PST – (I) did (it). > [ungrammatical, idiomatic]
Function Words
Function words are called mayatla (“water words”; flowing speech). In this case, the words are "empty" in that they don't do anything by themselves. They serve important grammatical functions by making clear relationships between words, logical connections, or modifications of meaning. Function words are the "grammar words" of Kala. There are subcategories of function words that include: prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, pragmatics, and particles.
Content Words
Content words are called konotla (“stone words”; still/solid speech) Contrary to function words, content words refer to real objects in the real world, whether solid and palpable, or observable in some other way. These words refer to objects, actions, concepts, and emotions, which exist in some real way as more than just grammatical tools. Subcategories of content words are: nouns, pronouns, verbs (active and stative), adverbials, number words, and onomatopoeia. 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. The English glosses are meant to give an idea of what the core meaning of the Kala word actually is, but which do not imply that the Kala word actually covers all the main senses of these English words. Conversely, many words with a meaning much narrower than their English gloss are not precisely specified.
Borrowing
As can be seen here, Kala borrows from many varied languages, including but not limited to: Arabic, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Turkish, and several others. These borrowings are most often based on aesthetics and function of the word. When borrowing, often changes made to the word include dropping of one or more syllables, vowel changes, and occasionally metathesis. These changes frequently leave the word unrecognizable from its original form. However, with each borrowing, an attempt has been made to retain as much original phonological and semantic meaning as possible. Of the numerous examples of borrowing, here is a breakdown of a few that are commonly used;
- niha – good; nice; cool; sweet; enjoyable (from Arabic منيح /mnīḥ/, meaning “fine; good”). So, the /m/ was dropped and an /a/ was added, also the /ḥ/ becomes /ɦ/. These changes align the word with the CVCV structure that the majority of Kala lexemes adhere to, as well as the phonological and phonotactical rules. This has been further reduced to a derivational suffix, -ni denoting a quality of goodness.
- yohua – night(time); darkness (from Classical Nahuatl yohualli /jo(w)alli/, meaning “night; nighttime; darkness”). The absolutive suffix –lli was dropped, and the Spanish spelling used to inform pronunciation, making it /joːhʷa/. This word has been used in portmanteau to create new words such as huatso “midnight”.
- tsoya – center; middle; mid-; half (from Mandarin 中 / ʈ͡ʂʊŋ/, meaning “middle; center”). So, the coda / ŋ/ was dropped and /ja/ was added, also the /ʈ͡ʂ/ becomes /ts~t͡ʃ/. This has been further reduced to a derivational suffix, -tso denoting half, or the middle of something. This word has been used in portmanteau to create new words such as huatso “midnight” and yotso “midday; noon”.
This is a very small sample of borrowings:
- 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
So, some phrases can contain words from multiple natlangs:
- ta (ke) inun uasiye ka
- 2sg (O) drink-ACC take-PST Q
- Did you take the drink?
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 (k) | ʔ ( ' ) | ||
| Affricate | ts~t͡ʃ (ts) | t͡ɬ~tl (tl) | ||||
| Continuant | s~ʃ (s) | l~ɾ (l) | h~ɦ (h) | |||
| Semivowel | j (y) | w (u) | ||||
The glottal stop is not phonemic but is included in the chart above for completeness. It is only ever intervocalic, meaning it is pronounced between two vowels and/or diphthongs.
- 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.
Allophony
The phoneme /n/ undergoes an assimilatory process when followed by /p~b/ to become /m/. Words that are ostensibly “vowel-initial” tend to be pronounced with an initial glottal stop when occurring within phrases. Where ~ appears, it indicates free variation between phonemes. However, certain sounds change in a predictable way. For example, /h/ becomes [ɦ] when preceded or followed by a front vowel, including when labialized or palatalized. It is also sometimes realized as [x], or even [χ]. The alveolar affricates are most often /t͡ʃ/ and /t͡ɬ/. The “s” is almost always /ʃ/ unless preceded or followed by a syllable with the onset /t͡ʃ/, in which case “s” becomes /s/. So, sama (sun; star; solar) is /ˈʃaːma/ where sitsa (heat; hot) is /ˈsiːt͡ʃa/ and tsisi (embroider; embroidery) is /t͡ʃiːsi/. /ts~t͡ʃ/ is typically realized as / t͡ʃ / when followed by front vowels, and /ts/ elsewhere. This is also the case with /s~ʃ/; /sa/ >> /ʃi/.
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
The maximal syllable structure is (strictly open syllables) (N)(C)(u, y)V(a, i) where (N) indicates nasalization, and u and y indicate labialization and palatalization respectively. Consonant clusters within a syllable typically only occur in place names or “foreign” words, so that the majority of syllables follow a simple (C)V(ː) pattern.
There is a limited set of syllables, of the type CV (consonant-vowel), allowed by Kala phonotactics, similar to Japanese or Chinese. Kala phonotactics does not typically allow the onsets of adjacent syllables to be identical, nor both to be labialized or palatalized. (There are a few exceptions to this, such as tata for the informal/familiar form of “father”, etc., as well as reduplication as a form of plurality.) Syllables beginning with /l/ do not occur as the first syllable of a headword (except in loanwords and toponyms).
When an affix causes reduplication of a syllable it is replaced by –u, which has no meaning. This is done to reduce duplicate syllables. An example might be tsuala’u meaning “to become prosperous”, from tsuala “prosper; be prosperous” and the suffix –la meaning “become; change into”, used to indicate the mutative.
Gemination
Gemination is only found as a product of word compounding and not as a phonological process, however it affects the pronunciation as the phonemic variation is lost and all geminated consonants are voiceless. naka (woman) can be /ˈnaːka/ or /ˈnaːga/, whereas nakkan (chieftess) can only be /ˈnaːkkan/. All consonants except for semivowels can undergo gemination.
Syllables
Syllable structure in Kala is exclusively made up of open syllables of the type CV (consonant-vowel) with most lexemes having two syllables exclusively of this type. The exception to this rule are the word final endings –m (indicating general plural, deriving from ma, meaning “and, also”), -n (indicating accusative case, deriving from no, meaning “thing, object”), and –k (indicating negative mood, deriving from nke, meaning “no, not”).
Syllable Chart
| 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 A-O columns are called mpalo and are the most common, the U-YO are called puhyo, the AI-YAO/red syllables above occur infrequently and most often as the final syllable of a word, are referred to as paihyao.
Collating Order
The collating sequence (alphabetical order) is based on the order established in the Naua script.
| Consonants | p | t | k | m | n | s | h | ts | tl | l |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vowels | a | e | i | o | u | ua | ue | ya | ye | yo |
Based on this order, ma would come before ha, etc. Prenasalized syllables are ordered after their non-prenasalized counterparts, i.e. mpa comes after pyo but before ta. To see the collating sequence in action, look through the lexicon. This order can be vocalized as “pa, ta, ka, ma, na, nya, sa, ha, tsa, tla, ua, la, ya, a”, this aides in memorization and organization.
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). Monosyllabic words are not stressed. So;
- masa - /ˈmaːsa/ → masako - /maːˈsako/
- tliyama - /tɬiːˈjama/ → tliyamalo - /tɬiːjaˈmalo/
- kam - /kaːm/ → kamyo - /ˈkaːmʲo/
- empahapak - /ɛᵐpaˈhaːpak/ → empahapayek - /ɛᵐpahaˈpaːjek/
Nominal Morphology
The morphology of Kala nouns can be complex enough to include number, gender, size, case, quality, etc. However, it should be noted that a few of these are also non-obligatory. That is, if the meaning or intended meaning can be deduced from context, certain nominal modifiers may be omitted. Due to the semantic range of Kala words, the declension of nouns is often used to convey both the lexical role, but also the semantic use, and grammatical importance of the word.
Nouns
Kala nominals (which includes full nouns, pronouns, and determiners) inflect for number and several cases. Other relevant distinctions are animacy and possession, but these are not always marked on the noun itself. Animacy plays a role both for pronoun choice and for the validity of some syntactic constructions.
Number
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). There are also markers for paucal (a few of something), distributive (each of a countable group), or inclusive, and an indefinite large number (many, much).
| Kala | gloss | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular [SG] | mita | dog | a/the dog |
| Plural [PL] | mita-m | dog-PL | (the) dogs |
| Paucal [PAU] | mita-mi | dog-PAU | (a) few dogs |
| Collective [COL] | tli-mita | COL-dog | (a) dog pack |
| Distributive [DIS] | mita-li [or -kua] | dog-DIS/INCL | each/every dog |
| Indefinite Mass [IM] | mita-mpa | dog-IM | many dogs |
These endings can sometimes be combined to add nuance to the meaning, such as; tlimitam - COL-dog-PL - dog packs / packs of dogs; imitalin malo - PROX-dog-DIS-ACC – each of these dogs is brown
When the final syllable of a word contains a labial consonant, ‘m’, ‘mp’, and ‘p’ the plural marking changes to -lo. The –lo ending is also used when the word begins with a vowel, and when the –m ending conflicts phonotactically with a given case suffix. An example of this would be; yama - mountain - a mountain → yamalo - mountain-PL – mountains → tliyama - COL-mountain - a mountain range / range of mountains → tliyamalo - COL-mountain-PL - mountain ranges / ranges of mountains.
Reduplication
Nominal reduplication in Kala indicates a plurality and that the items are scattered about in a disorderly manner. It can also indicate uncountable version of a countable noun. Occasionally, it reflects a juvenile or informal register; in this respect, it can be compared to the English diminutive ending "-y" or "-ie" (kitty, “doggie", etc.) Verb reduplication is also common in Kala as it marks adverbs. Often, this adverb is an informal and/or temporary character of the action. It may also indicate a nominal form of the verb.
- kya o’unkonke - IMP be.loud-NEG - Don’t speak loudly!
The morphological process of reduplication is irregular in Kala and is based primarily on the initial syllable of the word. The nasals (N), plosives (P), affricates (A), continuants (C), and semivowels and vowels (S) each undergo various changes during reduplication.
- N → N/(y/u)
- P → nP/(y/u) or nP → P/(y/u)
- A → C/(y/u)
- C → ~/(y/u) [mostly s → ts and h → k]
- S → ‘u or ~
- muku - knife → mumuku – knives scattered around
- muela - raspberry → memuela – raspberries scattered around / a bunch of raspberries
- nyahi - snow → nanyahi – snow all around
- pana - rain → pampana – rain all around (“It’s raining all over.”)
- ntasi – excitement → ntatasi – chaotic fits
- kano – dear; darling → kankano – “sweetie; lovey”
- kyo’a – be quiet → konko’a – quietly
- tloso – annoy; bother → tloloso – bothersome
- tsima – hour → tsisima – hourly; regularly
- tsuama – sandwich → tsasuama – sandwiches scattered about / a sandwich tray
- sama - sun → satsama – sunny; sunshine all around
- suku - shop → sutsuku – marketplace; bazaar
- hama – protect; defend → hakama – protective
- ima – now; yet → i’uma – immediately [sounds like /ˈjuːma/]
- etsa – degree; extent → e’utsa – extensive
Gender
Gender is not normally marked but can be with the endings -na and -ta to mark the feminine and masculine, respectively 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.
- kuma - bear - a bear → kumana - bear-FEM - sow → kumata - bear-MASC - boar
- masa - deer - a deer → masana - deer-FEM - doe → masata - deer-MASC - stag
- uma - horse - a horse → umana - horse-FEM - mare → umata - horse-MASC - stallion
Verbs
Mood
Abilitative
- -pa from pala meaning "able (to); can; possible; potential"
Particles
- ka - interrogative particle
References
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quechuan_languages#Grammar /
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_grammar /
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_grammar /
- akana.conlang.org/wiki/Gezoro /
- akana.conlang.org/wiki/Lotoka
