User:Masako/sandbox

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k

Pronunciation

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i~i: (i) u~u: (u)
Mid e~e: (e) o~o: (o)
Open a~a: (a)

Diphthongs

  • Both of the falling diphthongs as well as uai and yao only occur word finally.
falling
  • [aɪ~aɪ:] - ai
  • [aʊ~aʊ:] - ao
rising
  • [wa~wa:] - ua
  • [waɪ~waɪ:] - uai
  • [ja~ja:] - ya
  • [jaʊ~jaʊ:] - yao
  • [je~je:] - ye
  • [jo~jo:] - yo

Consonants

Labial Dental Palatal Velar Glottal
central lateral plain labial
Nasal m (m) n (n) ɲ (ny)
Plosive p~b (p) t~d (t) k~g (k) ʔ (')
Fricative s (s) ʃ (s) h~ɦ (h)
Affricate ts (ts) (tl) (ts)
Approximant l~r (l) j (y) w (u)
  • <s> & <ts> are /ʃ/ and /tʃ/ respectively, unless immediately preceded or followed by one another, then <s> is always /s/ and <ts> is always /tʃ/.
  • However, one could pronounce them either way (e.g. always /s/ & /ts/) and still be understood.
  • Example:
sitsa - /'si:.tʃa/ - warmth, heat / warm, hot / to heat up
tsasu - /'tʃa:.su/ - cursive writing; having successive letters joined together

Phonotactics

  • Kala phonotactics does not allow the onsets of adjacent syllables to be identical, nor both to be labialised or palatalised.
    • There are a few exceptions to this, such as tata for the informal/familiar form of father, etc.
  • Syllables beginning with /l/ do not occur as the first syllable of a morpheme.

Syllable Structure

  • (N)(C)V/D(F)
    • N - nasal; prenasal; /n/ or /m/
    • C - consonant
    • V - vowel
    • D - diphthong
    • F - final; coda
  • The three codas are /k/, /m/, and /n/; these only occur as a final codas to negate, pluralize or adverbialize verbs and nouns, respectively.

Stress

  • In Kala stress falls on the penultimate syllable with the exceptions of negatives and words that end with a syllable onset palatal approximant, in which case stress is ultimate.

Prenasalized consonants

  • In Kala, almost every consonant can be prenasalized, but primarily the plosives /p/, /t/ and /k/ can be analyzed as prenasalized,while most other instances could be easily analyzed as cases of syllabic /n/ or /m/.
  • mp /ᵐp~ᵐb/
Example: mpaka /ˈᵐpa.ka/ - n - boundary / border / line
  • nt /ⁿt~ⁿd/
Example: ntama /ˈⁿta.ma/ - n - calf (a young cow or bull)
  • nk /ᵑk~ᵑ/
Example: nkapa /ˈᵑka.pa/ - n - alcohol / grog

Sentence structure

See also: Kala Sentences

  • Most sentences in Kala contain a verb phrase, typically denoting the occurrence of an action. A verb phrase consists of a verb plus any modifiers.
  • Most sentences also contain at least one noun phrase, typically denoting a person or thing. A noun phrase consists of a noun plus any modifiers.
  • The two most important noun phrases are the subject and the object. Their exact meaning depends on the choice of verb, but
loosely speaking, the subject is the person or thing that carries out the action, and the object is the person or thing that is directly affected by the action.
  • Kala has an extremely regular grammar, with very few exceptions to its rules. Sentences are made up of one or more phrases. Each phrase consists of a subject (optionally followed by modifying particles) and a verb (optionally followed by modifying particles).

Word Order

  • Kala phrase structure can be represented as follows:
subject-(modifier) (particle) ((object)-(modifier)) verb-(modifier) (particle)
or, more simply SOV

parts of speech

verbs

  • A typical verb denotes the occurrence or abandonment of an action (run, stop), a relationship (have, lose), or a state (stand, melt). Most verbs can be reused without change as a noun.

tense

tense suffix gloss example
remote past -yeha REM nam inayeha
We ate a long while ago.
recent past -yehi REC nam inayehi
We just ate.
past -ye PST nam inaye
We ate.
present not marked nam ina
We eat. / We are eating. / We do eat.
future -tli FUT nam inatli
We will eat.
immediate future -tlihi IMM nam inatlihi
We will eat soon/now.
distant future -tliha DIS nam inatliha
We will eat a long while from now.
  • Kala does not distinguish perfect and imperfect aspects of the verb (e.g. "I ate", "I used to eat", "I have eaten", "I had eaten").
  • If a temporal adverb is used, the tense suffix may be omitted.
Example: We ate yesterday.
yomaye nam ina
day-pst 1pl eat

modifiers

usage suffix from example
ability, can -pa pala
to be able, can
na yalapa
I am able to go.
attempt, try -pya upya
to attempt; to try
na yalapya
I am trying to leave.
negation -k nke
no, not; negative
na yalak
I am not going.
beginning, initiate -mu mula
start; begin
na yalamu
I begin to go. / I'm starting to leave.
permission; allow -myo myonta
to allow; permit
na yalamyo
I am allowed to go.
should, ought to -ne neya
should, to ought to
na yalane
I should go.
need, necessity -he heya
to need; require
na yalahe
I need to go.
deintensify -hi ahi
small; little
na inahi
I am snacking.
appear, seem -tse tse'e
to seem; appearance
ha yalatse
He seems to be going.
want, desire -ue ueha
to want; desire
na yalaue
I want to go.
intention, volition -ue ueyo
to intend to
na yalaue
I intend to go.

nouns

plurality

  • A countable noun (or "count noun") can be modified by a number, and can accept the plural. Typical countable nouns represent objects that are clearly individual entities, such as houses, cats, and thoughts. For example:
root usage example
-m ma general plural tsakam
houses
-mha ma + -ha indefinite abundance tsakamha
many/a lot houses
-mi ma + -hi indefinite insufficiency tsakami
few houses
tli- tatli collective plural tlikuma
sleuth of bears
-lo ma alternative to -m yamalo
mountains
  • When modified by a number, general plurals need not be marked. Example:
tsaka ta'o - Two houses.

affect / degree

  • The diminutive is formed with -hi, and the augmentative with -ha.

These are respectively realized as -ki and -ka when attached to a word that has a final syllable onset is /h/.

Example : ina - food, meal | inahi - snack, morsel | inaha - feast, banquet
Example : tsaka - house, home, dwelling | tsakahi - shack, hut, cabin | tsakaha - palace, mansion
  • These are also used to differentiate hue, or shade.
Example : yanahi - light yellow, kuyaha - dark green
  • In Kala the concepts of comparative and superlative degree of an adjective 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.”
Example : tahaka - bigger/biggest
tsaka hayo ke nayo tahaka - His house is bigger than mine.
Example : yanaha - more yellow/most yellow
ke mauam tayo yanaha - Your flowers are the most yellow.

gender

  • Nouns do not normally indicate their gender. To distinguish the sexes, the suffixes -ta and -na are used:
  • uma - horse
umata - a male horse, a stallion
umana - a female horse, a mare

pronouns

  • Kala generally distinguishes four persons, the fourth person indicating abstract and inanimate nouns – both in the singular and plural numbers.

There is also a distinction between inclusive (I/we and you) and exclusive (we but not you) forms of the first person plural.

  • na - 1sg
  • ta - 2sg
  • ha - 3sg
  • tla - 4sg

-

  • The two irregular pronouns:
    • na'am - 1pl exclusive
    • kam - 3pl
inflectional affixes
  • -m - plural
  • -nku - reciprocal
  • e- - accusative
  • -i - reflexive
  • -yo - possessive

-

  • Example:
eta nahe tsaka hayo a
acc-2sg inside house 3sg-poss be

correlative pronouns

query this
proximal
that
medial
that (over there)
distal
some none any every whichever
adjective ke...ka
which
itla
this
uatla
that
yetla
that (over there)
iha
some
ok
none
ula
any
kua
every, all
ote
whichever
person ko...ka
who
iko
this person
uako
that person
yeko
that person (over there)
hyako
someone
tlok
no one
kola
anyone
tlokua
everyone
teko
whoever
thing ke...ka
what
itla
this
uatla
that
yetla
that (over there)
hyano
something
nok
nothing
nola
anything
nokua
everything
teno
whatever
time ama...ka
when
ima
now
uama
then
yeme
then
hyamo
sometime
amak
never, at no time
tlama
anytime
kuama
always
tema
whenever
place mo...ka
where
hina
here
uana
there (near you)
yemo
there (away from us)
hyamo
somewhere
mok
nowhere
mola
anywhere
mokua
everywhere
temo
wherever
way to...ka
how
yoto
thus
hyato
somehow
heto
however
amount uku...ka
how much
ok
none
teku
however much
reason nye...ka
why
tenye
why ever

particles

prepositions

  • relational
  1. taye - pertaining to; regarding; about; a matter of
  2. te - of; from [gen]
  3. mahe - approximately; around; close to
  4. ma'a - with [accompanied by; furnished with]; together
  5. ma'ak - without; with no ...
  6. nya - for [benefit; purpose of], [ben]; by [actor; author]
  7. atse - opposite; the other side
  • spatial
  1. pue - back; behind; rear
  2. tahe - below; under; beneath; underneath
  3. kaye - around; encircling; surrounding
  4. ka'e - to; towards; at [moving toward]
  5. maye - between; among
  6. ma'e - before; ahead of; in front of
  7. nahe - into; within; in [located inside of]
  8. saye - along; following [a line]
  9. hue - at [in the same location as]
  10. tsa'e - across ; through; beyond; past
  11. atse - across; opposite; the other side
  12. enye - outside of; exterior to
  13. uaye - from [moving out of or away from]
  14. ua'e - above; over [space]
  15. yane - beside; by; next to; near; close to
  • temporal
  1. pue - afterwards; after; later
  2. ma'e - before; earlier
  3. naye - during; hence
  4. tsaye - since; until

conjunctions

Compound Sentences (Subordinate Clauses)

Comparative, Superlative

possessives

demonstratives

reflexives

adjectives

adverbs

prepositions & conjunctions

Relative Clauses

Interjections

Numbers

Expressions of Time

Ordering of Phrases

Causative Constructions

Compounding

Creating Nouns from Verbs