User:Masako/sandbox
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k
Pronunciation
- Where ~ appears, it indicates free variation between phonemes.
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) | tɬ (tl) | tʃ (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
- See also: Syllables
- (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
- Nouns include pronouns, adjectives (nouns of quality), and determiners.
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
- taye - pertaining to; regarding; about; a matter of
- te - of; from [gen]
- mahe - approximately; around; close to
- ma'a - with [accompanied by; furnished with]; together
- ma'ak - without; with no ...
- nya - for [benefit; purpose of], [ben]; by [actor; author]
- atse - opposite; the other side
- spatial
- pue - back; behind; rear
- tahe - below; under; beneath; underneath
- kaye - around; encircling; surrounding
- ka'e - to; towards; at [moving toward]
- maye - between; among
- ma'e - before; ahead of; in front of
- nahe - into; within; in [located inside of]
- saye - along; following [a line]
- hue - at [in the same location as]
- tsa'e - across ; through; beyond; past
- atse - across; opposite; the other side
- enye - outside of; exterior to
- uaye - from [moving out of or away from]
- ua'e - above; over [space]
- yane - beside; by; next to; near; close to
- temporal
- pue - afterwards; after; later
- ma'e - before; earlier
- naye - during; hence
- tsaye - since; until