Introduction

Borrowing

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

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]

Parts of Speech

Kala has three parts of speech, each with several subgroups. Nouns and verbs are substantive, while particles tend to be only functionary.

noma - nouns
1. nkalo - personal pronouns
2. uatse - demonstratives
uati - verbs
1. pusa - adverbials
2. tatse - locative verbs (prepositions)
3. keyo - descriptive verbs (adjectives)
peya - particles
1. nita - interjections
2. eka - affixes

Verbs

Tense

Kala has three simple tenses; past, present, and future. Present tense is unmarked. However, past and future 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.

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: yomaye nam ina - yesterday 1pl eat - We ate yesterday.

present

The present tense can show immediacy by using the adverb ima, "now; at this time".

mita ina - dog eat - The dog eats.
ima mita ina - now dog eat - The dog is eating right now.

past

The past tense is marked with -ye, from aye - "it was".

mita inaye - dog eat-PST - The dog ate.
mita inayeha - dog eat-PST-AUG - The dog ate a long while ago.
mita inayehi - dog eat-PST-DIM - The dog just ate.

can be marked with -hye

future

The future tense is marked with -tli, from atli - "it will be".

mita inatli - dog eat-FUT - The dog will eat.
mita inatliha - dog eat-FUT-AUG - The dog will eat in a long while.
mita inatlihi - dog eat-FUT-DIM - The dog is about to eat (will eat soon).

can be marked with -tlai {except when followed by a modal affix)

Aspect

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".

mita inanko - dog eat-CONT - The dog is eating.
mita inankoye - dog eat-CONT-PST - The dog was eating.
mita inankotli - dog eat-CONT-FUT - The dog will be eating.

perfective

This 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".

mita inapua - dog eat-PFV - The dog has eaten.
mita inapuaye - dog eat-PFV-PST - The dog had eaten.
mita inapuatli - dog eat-PFV-FUT - The dog will have eaten.

inchoative

This aspect refers to the beginning of a state [INCH]. It is marked with -mu, from mula - "to begin; start; initiate".

mita inamu - dog eat-INCH - The dog is beginning to eat.
mita inamuye - dog eat-INCH-PST - The dog started to eat.
mita inamutli - dog eat-INCH-FUT - The dog will begin to eat

frequentative

This aspect refers to a repeated action [FREQ]. It is marked with -nua, from nua - "frequent; often; regular".

mita inanua - dog eat-FREQ - The dog eats often.
mita inanuaye - dog eat-FREQ-PST - The dog ate regularly.
mita inanuatli - dog eat-FREQ-FUT - The dog will eat often.

Mood

negative

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.

Particles

Conjunctions

Function words

Interjections

Syntax

The basic structure of a Kala sentence is:

AGENT--PATIENT--VERB

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.

Comparisons

When things being compared have equal characteristics, the comparison of equality is used.

mita kue tahi taha - dog like boy big - The dog is as big as the boy.
mpa'a kue mosa niha - movie like book nice - The movie is as good as the book.

If two things are not equal, they are unequal.

We are not the same height.
You are taller than I.

The two items do not cost the same.
The camera is more expensive than the television.

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 of question contains a question word and is followed by ka:

ke mita ina ka - O dog eat Q - What does the dog eat?
ko ina ka - person eat Q - Who eats?
koyo mita ina ka - person-POSS dog eat Q - Whose dog eats?
to mita ina ka - manner dog eat Q - How does the dog eat?
mo mita ina ka - place dog eat Q - Where does the dog eat?
nye mita ina ka - reason dog eat Q - Why does the dog eat?
ama mita ina ka - time dog eat Q - When does the dog eat?
uku mita ina ka - amount dog eat Q - How much/many does the dog eat?

User:Masako/pataka

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