sounds
consonants
| Consonants |
Labial |
Coronal |
Dorsal
|
| Nasal
|
m |
n~ɲ |
|
| Plosive
|
p~ᵐp |
t |
k~kʷ
|
| Fricative
|
|
s~t͡ʃ |
|
| Approximant
|
w |
l~t͡ɬ |
j (y)
|
vowels
|
|
Front
|
Central
|
Back
|
| Close
|
i~iː |
|
u~uː
|
| Open
|
|
a~aː |
|
nouns
gender
Gender is typically not indicated. If necessary, nouns may be prefixed with mu- (male) or yi- (female).
- FEM-speak-NPST
- She speaks.
- MASC-sleep-maybe-PST
- He may have slept.
pronouns
|
|
singular
|
plural
|
| 1
|
wa-
|
kwa-
|
| 2
|
ni-
|
pi- (-mpi-)
|
| 3
|
-
|
ku-
|
- wanyina - 1SG-REFL-know-NPST - I know myself.
- pwa is the first person plural exclusive [we but not you]
- pwakini - 1PL.EXCL-INDEF-see-PST - We saw someone.
locative prefixes
- na- - in; at; on
- ti- - behind; after
verbs
Verbs are the workhorses of Malu. They can mark for both agent and patient as well as tense. Many simple sentences are composed of only a verb. Verbs can also be marked with several suffixes to add or change meaning. The modals and tense affixes can be added in different order to a verb to create a new meaning…their placement is not always fixed.
| Subject
|
Number
|
Gender
|
Object
|
Root
|
Mood/Aspect
|
Mood/Aspect
|
Tense
|
| 0 |
ka- |
mu- |
wa- |
mal |
-ap |
-uk |
-i
|
| 0 |
PL |
MASC |
1SG |
speak |
VOL |
NEG |
PST
|
- The men did not intend to speak to me.
tense
Tense is also distinguished, but only in the indicative. There are two tenses:
- present, which is also used for future events (nonpast tense), marked with -a.
- eat-NPST
- She/he/it eats.
- general past, marked with -i.
- eat-PST
- She/he/it ate.
examples
- wa-ni-mal-uk-i
- 1sg-2sg-speak-NEG-PST
- I did not speak to you
- wa-t-a
- 1sg-be-NPST
- I am
- ku-wa-n-i
- 3pl-1sg-see-PST
- They saw me (I was seen)
- ku-t-uk-i
- 3pl-be-NEG-PST
- They were not
|
- ta-tim-u
- animal-bleed-NOM
- animal blood
- yim-uk-a
- eat-NEG-NPST
- (She/He/It) does not eat
- ki-mpi-mal-atl-i
- SB-2pl-speak-maybe-PST
- Someone may have spoken to you (all)
- ki-lum-a
- SB-sleep-NPST
- Someone is sleeping
|
