User:Masako/pataka

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A short primer for Kala grammar. The full grammar can be found here:

Han Moya

Han Moya is an adaptation of Hangul for writing Kala. It is written horizontally, in lines running from left to right. It can also be written vertically in columns.

Consonants

  • ㄱㄲㄴㄷㄸㄹㅁㅂㅃㅅㅆㅇㅈㅉㅊㅋㅌㅍㅎ
k nk n t nt l m p mp s ns a ts nts ts` k` tl p` h
/k~g ᵑk~ⁿg n t~d ⁿt~ⁿd l~ɾ m p~b ᵐp~ᵐb s~ʃ ⁿs~ⁿʃ - ts~t͡ʃ ⁿts~ⁿt͡ʃ tsʰ~t͡ʃʰ kʰ t͡ɬ~tl pʰ h~ɦ/

The adaptations of doubled consonants are used word initially to indicate prenasalization. Medial occurrences of nasalized syllables are written across syllables.

Vowels

  • ㅏ ᅶ ㅐ ㅑ ᅸ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ
a ao ai ya yao e ye o ao yo ua uai ue u i
/a~a: aʊ̯ aɪ̯ ja~ʲa: jaʊ̯~ʲaʊ̯ e~ɛ je~ʲɛ o~o: jo~ʲo: wa~ʷa: waɪ̯~ʷaɪ̯ we~ʷe: u~u: i~ɪ/
  • This is pronounced /we/ in Korean because of the order of the vowels; however, because obsolete jamo are difficult to type and look junky as images, in Kala, this is used for /aʊ̯/ when typing. It is rarely seen due to the diphthong itself being uncommon.


Adjectives

Kala does not have morphologically distinct adjectives. Stative verbs are the words that modify nouns in an attributive and often adjectival way. They often express a state like a quality or result.

  • tsaka ketla
house be.red
The house is red.

The comparative is made by using the augmentative or diminutive ending on the verb.

  • tsaka hayo ke nayo ketlaha
house 3s.GEN O 1s.GEN be.red-AUG
His house is more red than mine.

Equivalence is indicated with either kue (as, like), or mya (as...as).

  • tsaka hayo kue nayo ketla
house 3s.GEN as 1s.GEN be.red
His house is red like mine.
  • tsaka hayo mya nayo ketla
house 3s.GEN as.X.as 1s.GEN be.red
His house is as red as mine.

Like verbs, adjectives can be used as nouns. For example, aya means "beautiful", but ayako means "a beautiful one" or "a beauty." An adjective can be made into an abstract noun by adding -n (-ity, -ness, -ship, -hood). In this way aya becomes ayan, meaning "beauty". This can also be used with nouns: ona (mother) becomes onan (motherhood).

Adverbs

Kala does not have morphologically distinct adverbs. Adverbs can be formed from all adjectives (or stative verbs) by adding -n to the root. Since this rule is regular, it is not generally indicated in grammatical examples or in the lexicon.

  • aya - beautiful >> ayan - beautifully
  • tama - good >> taman - well
  • poyo - rich >> poyon - richly
  • tsipue - slow >> tsipuen - slowly (this can also be marked on the main verb with -tsue)
  • tlaki - fluent >> tlakin - fluently

Prepositions

Kala does not have prepositions (or postpositions) as a distinct part of speech. Instead, many locative verbs can be used as adpositionals, in which case they precede the noun they modify. There is one general locative (-hue) which is affixed to nouns (and occasionally verbs) to indicate the sense of “at; in; on”. Here are some common verbs used as adpositions:

  • pahe - against; touching
  • pa'e - apart from; other than; except for
  • paye - beyond; exceeding; farther than
  • pue - after; back; behind; rear
  • tahe - below; beneath; under
  • ka'e - to; towards; at [moving toward]
  • kaye - around; encircling; surrounding
  • mahe - around; approximate; close to
  • ma'a - with [accompanied by / furnished with]
  • ma'e - before; in front
  • maye - between; among
  • nahe - in [located inside of]; internal
  • nyaue - outside of; exterior to
  • sahe - across; opposite; other side
  • saye - along; following [a line]
  • hue / -hue - at [in the same location as] [LOC]
  • tsa'e - across; through
  • ua'e - above; over / on
  • uaye - from [moving out of or away from]
  • ya'e - near; close to
  • yomo - to the right of
  • yoso - to the left of


  • na ke ito yamahue anyapa
1sg O tree hill-LOC see-ABIL
I can see a tree on the hill.
  • ntahim nyaue tsaka yoti
child-PL outside.of house play
The children are playing outside of the house.

Conjunctions

Words and phrases may be coordinated in Kala with the following words:

  • pa - although; even though; even if
  • ku - and; also [clause level]
  • ma - and; also; too; as well
  • ehe / (me) - but; yet; however
  • impo - therefore; as a result; so; consequently; thus
  • ua - or; other; else
  • ue - either X or Y
  • uenke / (uek) - neither X nor Y
  • yatli - if X then Y
  • yema - both X and Y
  • yetli - if it were not; if not X then Y >> X yatli Y
  • ha'ena itsa ehe hinak
3s-P.1s love but be.here-NEG
She loves me but is not here.
  • aye na tala ku matsu
PST 1s come CONJ conquer
I came, I conquered.


Questions

There are two types of questions: Polar, those which may be answered "yes" or "no," and those which require explanations as answers.

polar questions

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.
  • nta'i moku
baby sleep
The baby is sleeping. / The baby sleeps.
  • ta ke tlo'o anyaye
2SG O elephant see-PST
You saw the elephant.
  • tekatlo eta ke ya'a yetaye
heal-AG P.2SG O medicine give-PST
The doctor gave you the medicine.
  • mita ina ka
dog eat Q
Does the dog eat?
  • nta'i moku ka
baby sleep Q
Is the baby sleeping?
  • ta ke tlo'o anyaye ka
2SG O elephant see-PST Q
Did you see the elephant?
  • tekatlo eta ke ya'a yetaye ka
heal-AG P.2SG O medicine give-PST Q
Did the doctor give you the medicine?


content questions

Questions that give a list of possible answers are formed like polar questions, with the conjunction ue ‘or’ introducing each alternative (which must appear in the form of a noun phrase).

  • ta ke nkapa ue maya inuue ka
2SG O beer or.EXCL water drink-VOL Q
Do you want to drink beer or water?
  • uala ta ke sinka mataye ue empa ma koma ka
truly 2sg O lion kill-PST or.EXCL flee CONJ hide Q
Did you really kill the lion, or did you run away and hide?

Open content questions are most easily formed with the correlatives, such as ko ‘person’, mo ‘place’, to ‘manner’, etc. These correlatives always appear clause-initially:

  • ko ta ka
person 2sg Q
Who are you?
  • itla ka
this Q
What is this?
  • to kihu ka
manner weather Q
What's the weather like?

The other type contains a question word and is followed by ka:

kanyo
Kala gloss English
object ke mita ina ka O dog eat Q What does the dog eat?
person ko ina ka person eat Q Who eats?
possession koyo mita ina ka person-POSS dog eat Q Whose dog eats?
manner to mita ina ka manner dog eat Q How does the dog eat?
place mo mita ina ka place dog eat Q Where does the dog eat?
reason nye mita ina ka reason dog eat Q Why does the dog eat?
time ama mita ina ka time dog eat Q When does the dog eat?
amount uku mita ina ka amount dog eat Q How much/many does the dog eat?
which ula mita ina ka any dog eat Q Which dog eats?

Clauses

Relative clauses (or adjective clauses) function like adjectives. Relative clauses follow the noun or noun phrase that they modify:

  • naka ke na itsatle te ameyo
woman O 1s love-REL from America
The woman (that) I love comes from America.
  • mayo ke na kitlayetle muyak
tool O 1s create-PST-REL do-NEG
The tool (that) I built doesn't function.
  • na ke ta yani unyak / na ke yani tayo unyak
1s O 2s mean know-NEG / 1s O meaning 2s.GEN know-NEG
I don't understand what you mean.