User:Masako/nkala

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This is kata, a simple language with vocabulary based on the most widely spoken languages and an easily understood, mostly analytic grammar.

phonology

kata has nine consonants (/p, t, k, s, m, n, l, j, w/) and five vowels (/a, e, i, o, u/). Stress is word final.

consonants

Labial Coronal Dorsal
Nasal m n
Plosive p t k
Fricative s
Approximant w l j (y)

vowels

Vowels Front Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a

syllable structure

All syllables are of the form (C)V(N), that is, optional consonant + vowel + optional final nasal, or V, CV, VN, CVN.

phonotactics

A few syllables sequences are disallowed; /ji, wu, wo/. Also, a syllable-final nasal may not occur before /m/ or /n/ in the same root.

allophony

The nasal at the end of a syllable can be pronounced as any nasal stop, though it is normally assimilated to the following consonant. That is, it typically occurs as an [n] before /t/ or /s/, as an [m] before /p/, as an [ŋ] before /k/, and as an [ɲ] before /j/. Because of its small phoneme inventory, kata allows for quite a lot of allophonic variation. For example, /p t k/ may be pronounced [b d ɡ] as well as [p t k], /s/ as [z] or [ʃ] as well as [s], /l/ as [ɾ] as well as [l], and vowels may be either long or short. Both its sound inventory and phonotactics (patterns of possible sound combinations) are found in the majority of human languages and are therefore readily accessible.

writing system

kata uses a modified form of Hangul.

consonants

  • ㄱㄴㄷㄹㅁㅂㅅㅇ
k n t l m p s a
/k n t l m p s -/

vowels

  • ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅘ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ
a ya e ye o wa yo u we wi yu - i
/a ja e je o wa jo u we wi ju - i/

word order

kata has a strict word order. The basic word order is subject–verb–object.

  • * 와 고모 반
wa komo pan
1s eat bread - "I eat bread."

nouns

determiners

Determiners in kata precede the noun they modify.

  • ayo - any; whatever; whichever; whatsoever
  • koye - some; a few; a little
  • kula - all; each; every
  • pu - this; these
  • su - that; those

pronouns

kata has three basic pronouns; wa (first person), ni (second person), and ko (third person). These words do not indicate number or gender, but may be modified to do so if necessary. -lo marks all nouns as plural, and the gender modifiers are -ku (masculine), and -ki (feminine). In cases of singular distinction of gender, koku ("he"), or koki ("she") can be reduced to simply ku and ki.

verbs

adjectives

adverbs

prepositions

  • yu - in; at; on; by

en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Updated_jan_Pije's_lessons

conjunctions

questions

clauses

numbers

  • nula - zero; nothing; 0
  • un - one; single; alone; 1
  • tu - two; 2
  • san - three; 3
  • si - four; 4
  • pata - five; 5
  • lu - six; 6
  • seta - seven; 7
  • ate - eight; 8
  • naye - nine; 9
  • ten - ten; 10
  • miya - hundred; 100
  • mila - thousand; 1000

lexicon

kata word class meaning etymology
ayo det any; whatever; whichever; whatsoever أي
enpo v be away from; move away 遠方
ila v be near; move toward; in direction of إلى
kasa n house; building; apartment; room; residence casa
ki pro she; her هي
ko pro it هُوَ
komo v eat; consume comer
koye det some; a few; a little кое-
ku pro he; him هُوَ
kula det all; whole; entire; every; complete كل
le part completed action marker
loka n place; location; spot; point local
ma part interrogative particle
mama n mother mama
ni pro you
o part direct object particle
oma n grandmother oma
opa n grandfather opa
pan(a) n food; bread pan
papa n father papa
pu det this; these bu
sa part indicating the future tense سَـ
simu n letter (of the alphabet) 字母
su det that; those şu
tanko n word; morpheme 単語
wa pro I; me
yu v be in; at; on

references