Kalo
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Introduction
Phonology
Consonants
Stops
- t - /t/ >> /tʰ/
- k - /k/ >> /kʰ/
- kw - /kʷ/
Nasals
In anyomo each nasal consonant has a geminate counterpart, and gemination is lexically contrastive.
- m - /m/ >> /mː/
- n - /n/ >> /nː/
- ny - /ɲ/ >> /ɲː/
Approximants
- h - /ɦ/
- w - /w/
- y - /j/
Vowels
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
Close | e | o |
Open | a |
There are only three phonemic vowels: /a e o/. They can be long or short and be one of three tones. Length can be lexical, but tone is strictly phonemic.
- aàáeèéoòó
Tones
There are three phonemic tones, traditionally described as mid, high, and low; in transcription the mid tone is unmarked, and the high and low tones are indicated with acute and grave accents respectively.
high | mid | low | |
---|---|---|---|
front | é | e | è |
central | á | a | à |
back | ó | o | ò |
Morphosyntax
anyomo is an agglutinative language, where words use suffix complexes for a variety of purposes with several morphemes strung together.
Pronouns
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
1 | o- | wà- |
2 | ko- | kwà- |
3 | ∅ | yà- |
Aspect
imperfective
- -a
perfective
- -e
- They have arrived.
- I've bought it.
- We all went.
- This morning I ate breakfast.
durative
- -á
- I'll read, and you listen.
- We will do it, and you all watch.
- Sit for a while. I'll be right back.
- She likes to eat standing up.
- Smiling, he said, "I'm sorry."
progressive
- -ó
- She is reading.
- Mom is making a phone call.
- Who is taking a shower in there?
- The cleaning lady is cleaning our room right now.
- Yesterday at 7pm, we were eating dinner.
- I am working now. It's not convenient for me to leave.
Derivation
Nominalization
Lexicon
affixes
stems
- nyom - speak; talk; converse; chat; discuss
- h - walk; go (away); run; move (of vehicle); visit; leave