introduction

Kalo (taken from caló) is intended to be a minimalist artlang, not an auxlang. It draws primarily on vocabulary from the five most spoken languages in the world; Mandarin, Spanish, English, and Arabic (Hindi is used sparingly although it is spoken by more speakers than Arabic). The grammar is mostly isolating with very few elements of inflection, mostly to show plurality or possession. The goal is to have around 1000 words.

Notable features:

Subject-Verb-Object

highly analytical grammar

invariance between word types

only 14 (base) sounds, 9 consonants, and 5 vowels

simple phonotactics, or syllable structure (C)V(N)

only ~1000 core words

easy-to-follow word compounding

phonology

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

consonants

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

vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid	e	o
Open	a

diphthongs

There are two diphthongs [ai̯] ai, and [au̯] au. These are rare and typically only occur word-finally.

syllable structure

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

syntax

Classical Arabic is primarily VSO, but MSA (Modern Standard Arabic) tends to be SVO, favoring full agreement over partial.

Chinese is classified as an SVO language. Transitive verbs precede their objects in typical simple clauses, while the subject precedes the verb.

Spanish unmarked word order for affirmative declarative sentences is SVO; however, as in other Romance languages, in practice, word order is mostly variable.

English word order is almost exclusively SVO.

Hindi is primarily an SOV language.

Based on the above information about the main source languages for Kalo, it is primarily an SVO (subject-verb-object) language. Modifiers generally follow what they modify, as do prepositional phrases and subordinate clauses.

wa toma - 1S consume - I eat. (SV)

wa amo ko - 1S love 3S - I love her. (SVO)

o pan toma - DO food consume - The bread is eaten. (OV)

nouns

gender

pronouns

wa - I; me [1sg]
ni - you [2sg]
ko - he; she [3sg]

possession

Possession is shown with the particle te - of; from, or with the suffix -yo - have; possess

Plurality is marked with the suffix -lo - a pile

kasalo te ko

house-PL of 3sg

His homes

kasa te walo

house of 1sg-PL

Our home

ipin wayo

child 1sg.POSS

my child

number


Kalo	number	English	Kalo	number	English
nulu	0	zero	na	7	seven
wa	1	one	pa	8	eight
li	2	two	nun	9	nine
san	3	three	ye	10	ten
si	4	four	aku / -ku	100	(one) hundred
pen	5	five	mila	1000	(one) thousand
we	6	six

When numbers one through ten occur independently, the number marker "ke" precedes the number.

ko yo le kasa ke li

3s have PST house NUM two

She had two houses.

wa wite apa ke si

1s see man NUM four

I see four men.

higher numbers

yewa - 11; eleven
yeli - 12; twelve
liye - 20; twenty
liyesi - 24; twenty-four
kuyeli - 112; one-hundred-twelve
sankuweyepen (sanwepen) - 365; three-hundred-sixty-five

verbs

tense

common verbs

kan or kana (ARA/HEB كان/כן) - v - be; exist; live; occur

n - existence

part - yes; thus

yo - have; possess - (ZHO) 有

lexicon

kate - write
kasa - house
kan/a - be; exist; yes [COP]
ke - number marker / noun clause marker
ko (lo) - she; he [3sg]; person(s)
kono - understand; know; be aware of
kowi - coffee
kute - hear; listen; ear
kula - all; every(thing); each; complete; whole
kun - use; with; together
kisa - maybe [future]
na - seven; 7
nai - within; insdie; during; in
ne - no; not; nothing; zero
nesi - need
nun - nine; 9
ni (lo) - you [2sg](pl)
ta - large; be big; grand; important; too; very
te - of; from; about
tela / talo - language; say; speak; talk; utter
teya - tea
tenta - store
toma - consume; eat
tunya - world
tipa / tupa - good; well; fine
le - past tense marker [PST]
lete - milk
lo - plural marker
loka - place
luna - moon; month
li - two; 2; double
ma - what; which
maka - do; make; cause; happen [CAUS]; work
maso (ke) - more (know how to say “more … than …”)
me - but; however; (al)though
meno (ke) - less (know how to say “less … than …”)
mente - idea; think; mind; mental
mila - thousand; 1000
min - country; nation; people; folk; community
pa - eight; 8
pata - after; afterward(s); later / back; behind; rear
pala - word
pan - food; bread
pen - five; 5
po - for; about; through; across; because
poka - few; little; small; tiny
pote - be able to; can / ability; capability
pu - this; these
pula - bad; evil; negative; unfavorable
sa - future tense marker [FUT]
sama - time (as in “a long time”)
sawa - wife, husband
san - three; triple; 3
solo - only
su - that; those

si - four; 4
siti - city
aku - hundred; 100; many; much; a lot
aki - brother; male cousin
ate - be normal; usual; customary; habit(ual)
amo - like; love; adore / affection; adoration; love
ami - friend
apa - man
asi - so (much); therefore; thus
awa - or; other; either
ayo - any/some (thing) [INDEF]
ante - before; front; ahead; facing
anyo - year
ya - vocative marker [VOC]; hey; let's ~
e - and; also; as well; too
elama - learn; study; science; -ology
enkali - English
ye - ten; 10
yen - money
o - object marker
wa (lo) - I; me [1sg](pl) / one; 1
waki - same; be similar
wan - want
yo - have; possess
uma - woman
we - six; 6
wino - alcohol
wite - see; look; watch; observe
yu - at; in
yuma - day
ila - go ((to)ward); leave
i/pin - daughter, son, child

fixes

"sunya" > nulu - zero; empty; nothing
lavar#Spanish > lawa - wash; clean
water > wata - water; be wet; liquid
爸 / ʔabw- / ph₂tḗr
媽 / ʔimm- / méh₂tēr
se - reflexive se#Spanish
sai - color; shade; hue 色
linya - order; sequence; line; border linea#Spanish

phrases

wikitravel.org/en/Category:Phrasebooks

Hello - salama (formal)

ola (informal)

How are you? - moto ni ma?

Please (used to make a polite request) - po tipa ("for good")

Thank you (very much) - tanka (ta)

Yes - kan(a) (it is)

No - ne

Maybe - kisa

User:Masako/Kalo

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