Kala
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- Kala is meant to be a simple and euphonic personal conlang.
- Many lexical entries are inspired/influenced/borrowed by/from any number of natlangs
Phonology
consonants
- Where ~ appears, it indicates free variation between phonemes.
- Plosives
- p - [p~b] | t - [t~d] | k - [k~g] | ' - [?]
- Nasals
- m - [m] | n - [n] | ny - [J]
- Fricatives
- s - [s~S] | h - [h~h\]
- Africates
- ts - [ts~tS] | tl - [tK]
- Approximants
- u - [w] | l - [l] | y - [j]
vowels
- a - /a~a:/ | e - /e~e:/ | i - /i~i:/ | o - /o~o:/ | u - /u~u:/
diphthongs
- ya - /ja:/ | ye - /je:/ | yo - /jo:/ | ua - /wa:/ | ue - /we:/
- ai - /aI:/ | ao - /aU:/ | uai - /waI:/ | yao - /jaU:/
phonotactics
- Kala allows only a single consonant at the start or end of a syllable (the exception being prenasalization), and up to two consonants word medially across a syllable boundary.
- l cannot appear as an onset, the glottal stop, ' , only appears between vowels.
syllable structure
- (m, n)(C)V(k, m, n)
- Prenasalization primarily occurs with k, t and p. (See also: Moya)
syllable stress
- Kala stress is penultimate; that is, the next-to-last syllable of the word is stressed.
Grammar
word order
- The usual, declarative formal word order is subject noun phrase - (object noun phrase) - verb phrase.
- Example : He/She is preparing food.
- ha ina yaso
- 3sg food/eat prepare/ready
- ha ina yaso
- The "indirect object" exists only in the form of a prepositional phrase, and follows the object noun phrase.
- Example : The woman gives the house to me.
- naka ka'e na ke tsaka yeta
- woman to/at 1sg the/a house give
- naka ka'e na ke tsaka yeta
- This construction changes when both the subject (agent) and (indirect)/object (patient) are personal pronouns. In this case, the preposition/al (phrase) is unnecessary.
- Example : She gives the house to me.
- ha'ena ke tsaka yeta
- 3sg-TR-part-1sg the/a house give
- ha'ena ke tsaka yeta
- A chart of the agent-patient transitivity constructions;
1st sing | 2nd sing | 3rd sing | 1st plu | 2nd plu | 3rd plu | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st sing | - | na'eta | na'eha | - | na'etam | na'ekam |
2nd sing | ta'ena | - | ta'eha | ta'enam | - | ta'ekam |
3rd sing | ha'ena | ha'eta | - | ha'enam | ha'etam | ha'ekam |
1st plu | - | nameta | nameha | - | nametam | namekam |
2nd plu | tamena | - | tameha | tamenam | - | tamekam |
3rd plu | kamena | kameta | kameha | kamenam | kametam | - |
verbs
tense
- The present tense is indicated by the basic form.
- ha apua
- 3SG sing
- He/She sings.
- 3SG sing
- The simple past tense is indicated by the suffix -ye.
- ha apuaye
- 3SG sing-PAST
- He/She sang.
- 3SG sing-PAST
- The simple future tense is indicated by the suffix -tli.
- ha apuatli
- 3SG sing-FUT
- He/She will sing.
- 3SG sing-FUT
- The tense may be left out if it is clearly indicated by another word in the same sentence, or when telling a story (the "historical" tense).
- ha yomatli apua
- 3SG day-FUT sing
- He/She will sing tomorrow.
- 3SG day-FUT sing
- ha semaye apua
- 3SG week-PAST sing
- He/She sang last week.
- 3SG week-PAST sing
mood
- Moods are indicated by affixes appended to verbs in all tenses.
- The negative mood is indicated by the suffix -k.
- kam inak
- 3PL eat-NEG
- They are not eating. / They do not eat.
- 3PL eat-NEG
- The volitive mood is indicated by the suffix -ue (from ueha - to want, desire).
- nam tsomaueye
- 1PL smoke-VOL-PAST
- We wanted to smoke.
- 1PL smoke-VOL-PAST
- The necessitative mood is indicated by the suffix -he (from heta - to need, require).
- ta simahetlik
- 2S sit-NEC-FUT-NEG
- You will not need to sit.
- 2S sit-NEC-FUT-NEG
- The abilitative mood is indicated by the suffix -pa (from pala - to be able).
- na mokupa
- 1S sleep-ABIL
- I can sleep. / I am able to sleep.
- 1S sleep-ABIL
nouns
affect/degree
- The diminutive is formed with -hi, and the augmentative with -ha. These are respectively realized as -ki and -ka when attached to a word that has a final syllable containing h or y.
- Example : ina - food, meal | inahi - snack, morsel | inaha - feast, banquet
- Example : tsaka - house, home, dwelling | tsakahi - shack, hut, cabin | tsakaha - palace, mansion
- These are also used to differentiate hue, or shade.
- Example : yanahi - light yellow, kuyaha - dark green
- In Kala the concepts of comparative and superlative degree of an adjective are merged into a single form, the elative. How this form is understood or translated depends upon context and definiteness. In the absence of comparison, the elative conveys the notion of “greatest”, “supreme.”
- Example : tahaka - bigger/biggest | tsaka hayo ke nayo tahaka - His house is bigger than mine.
- Example : yanaha - more yellow/most yellow | ke huam tayo yanaha - Your flowers are the most yellow.
plurals
- Concrete nouns are pluralized by suffixing -m.
- Examples : kono - stone > konom - stones | naka - woman > nakam - women
- When the last syllable of a word contains an m, the plural is marked by reduplicating the final vowel.
- Examples : kama - village > kama'a - villages | yama - mountain > yama'a - mountains
- Collective (plural) nouns are marked by prefixing tli-.
- Examples : tsaka - house > tlitsaka - neighborhood | yama - mountain > tliyama - mountain range
- Nouns need not be marked plural if a number is used to show quantity.
- Example : sahi - color > sahim - colors > sahi ya'o - five color(s)
- Adjectives do not show plural agreement. However, when an adjective is used nominally, it can be pluralized.
- Example : nyeli - pink > nyelim - (the) pink (ones)
gender
- In general, nouns do not indicate their gender. To distinguish the sexes, one can use the adjectival endings -ta and -na.
- Example : nikata "a male dog", nikana "a female dog".
articles
- There is only one article in Kala, ke. It is used primarily as a "noun marker".
- It is ambi-definite, meaning it can be either definite or indefinite. The distinction is made through context.
- Example : kama "village", ke kama "the/a village", ke kama'a "the villages"
- Example : inahi "snack", ke inahi "the/a snack", ke inahim "the snacks"
questions
- When asking questions in Kala, the idea, or concept, is the subject, and the entire construction is followed by the interrogative particle ka.
- ama...ka - when, lit: time...INT
- ko...ka - who, lit: person [Agentive]...INT
- koyo...ka - whose, lit: person-POSS...INT
- nye...ka - why, lit: reason...INT
- no...ka - what, lit: thing [Instrument]...INT
- mo...ka - where, lit: place...INT
- to...ka - how, what manner, lit: manner/method...INT
- ku / o...ka - how much/many, lit: number/amount...INT
examples
- ama nam yalatli ka
- time 1PL go-FUT INT
- When will we go?
- ko ke tlaka ka
- person that man INT
- Who is that man?
- nye kam hina ka
- reason 3PL here INT
- Why are they here?
- no a ka / itla ka
- thing be INT / this INT
- What is this?
- koyo kama ke yama hina ka
- person-POSS village the mountain near INT
- Whose village is near the mountain?
- mo satila nayo ka
- place sandwich 1SG-POSS INT
- Where is my sandwich?
- to nam yalatli ka
- manner 1PL travel-FUT INT
- How will we travel?
- ku ekam yetaye ka
- amount TR-3PL give-PAST INT
- How many were they given?
pronouns
Nominative | Accusative | Possessive | Reflexive | Reciprocal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st sing | na | ena | nayo | na'i | |
2nd sing | ta | eta | tayo | ta'i | |
3rd sing | ha | eha | hayo | ha'i | |
1st plu | nam | enam | namyo | nami | nanku |
1st plu (EXCL) | na'am | ena'am | na'amyo | na'ami | na'anku |
2nd plu | tam | etam | tamyo | tami | tanku |
3rd plu | kam | ekam | kamyo | kami | kanku |
examples
- ina namyo
- food 1PL-POSS
- Our food.
- kami itsa
- 3PL-REFL love
- They love themselves.
- tanku moto ka
- 2PL-RECP remember INT
- Do you remember each other?
- eha unyatlik
- ACC-3SG understand-FUT-NEG
- He/She will not be understood.
Article 1, UDHR