User:Masako/pataka

Introduction

Borrowing

Kala borrows extensively from various natural languages. This is a very small sample of borrowings:

• kala – to speak, talk, converse; from Arabic [takallama]
• na – I, me; from Arabic [ʾanā]
• pato – duck (Anatidae); from Spanish [pato]
• tsenka – orange; from Chinese [chéng]
• uasi – to take, get, acquire; from Lakota [wasichu]
• myonta – to allow, permit; from Finnish [myöntää]
• a – to be, exist, yes; from Japanese [aru]

Parts of Speech

Kala has three parts of speech, each with several subgroups.

1. noma - nouns
   1. nkalo - pronouns
2. uati - verbs
   1. tatse - locative verbs (prepositions)
3. peya - particles
   1. nita - interjections
   2. eka - affixes

Phonology

Consonants

• Plosives: /p t k ʔ/ [b d g ɢ]
• Nasals: /m n ɲ/
• Continuants: /s l h/ [ʃ ɾ ɦ]
• Affricates: /t͡s t͡ɬ/ [t͡ʃ t͡l]
• Semivowels: /j w/

• Prenasalized: /ᵐp ⁿt ᵑk/
• Labialized:/pʷ kʷ mʷ nʷ ʃʷ hʷ t͡ʃʷ/
• Palatalized: /pʲ kʲ mʲ hʲ/

Note: Because of its small phoneme inventory, Kala 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 l h/ as [ʃ ɾ ɦ], and /t͡s t͡ɬ/ as [t͡ʃ t͡l]; also, vowels may be either long or short.

Syntax

Sentence	na nyoma ina
Words	na		nyoma		ina
Gloss	I	(AG)	rice	(P)	eat	(pres)
Parts	Agent		Patient		Verb
Translation	I eat rice.