Kala
The Kala conlang...
introduction
Kala is a personal conlang (actually more of an artlang), not attached to any conworld or conculture.
characteristics
Kala is a context-oriented language. In most cases, the more important elements of a phrase are clustered toward the end of the sentence (e.g. verbs and their modifiers). The less important an element is to the understanding of a sentence, the more likely it is to be dropped. Consequently, many Kala sentences end-up consisting solely of a verb (or adjectival verb). More so in conversation than in written Kala, these short phrases are grammatically correct and natural. Here are some examples:
- muya ka - do Q - (What are you) doing?
- ina - eat - (I am) eating.
- tamatse - good-seem - (That looks) good.
- ueha ka - want Q - (Do you) want (some)?
- nyasak - thank-NEG - No, thank (you).
Notice that none of the above contain any pronouns, or nouns. Any contextually understood elements may be omitted unless indispensable.
parts of speech
Kala has three parts of speech, each with several subgroups. Nouns and verbs are substantive, while particles tend to be only functional. Many of the words can be used as both nouns and verbs. The best, and most common example would be ina (food; to eat).
- na ina - 1sg eat - I eat.
- na ke ina anya - 1sg O food see - I see the food.
borrowing
Kala borrows extensively from various natural languages. This is a very small sample of borrowings:
See also: etymology
- 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
phonology
consonants
- Where ~ appears, it indicates free variation between phonemes.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central | lateral | |||||
| Nasal | m (m) | n (n) | ɲ (ny) | |||
| Plosive | p~b (p) | t~d (t) | k~g (k) | ʔ (`) | ||
| Affricate | ts (ts) | t͡ɬ~tl (tl) | t͡ʃ (ts) | |||
| Continuant | s (s) | l~ɾ (l) | ʃ (s) | h~ɦ (h) | ||
| Semivowel | j (y) | w (u) | ||||
- 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.
vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i~ɪ (i) | u~u: (u) | |
| Mid | e~ɛ (e) | o~o: (o) | |
| Open | a~a: (a) |
Kala has five vowels /i/, /e/, /a/, /o/ and /u/. Each occurs in both stressed and unstressed syllables. Phonetic nasalization occurs for vowels occurring between nasal consonants or when preceding a syllable-final nasal, e.g. tsunka [ˈt͡ʃũᵑka] ('bug').
diphthongs
Phonetically, Kala has only two diphthongs, both falling; [aɪ̯] and [aʊ̯], but there are five syllables that can be analyzed as rising diphthongs; [wa], [we], [ja], [je], and [jo]. The two triphthongs [waɪ̯] and [jaʊ̯] are very rare but should be noted as possible.
syllable structure
Kala words are typically made up of open syllables of the type CV (consonant-vowel) with most words having syllables exclusively of this type. There is a limited set of syllables allowed by Kala phonotactics, similar to Japanese or Chinese. They are listed here: syllable chart, or here.
- /l/ cannot occur word initially (except in loan words and toponyms).
word order
The basic structure of a Kala sentence is:
AGENT--PATIENT--VERB (or SOV)
The agent is the person or thing doing the action described by the verb; The patient is the recipient of that action. The importance of word order can be seen by comparing the following sentences:
- mita tlaka anya - dog man see - The dog sees the man.
- tlaka mita anya - man dog see - The man sees the dog.
In both sentences, the words are identical, the only way to know who is seeing whom is by the order of the words in the sentence.
nouns
plural
- Nouns can be marked plural by -m (or -lo if the final syllable contains /m/ or /p/, or, if the word begins with a vowel).
- In general the plural suffix is not used when the plurality of the noun is clear from context. For example, while the English sentence "there are three dogs" would use the plural "dogs" instead of the singular "dog", the Kala sentence mita ha'o a "dog three exist" keeps the word mita "dog" in its unmarked form, as the numeral makes the plural marker redundant.
- The collective plural is marked by tli-, derived from tatli, meaning group; collection; gathering. It is mainly used to indicate collectives of animals, but can also indicate groups of flora, geographic features, and various other groupings. This is called the collective plural (COL).
- ata - name > atalo - names
- mita – dog > mitam - dogs > tlimita – pack of dogs
- yama – mountain > tliyamalo – mountain ranges
- tsaka – house > tlitsaka – neighborhood
- puku – clothing > tlipuku – wardrobe
gender
- Gender is not normally marked but can be by -na (FEM), -ta (MASC), or nouns such as naka, tlaka, nahi, or tahi (the woman, the man, the girl, the boy), etc. A gender neutral suffix, -nta may be used when the gender is unknown or ambiguous.
determiners
Determiners precede the noun they modify in Kala. Kala makes a three-way distinction. Typically there is a distinction between proximal or first person (objects near to the speaker), medial or second person (objects near to the addressee), and distal or third person (objects far from both).
- itla (i-) - this (near me)
- uatla (ua-) - that (near you)
- yetla (ye-) - that (over there)
The demonstratives can be prefixed to any noun to show deixis.
Quantifiers follow the noun that modify.
- kua (-kua) - all; every; whole
- oli (-li) - each; every
- ula (-la) - whatever; any; some
- mi (-mi) - few; little
- nke (-k) - none
- mpa (-mpa) - many; much; a lot
- maha - more; plus
- ohi - less; fewer
pronouns
Kala agent pronouns are often omitted when the person is obvious from context. There are four persons in Kala. The 4th being inanimate, or indefinite. There is a special pronoun na'am which is used as the 1st person plural exclusive, meaning "We, but not you." The 3rd person plural is irregular, all other pronoun decline regularly. Pronouns do not inflect for gender; if gender is significant, one can use words like naka, tlaka, nahi, tahi (the woman, the man, the girl, the boy), etc.
- na - 1st person
- ta - 2nd person
- ha - 3rd person
- tla - 4th person ("it", "one")
Modifiers:
- -m - plural
- -nku - reciprocal (only attaches to plural pronouns)
- e- - patient
- -i - reflexive
- -yo - possessive
Here is a chart with all regular declensions of Kala pronouns.
Other pronouns include:
- tlokua - everyone, everybody
- kola - someone, somebody; whomever, anyone, anybody
- tlok - no one, nobody
- nokua - everything
- nola - something; whatever, anything
- nok - nothing
verbs
...
particles
ke
- The patient, or object (O) marker.
conjunctions
There are three coordinating conjunctions in Kala and three correlative conjunctions:
coordinating
|
correlative
|
prepositions
Kala does not have prepositions as a distinct part of speech. Instead, many locative verbs can be used as prepositions, in which case they precede the noun they modify. There is one general locative (-hue) which is affixed to nouns (and occasionally verbs) to indicate the sense of “at; in; on”.
adjectives
Kala does not have adjectives as a distinct part of speech. Instead, many intransitive verbs can be used as adjectives. This leaves open to interpretation many phrases.
- mita inya - dog be.hungry
- The dog hungers.
- The dog is hungry.
- The hungry dog.
- A hungry dog.
- tsaka ketla - house be.red
- The house is red.
- The red house.
- A red house.
adverbs
Temporal adverbs in Kala precede the verb phrase they modify. Other adverbs follow the verb or adjective they modify and are explicitly marked by -n.
questions
There are two types of questions: Polar, those which may be answered "yes" or "no," and those which require explanations as answers. Any statement can become a polar question by adding the interrogative particle ka at the end of the sentence.
- mita ina - dog eat - The dog eats.
- mita ina ka - dog eat Q - Does the dog eat?
The other type contains a question word and is followed by ka:
| Kala | gloss | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| object | ke mita ina ka | O dog eat Q | What does the dog eat? |
| person | ko ina ka | person eat Q | Who eats? |
| possession | koyo mita ina ka | person-POSS dog eat Q | Whose dog eats? |
| manner | to mita ina ka | manner dog eat Q | How does the dog eat? |
| place | mo mita ina ka | place dog eat Q | Where does the dog eat? |
| reason | nye mita ina ka | reason dog eat Q | Why does the dog eat? |
| time | ama mita ina ka | time dog eat Q | When does the dog eat? |
| amount | uku mita ina ka | amount dog eat Q | How much/many does the dog eat? |
| which | ula mita ina ka | any dog eat Q | Which dog eats? |
clauses
comparative
In Kala the concepts of comparative and superlative degree of an adjective (verb) 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.”
- tsaka hayo ke nayo tahaka
- house 3sg.POSS O 1sg.POSS big-AUG
- His house is bigger than mine.
- ke mauam tayo yanaha
- O flower.PL 2sg.POSS yellow-AUG
- Your flowers are the most yellow.
- iyapo ke tsaka tayo pakoha
- PROX-building O home 2sg new-AUG
- This building is newer than your home.
relative
In a relative clause, the verb has the suffix -tle (or -le if the final syllable contains /tl/) added to it. The order of the words in relative clauses remains the same as in regular clauses. The use of participles in Kala is rather different than in English and at first sight is difficult to understand. This is mainly due to the fact that the relative pronouns who, what, which, where are not used in Kala as in English.
- yalapa - to be able to walk produces: yalapatle - who/which/that can walk
- yalapak - not to be able to walk produces: yalapanketle - who/which/that can't walk
This nominalizes the verb in some cases, and makes it possible for it to be either the subject or the object.
- na ke tlaka nya inama talatle unya
- 1sg O man for eat-time come-REL know
- I know the man who is coming to lunch.
- ke naka patlole pako
- O woman sweep-REL young
- The woman who is sweeping is young.
The relative suffix is most often in the final position. In some cases, it may be followed by the negative -k.
- itsaka na sutahuetle
- PROX-house 1sg reside-LOC-REL
- This is the house in which I live.
- itsaka na sutahueyetle
- PROX-house 1sg reside-LOC-PST-REL
- This is the house in which I lived.
numbers
| Kala | number | English | Kala | number | English | Kala | number | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ye'o | 0 | zero | tsa'o | 6 | six | nya'o | 500 | five hundred |
| na'o | 1 | one | ka'o | 7 | seven | tle'o | 103 | (one) thousand |
| ta'o | 2 | two | pa'o | 8 | eight | mue'o | 104 | ten thousand |
| ha'o | 3 | three | sa'o | 9 | nine | kye'o | 105 | (one) hundred thousand |
| ma'o | 4 | four | ue'o | 10 | ten | nte'o | 106 | (one) million |
| ya'o | 5 | five | nye'o | 100 | (one) hundred | hue'o | 109 | (one) billion |
forming larger numbers
- uena'o - eleven / 11
- taue'o - twenty / 20
- nyeka'o - one hundred seven / 107
- hanyetauetsa'o (long form) / hatatsa'o (short form) - three hundred twenty six / 326
- tsatletauema'o - six thousand and twenty four / 6024
other number forms
| Kala | number | English | ordinal | multiple | fractional |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| na'o | 1 | one | kina'o first |
tina'o once |
- |
| ueta'o | 12 | twelve | kiueta'o twelfth |
tiueta'o twelve times |
iueta'o a twelfth |
| yauema'o (yama'o) |
54 | fifty four | kiyama'o fifty fourth |
tiyama'o 54 times |
iyama'o a fifty fourth |
| nyetsa'o | 106 | one hundred (and) six | kinyetsa'o 106th |
tinyetsa'o 106 times |
inyetsa'o a 106th |
| katle'o | 7000 | seven thousand | kikatle'o seven thousandth |
tikatle'o 7000 times |
ikatle'o 1/7000 |
