User:Masako/nkala
kamalo
phonology
consonants
- nasals: /m n ɲ/ m n ny
- plosives: /p t k kʷ/ p t k kw
- affricates: /t͡ɬ/ tl
- continuants: /l h~ɦ/ l h
- semivowels: /j w/ y w
All plosives, except the glottal stop, can be prenasalized: /ᵐp ⁿt ᵑk ᵑkʷ/.
vowels
Kamalo only uses three vowels; /a e o/, occasionally they contrast for length. ā ē ō
phonotactics
morphology
Kamalo is an agglutinative and polysynthetic language that makes extensive use of compounding, incorporation and derivation. That is, it can add many different prefixes and suffixes to a root until very long words are formed, and a single word can constitute an entire sentence.
nouns
pronouns
| singular | dual | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | wa- | pwa- | kwa- |
| 2 | ne- | (m)pe- | (n)ke- |
| 3 | (h)o- | po- | ko- |
possession
Possession is marked by the nominal suffix -o and a pronominal prefix attached to a stem.
- kwamalo - 1pl-speak-NOM - our word
- tlayemo - MASC-eat-NOM - his food
- popato - 3du-be.aware-NOM - their awareness
- wanyako - 1s-burn-NOM - my fire
pronominal prefixes
Verb arguments (i.e. subject, direct object, indirect object) are indicated with pronominal affixes which are added to verb stems. The pronominal affixes are inflected according to number (singular, dual, and plural) and person (1st, 2nd, etc.).
| subject | object | verb | tense / aspect / mood |
|---|---|---|---|
| ko- | wa- | kop | -e |
| 3pl | 1sg | harm | PST |
| kowakope | |||
| They harmed me. | |||
noun modifiers
- he- - color of ~
- ye- - feminine; female [FEM]
- tla- - masculine; male [MASC]
- -o - marks noun; nominalizer [NOM]
number
Nouns are marked for various quantities:
- pa- - dual; pair of; both [DU]
- ka- - plural [PL]
- te- - few; little [quantity]
- ma- - many; much
- mo- - group; collection; mass of
- mwa- - all; every
- no- - one; a
- yo- - piece of
verbs
The kamalo verb is quite complex and inflects for many grammatical categories. The verb is composed of a root, prefixes, and suffixes. The prefixes indicate the person of the subject, and person and number of the object and indirect object, whereas the suffixes indicate tense, aspect, mood and possession.
- wakoyemapotla
- wa-ko-yem-ap-otl-a
- 1sg-3pl-eat-CAUS-DES-NPST
- "I want to feed them"
verb modifiers
- -a - active; present tense [ACT]
- -at- - augmentative; large [AUG]
- -atl- - tentative; possible [TENT]
- -e - past tense; perfective [PST]
- -em - interrogative [Q]
- -ok- - negative [NEG]
particles
- ma - interrogative particle [INT]; "is it that"
- used to form questions of all types
- oka - "no"
- used as a negative response to polar questions
- we - "but" / "or"
- used in conjunctions, and in contrasts
syntax
roots
- pat- - be awake; aware; focused
- t- - be; exist [COP]
- kam- - symbol; write; mark
- kop- - harm; hurt; corrupt
- mak- - want; desire; love
- mal- - speak; talk
- n- - know; see
- nay- - loud; noise; roar
- nyak- - fire; burn; light
- hen- - colored; non-white; non-ferrous (metals)
- wap- - rhythm; pulse; meter
- way- - go; move; walk
- lom- - sleep; rest; relax
- tlel- - bathe; wash
- y- - have; belong; get
- yam- - delight; happy; toy; glad
- yap- - be green; foliage; plant
- yat- - hand; five; grab
- yem- - eat; nourish; bread
samples
- wanemaka - 1-2-love-ACT - I love you.
- koyematloka - 3-eat-TENT-NEG-ACT - He might not eat.
- ma newane - INT 2-1-see-PST - Did you see me?
wordgen seed
C=ptkqmnfhwylx V=aeo
q|kw f|ny x|tl wo|wa
