Introduction

Kala is a personal conlang (actually more of an artlang), based on my aesthetic preferences, not attached to any conworld or conculture. This language draws on natlangs (natural language), other conlangs, and of course imagination. Kala was started in late 2009. The phonemic inventory is based on Classical Nahuatl while the syllable structure and vowels are based on the strict (C)V structure of Japanese, and the presence of prenasalized stops is influenced by Bantu languages. Kala’s grammar was initially based on Japanese but has changed based on influence from several natural and constructed languages. Many – if not most – of Kala lexemes are derived from or inspired by natural languages. A few have been taken from previous projects or constructed languages such as Ajara (a cipherlang from my youth) and Qatama (a conlang that I abandoned several years ago).

Characteristics

Kala has two parts of speech. Nouns and verbs are content words, while particles (and others) tend to be only functional. Many content words can be used as both nouns and verbs. The best and most common example would be ina /iːˈna/ "food; to eat". 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 - /muːja gaː/ - do Q - (What are you) doing?
ina - /iːna/ - eat - (I am) eating.
tamatse - /tamaːˌt͡ʃɛ/ - good-seem - (That looks) good.
ueha ka - /weːɦa kaː/ - want Q - (Do you) want (some)?
nyasak - /ɲaːʃak/ - thank-NEG - No, thank (you).

Notice that none of the above contains any pronouns, or nouns. Any contextually understood elements may be omitted unless indispensable. There can be considerable divergence from what is grammatical, and what is acceptably idiomatic. The spectrum of formality and grammatical to idiomatic can be seen in the example below:

na’etla muyaye – 1s-P.4s do-PST – I did it. > [grammatical, formal]
etla muyaye – P.4s do-PST – (I) did it. >> It was done. > [grammatical, formal, passive]
na muyaye – 1s do-PST – I did (it). > [grammatical, informal]
muyaye – do-PST – (I) did (it). > [semi-grammatical, idiomatic]
muyye – /muːɟɛ/ – do-PST – (I) did (it). > [ungrammatical, idiomatic]

Borrowing

See also: Kala etymology

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

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

So, some phrases can contain words from multiple natlangs:

ta ke inu uasiye ka

2s O drink take-PST Q

Did you take the drink?

ta - Arabic ʾanta
ke - Chinese gè
inu - Hawaiian inu
uasi - Lakota wasichu
ka - Japanese か

Phonology

Consonants

Where ~ appears, it indicates free variation between phonemes.

Consonants
	Labial	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m (m)	n (n)		ɲ (ny)
Plosive	p~b (p)	t~d (t)			k~g (g)	ʔ ( ' )
Affricate		ts~t͡ʃ (ts)	t͡ɬ~tl (tl)
Continuant		s~ʃ (s)	l~ɾ (l)			h~ɦ (h)
Semivowel				j (y)	w (u)

The glottal stop is not phonemic but is included in the chart above for completeness. It is only ever intervocalic, meaning it is pronounced between two vowels and/or diphthongs. Where ~ appears, it indicates free variation between phonemes. However, certain sounds change in a predictable way. For example, /h/ becomes [ɦ] when preceded or followed by a front vowel, including when labialized or palatalized. The alveolar affricates are most often /t͡ʃ/ and /t͡ɬ/. The “s” is almost always /ʃ/ unless preceded or followed by a syllable with the onset /t͡ʃ/, in which case “s” becomes /s/. So, sama (sun; star; solar) is /ˈʃaːma/ where sitsa (heat; hot) is /ˈsiːt͡ʃa/ and tsisi (embroider; embroidery) is /t͡ʃiːsi/.

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

Vowels
	Front	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.

Phonotactics

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.

/l/ cannot occur word initially (except in loanwords and toponyms):

lupunan = Lebanon

lupusu = Lupus

Syllables

Syllable structure in Kala is typically made up of open syllables of the type CV (consonant-vowel) with most lexemes having syllables exclusively of this type. The exception to this rule are the endings –m (indicating general plural), -n (indicating adverbial or adjectival use), and –k (indicating negative mood). These endings all are word final. In detail a Kala syllable can be analyzed thusly: (N)(C)(u, y)V(a, i) where (N) indicates nasalization, and u and y indicate labialization and palatalization respectively.

Syllable Chart

the 136 basic Kala syllables
	a	e	i	o	u	ua	ue	ya	ye	yo	ai	ao	uai	yao
p	(m)pa	(m)pe	(m)pi	(m)po	(m)pu	pua	pue	pya	pye	pyo	pai	pao	puai	pyao
t	(n)ta	(n)te	(n)ti	(n)to							tai	tao
k	(n)ka	(n)ke	(n)ki	(n)ko	(n)ku	kua	kue	kya	kye	kyo	kai	kao	kuai	kyao
m	ma	me	mi	mo	mu	mua	mue	mya	mye	myo	mai	mao	muai	myao
n	na	ne	ni	no	nu	nua	nue	nya	nye	nyo	nai	nao	nuai	nyao
s	sa	se	si	so	su	sua	sue				sai	sao	suai
h	ha	he	hi	ho	hu	hua	hue	hya	hye	hyo	hai	hao	huai	hyao
ts	tsa	tse	tsi	tso	tsu	tsua	tsue				tsai	tsao	tsuai
tl	tla	tle	tli	tlo							tlai	tlao
l	la	le	li	lo							lai	lao
-	a	e	i	o	u	ua	ue	ya	ye	yo	ai	ao	uai	yao

Syllables such as nsa, ntla, or ntsa can occur but usually only in place names or loanwords. The red syllables above occur infrequently and most often as the final syllable of a word.

Collating Order

The collating sequence (alphabetical order) is based on the order established in the Naua script.

Consonants	p	t	k	m	n	s	h	ts	tl	l
Vowels	a	e	i	o	u	ua	ue	ya	ye	yo

Based on this order, ma would come before ha, etc. Prenasalized syllables are ordered after their non-prenasalized counterparts, i.e. mpa comes after pyo but before ta. To see the collating sequence in action, look through the lexicon.

Stress

Stress generally falls on the penultimate syllable, which means that stress is de facto initial in most lemma given that stems are most often (CVCV). Monosyllabic words are not stressed. So;

masa - /ˈmaːsa/ >> masako - /maːˈsako/
tliyama - /tɬiːˈjama/ >> tliyamalo - /tɬiːjaˈmalo/
kam - /kaːm/ >> kamyo - /ˈkaːmʲo/

Morphology

Kala is a mostly agglutinative 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 sometimes constitute an entire sentence.

Nouns

Nouns in Kala are inflected only for number. Other relevant distinctions are animacy and possession, but these are not marked on the noun itself. Animacy plays a role both for pronoun choice and for the validity of some syntactic constructions.

Number

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.

Nouns are marked for number; plural and collective:

mita - dog - a dog
- mitam - dog-PL - dogs
- tlimita - COL-dog - a dog pack / a pack of dogs
- tlimitam - COL-dog-PL - dog packs / packs of dogs

When the final syllable of a word contains an m, mp, and sometimes a p the plural marking changes to -lo.

yama - mountain - a mountain
- yamalo - mountain-PL - mountains
- tliyama - COL-mountain - a mountain range / range of mountains
- tliyamalo - COL-mountain-PL - mountain ranges / ranges of mountains

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).

Gender

Gender is not normally marked but can be with the endings -na and -ta to mark the feminine and masculine, respectively 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.

uma - horse - a horse
- umana - horse-FEM - mare
- umata - horse-MASC - stallion

Verbs

Kala relies on analytic serial verb constructions, and can therefore get by with very little verbal morphology. Each verb has at most two possible forms: the active and the stative. Passivity is marked on the subject thus verbs are unmarked and must be analyzed based on surrounding morphology. Active verbs solely denote actions and occurrences and never states in Kala. Stative verbs are the words that modify nouns in an attributive and often adjectival way. They often express a state like a quality or result. Verbs can be marked with several suffixes to add or change meaning. The modals and tense affixes can be added in different order to a verb to create a new meaning; their placement is not always fixed. The negative, adverbial, and plural endings are always final, while other affixes can be varied, but in general they should be ordered:

STEM-(SIZE/IMPORTANCE)-(MOOD)-(ASPECT)-(TENSE)-(NEGATIVE)

Example:


Verb Stem	Size/Importance	Mood	Aspect	Tense	Negative
empa	-hi	-pa	-nko	-ye	-k
run	DIM	ABIL	PROG	PST	NEG

na empahipankoyek

1SG run-DIM-able-PROG-PST-NEG

I was not able to keep jogging.

Tense

Kala has three simple tenses; past, present, and future. Present tense is unmarked. However, past (-ye) and future (-tli) tenses can be modified to include immediate future ("is about to..."), distant future ("will...in a long while"), recent past ("just ..."), and remote past ("...a long while ago"). These distinctions are made with the augmentative and diminutive endings -ha and -hi.

eme
	Kala	gloss	English
remote past	kamahi hinayeha or -hai	town-DIM be.here-REM	There was a village here (long ago). (before the lifetime of the speaker)
past	naka mita anyaye	woman dog see-PST	The woman saw the dog.
recent past	ota namyo akyayehi or -hye	father 1pl.GEN wake-REC	Our father just woke. (action just finished)
present	mita tahi yatsi	dog boy bite	The dog bites the boy.
future	naka tahi tlepatli	woman boy teach-FUT	The woman will teach the boy.
immediate future	na tlelatlihi or -tlai	1s bathe-FUT	I'll bathe soon. (within the day)
distant future	panam opuatliha	rain-PL end-FUT	The rains will end. (months from now)

The present tense can show immediacy by using the adverb ima, "now; at this time":

ima mita ina - now dog eat - The dog is eating right now.

If a temporal adverb is used, the tense suffix may be omitted:

yomaye nam ina - yesterday 1pl eat - We ate yesterday.

Aspect

There are four aspects in Kala. The progressive, also called the continuous [CONT], this is used to express an incomplete action or state in progress at a specific time. It is marked with -nko, from nkoso - "to continue; proceed; progress". The perfective aspect indicates that an action is completed [PFV]. It is often translated by the English present perfect (have done some-thing). It is marked with -pua, from opua - "to end; finish; complete". The inchoative aspect refers to the beginning of a state [INCH]. It is marked with -mu, from mula - "to begin; start; initiate". The frequentative aspect refers to a repeated action [FREQ]. It is marked with -nua, from nua - "frequent; often; regular".

	Kala	gloss	English
Continuous	na ke niye pukunko	1s O undergarment wear-CONT	I am wearing underclothes.
Frequentative	tlaka ke apua tlatonua	man O song recite-FREQ	The man recites the song repetitively.
Inchoative	nahi yotimu	girl play-INCH	The girl begins to play.
Perfective	kam inapua	3pl eat-PFV	They have eaten.

Mood

Besides various aspects, Kala also marks moods other than realis: irrealis, imperative, hortative, and negative. These are also expressed by suffixes on the verb and typically follow aspectual marking where it is expressed by a suffix. As is common throughout natural and constructed languages, the indicative mood is unmarked. Subjunctive, conditional, and imperative moods are marked lexically, by various particles, and as such are covered in detail in the “particles” of this grammar.

	Kala	gloss	English
Abilitative	na mokuyepak	1s sleep-PST-ABIL-NEG	I was unable to sleep.
Assumptive	naka hinaho	woman be.here-ASS	The woman must be here. (I assume) (also used as "assertive")
Attemptative	neko ke panya matapya	cat O mouse kill-ATT	The cat is trying to kill the mouse.
Desiderative	otsokai ka'e moli yalaue	wolf-red toward forest go-DES	Redwolf wants/intends to go to the forest.
Dubitative	ha tsakahueke	3s home-LOC-DUB	I guess he is at home. lit: He is at home, supposedly.
Hortative	yalakya	walk-HORT	Let's go!
Necessitative	mita inahe	dog eat-NEC	The dog needs to eat.
Negative	naku nayo hinak	sister 1s-GEN be.here-NEG	My sister is not here.
Permissive	ta ke hina simamyok	2s O here sit-PERM-NEG	You are not allowed to sit here.
Precative	ke asi yetate	O salt give-PREC	Will you please pass me the salt?
Preparative	tahi mokusue	boy sleep-PREP	The boy is ready to sleep.
Propositive	ta mokune	2s sleep-PROP	You should sleep.

The negative mood (always marked finally) is indicated by the suffix –k or –nke (when the last syllable contains /k/).

mita inayek - dog eat-PST-NEG - The dog did not eat.
mita mokunke - dog sleep-NEG - The dog does not sleep.

Evidentiality

Verb clauses in Kala may optionally be marked for evidentiality, particularly if the described event took place in the past and/or when the speaker was not directly involved in it.

	Kala	gloss	English
Sensory (typically visual)	itahi ke mita tayo te'eyenya	PROX-boy O dog 2s.GEN kick-PST-SENS	This boy kicked your dog [he was seen doing it]
Evidence	ke hina masa yalatsi	O here deer go-EVID	A deer passed by here. [there are traces on the ground]
Hearsay	naka kupapuanu	woman die-PFV-HSY	The woman has died. [people say so]
Speculation (hypothetical)	mita ke ina uasiho	dog O food take-HYP	The dog might have taken the food. [it is suspected]

It is worth noting that none of the evidentials distinguish between direct and indirect evidence, i.e. they only assert that the relevant knowledge was indeed acquired in the specified way, but not necessarily by the speaker himself. By whom exactly can only be deduced from context.

Adjectives

Kala does not have morphologically distinct adjectives. Stative verbs are the words that modify nouns in an predicative and often adjectival way. They often express a state like a quality or result. In the simplest form, the adjective simply appears after the noun, in verbal position. Many statements that would be phrased as adjectival predicates in English are preferably expressed with stative intransitive verbs in Kala, requiring no copula. (For simplicity, such verbs are glossed without “be”.) This leaves open to interpretation many phrases.

mita inya - dog hungry
- The dog hungers.
- The dog is hungry.
- The hungry dog.
- A hungry dog.

tsaka ketlahi - house red-DIM
- The house is a little red.
- The light-red house.
- A pale red house.

taki saua - coat wet
- The coat is wet.
- The wet coat.
- A wet coat.

umalo tahaku - horse-PL big-extreme
- The horses are extremely large.
- The very big horses.

Comparison

In Kala the concepts of comparative and superlative degree of an predicative 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.” The comparative is made by using the augmentative or diminutive ending on the verb.

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.

Equivalence

Equivalence is indicated with either kue (as, like), or mya (as...as).

tsaka hayo kue nayo ketla

house 3s.GEN as 1s.GEN be.red

His house is red like mine.

tsaka hayo mya nayo ketla

house 3s.GEN as.X.as 1s.GEN be.red

His house is as red as mine.

Like verbs, adjectives can be used as nouns. For example, aya means "beautiful", but ayako means "a beautiful one" or "a beauty." An adjective can be made into an abstract noun by adding -n (-ity, -ness, -ship, -hood). In this way aya becomes ayan, meaning "beauty". This can also be used with nouns: ona (mother) becomes onan (motherhood).

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 - to not 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 sutahueyetlek

PROX-house 1sg reside-LOC-PST-REL-NEG

This is the house in which I did not live.

Adverbs

Adverbs tell us when, how, why or where the action happens. They modify a verb, a noun, an adjective, another adverb or a complete sentence. They also can provide us information about manner, quantity, frequency, time, or place. Kala does not have morphologically distinct adverbs. Adverbs can be formed from all adjectives (or stative verbs) by adding -n to the root. Since this rule is regular, it is not generally indicated in grammatical examples or in the lexicon.

aya - beautiful >> ayan - beautifully
tama - good >> taman - well
poyo - rich >> poyon - richly
tsipue - slow >> tsipuen - slowly (this can also be marked on the main verb with -tsue)
tlaki - fluent >> tlakin - fluently

Many adverbs (mostly temporal) do not derive from verbs:

yomaye - yesterday
iyoma - today
yomali - every day
kuama - always
ima - now

Temporal adverbs always precede the phrase they modify.

yomuali na ka'e hakyo yala

morning-each 1s to school go

I go to school every morning.

Other adverbials can be marked on the verb.

ona kamyo ma'a siku kupayetsua

mother 3pl.GEN with accident die-PST-almost

Their mother almost died in the accident.

Prepositions

Kala does not have prepositions (or postpositions) as a distinct part of speech. Instead, many locative verbs can be used as adpositionals, 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”. Here are some common verbs used as adpositions:

pahe - against; touching
pa'e - apart from; other than; except for
paye - beyond; exceeding; farther than
pue - after; back; behind; rear
tahe - below; beneath; under
ka'e - to; towards; at [moving toward]
kaye - around; encircling; surrounding
mahe - around; approximate; close to
ma'a - with [accompanied by / furnished with]
ma'e - before; in front
maye - between; among

nahe - in [located inside of]; internal
nyaue - outside of; exterior to
sahe - across; opposite; other side
saye - along; following [a line]
hue / -hue - at [in the same location as] [LOC]
tsa'e - across; through
ua'e - above; over / on
uaye - from [moving out of or away from]
ya'e - near; close to
yomo - to the right of
yoso - to the left of

na ke ito yamahue anyapa

1sg O tree hill-LOC see-ABIL

I can see a tree on the hill.

ntahim nyaue tsaka yoti

child-PL outside.of house play

The children are playing outside of the house.

Many of these take the motive suffix -la.

mita ke tsaka nahelaye

dog O house go.into-PST

The dog went into the house.

taku nayo ke ito ua'ela

brother 1s.GEN O tree go.up

My brother is climbing the tree.

Particles

Conjunctions

Words and phrases may be coordinated in Kala with the following words:

pa - although; even though; even if
ku - and; also [clause level]
ma - and; also; too; as well
ehe / (me) - but; yet; however
impo - therefore; as a result; so; consequently; thus
ua - or; other; else
ue - either X or Y
uenke / (uek) - neither X nor Y
yatli - if X then Y
yema - both X and Y
yetli - if it were not; if not X then Y >> X yatli Y

ha'ena itsa ehe hinak

3s-P.1s love but be.here-NEG

She loves me but is not here.

aye na tala ku matsu

PST 1s come CONJ conquer

I came, I conquered.

Interjections

There are a few particles, usually appearing at the beginning of the sentence, with a pragmatic meaning. These typically precede phrases they modify.

morpheme	indicates	gloss	example
a	acknowledgement, agreement, or that one is listening	yes; hm mm; yeah	a ta inaue Mm hmm...You want to eat.
e	filler or pause during conversation	uh, er, well	e na uamek Well, I'm not sure.
yali	excuses jostling or interruptions	excuse me	yali itla tayo ka Excuse me, is this yours?

Derivational morphology

Because Kala has only two main parts of speech (content and functional words), new words formed by derivation should be analyzed based on context. Functional words can rarely be used to form new words, but this is typically to form extensions of functions, or new functions.

Compounding

New nouns are usually created through head-initial compounding, using both nominal and verbal stems as the second, dependent element of the compound. The resulting lexical entries usually behave as single phonological words, which, however, have four full syllables: kuatlatloha "grass snake". Compounding of more than two elements is not common.

kayapusu - "earthquake" > kaya - earth + pusu - vibrate
asuaseka - "leather" > asua - skin + seka - dry

There are also numerous affixes used to form new meanings. A few examples are;

tiyasu - "bakery" > tiya - bread + -su - market; shop
onyomo - "school" > onyo - learn + -mo - place; location
kuhasa - "kitchen" > kuha - cook + -sa - room; chamber
pyetampu - "egg-shaped" > pyeta - egg + -mpu - shape; form

Derivation

Verbalization

Causative verbs (as well as achievement verbs) can be formed from other verbs by adding -mya (from muya - "do, make, cause") or -la (from ela - "become; change into; turn into"). This type of derivation is fairly common; however, verbs created in this way are syntactically defective and tend to appear only in serial verb constructions.

tinamya - "bend" < tina - be bent
pitamya - "hollow out" < pita - be hollow; void
enomya - "annoy, bother" < eno - be angry
tsipuela - "slow down" < tsipue - be slow
kyolola - "speed up" < kyolo - be quick

Intensive verbs can be formed from other verbs by adding -mpa (from mpa - "many; much; very"), or more commonly -hu (from kyohu - "be drastic; extreme; aggressive").

ketsahu - "dismiss, reject, repudiate" < ketsa - doubt
amyampa - "fall in love with" < amya - be fond of; like; prefer (of people)

Adjective-like stative verbs which name an associated quality may be formed from nouns by -n (from no - "thing" (-ish, -ly, -ous)).

timan - "be cruel, be bloody" < tima - blood
amyan - "be welcoming, be hospitable" < amya - be fond of

Nominalization

Agentive

Nouns referring to a human subject of a verb (usually in a habitual sense) can be formed with the agentive suffix -ko (from ko - "individual; person"). This suffix changes to -tlo when a velar stop is present in the preceding syllable.

kitlako - "craftsman" < kitla - create; invent; make-up
sutako - "inhabitant (of)" < suta - live; reside; dwell; inhabit; settle
yekatlo - "unmarried young adult" < yeka - be separate, be on one's own
makatlo - "musician" < maka - music; play ~; tune
tsaniko - "storyteller" < tsani - recite, tell (a story)

Instrumental

Instrument nouns and names for tools and other inanimates can be derived from verbs or from other nouns by adding the suffix -nyo (from mayo - "device; equipment; tool").

hitanyo - "atlatl (spear-thrower)" < hita - throw; cast; expel
amonyo - "handle (for carrying)" < amo - transport; carry
kusunyo - "clasp, brooch, fibula" < kusu - squeeze
toponyo - "lock" < topo - door; gate

Locative

Location nouns can be formed from both nouns and verbs by several suffixes. These indicate specific places where either something happens, or something resides there are a few affixes which modify both verbs and nouns.

-mo (from mo - "location; place; site"). This suffix is used to form the general idea of where something happens or resides.

tanamo - "battlefield; boxing ring; wrestling mat, etc." < tana - fight; combat
uelomo - "bicycle-place; bike path; bike rack, etc." < uelo - bicycle; bike
inamo - "eat-place; dining room; restaurant" [This can also mean food-place; pantry, etc.] < ina - food; eat
onyomo - "learn-place; school" < onyo - learn; study

-su (from suku - "market; shop; store"). This suffix is used to specify a business where items are produced and/or sold.

tiyasu - "bread-shop; bakery" < tiya - bread
inasu - "food-market; grocery store; restaurant" < ina - food; eat
uelosu - "bicycle-shop" < uelo - bicycle; bike

-kyo (from hakyo - "college; school; university"). This suffix is used to specify a location where students learn. This can also be used to indicate a school of thought, or ideology.

tanakyo - "dojo; martial arts training academy; etc." < tana - fight; combat
kuhakyo - "culinary-school; chef’s academy" < kuha - cook; prepare food
tsiyakyo - "liberalism" < tsiya - freedom; liberty
ya'akyo - "medical-school" < ya'a - medicine; drug; cure

-sa (from sala - "chamber; room; section"). This is more specific than -mo and used primarily for spaces inside buildings.

kuhasa - "cook-room; kitchen" < kuha - cook; prepare food
mokusa - "sleep-room; bedroom" < moku - sleep; rest
inasa - "eat-room; dining room" < ina - food; eat
onyosa - "learn-room; classroom" < onyo - learn; study

Diminutive

Diminutive nouns and endearment terms can be formed from verbs and other nouns by adding the suffix -hi (from ahi - "few; small"). This becomes -ki after a syllable that contains a glottal fricative.

mukuhi - "blade" < muku - knife
umahi - "foal" < uma - horse; equine
mitahi - "puppy" < mita - dog; canine
ohuaki - "indulgence" < ohua - luxurious; extravagant

Augmentative

Augmentative nouns can be formed from verbs and other nouns by adding the suffix -ha (from taha - "big; large; grand"). This becomes -ka after a syllable that contains a glottal fricative.

kamaha - "city" < kama - village; town
ohaka - "dislocate one's jaw" < oha - yawn; open one's mouth
mosaha - "epic; novel" < mosa - book; letter; scroll
tiniha - "hurricane" < tini - spiral; whorl

Honorific

Honorific nouns can be formed from other nouns by prefixing o-.

omasa - "stag" < masa - deer; cervine
okama - "capital" < kama - town; village

Syntax

Kala has an extremely regular grammar, with very few exceptions to its rules. Sentences are made up of one or more phrases. Each phrase consists of a verb (optionally followed by modifying particles) and a subject (optionally followed by modifying particles). The subject, if understood, can be omitted at the end of an utterance: pana ("It is raining.") pana! ("Rain!") An utterance can be anything from an interjection to a story.

Noun Phrase

The structure of a Kala noun phrase is relatively rigid. The order of NP components is:

Determiner(s) - Noun - (Modifiers)

Determiners & Demostratives

The demonstratives can be prefixed to any noun to show deixis. 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)

Examples:

imitami - PROX-dog-few - These few dogs
yemitampa - DIST-dog-many - Those many dogs (over there)
uamitali - MED-dog-each - Each dog (each of those dogs) (near you)

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

Correlatives

uatse
	Proximal i-	Medial ua-	Distal ye-	Inclusive -kua	Negative -k	Indefinite -la
mo (place)	hina here	uana there	yemua over there	mokua everywhere	mok nowhere	mola somewhere; anywhere
ko (person)	iko this person	uako that person	yeko that person (over there)	tlokua everyone	tlok no one	kola someone; anyone
uku (amount)	iku this much	uaku that much	-	kua all; every	ok none	ula some; any
ama (time)	ima now, at present	uama then; at that time	-	kuama always	amak never	tlama sometime; anytime
so (kind, type)	iso this kind	so'o that kind	yeso that kind (over there)	sokua all kinds	sok no kind (at all)	sola some/any kind
no (thing)	itla this	uatla that	yetla that (over there)	nokua everything	nok nothing; none	nola something; anything
to (manner, way)	yoto thus; like this; this way	uato that way	ato that way (over there)	tokua every way	tok no way	tola somehow; anyway

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. The pronoun na'am 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.

Personal pronouns:

na - 1st person
ta - 2nd person
ha - 3rd person
tla - 4th person ("it", "one") (used for inanimate nouns)

Modifiers:

-m - plural
-nku - reciprocal (only attaches to plural pronouns)
e- - patient
-i - reflexive
-yo - possessive

Other pronouns include:

tlokua - everyone, everybody
kola - someone, somebody; whomever, anyone, anybody
tlok - no one, nobody
nokua - everything
nola - something; whatever, anything
nok - nothing

nkalo
	Agent	Patient	Reflexive	Possessive	Reciprocal
1sg	na	ena	na'i	nayo	-
2sg	ta	eta	ta'i	tayo	-
3sg	ha	eha	ha'i	hayo	-
4sg	tla	etla	tla'i	tlayo	-
1pl 1pl exclusive	nam na'am	enam ena'am	nami na'ami	namyo na'amyo	nanku na'anku
2pl	tam	etam	tami	tamyo	tanku
3pl	kam	ekam	kami	kamyo	kanku
4pl	tlam	etlam	tlami	tlamyo	tlanku

Reflexives and Reciprocals

Kala has reflexive and reciprocal pronoun forms.

na'i sepaye

1s.REFL injure-PST

I hurt myself.

ha'i tlela

3s.REFL bathe

She bathes herself.

kanku ke onta nayo itsa

3pl.RECP O parent 1s.GEN love

My parents love each other.

na'anku amyapak

1pl.EXCL.RECP like-ABIL-NEG

We (but not you) are not able to like each other.

Word Order

The basic structure of a Kala sentence is: AGENT--PATIENT--ACTION (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.

The use of the object marker ke indicates the recipient of the action.

naka ke mita itsa

woman O dog love

The woman loves the dog.

Kala lacks morphological adjectives and instead uses predicative verbs.

ke tsaka taha

O house be.big

The big house / The house is big

Kala lacks morphological adverbs, verbs modified with the adverbial ending -n tend to precede the verb phrase they modify.

tsumun nam yokone

cautious-ADV 1pl swim-SUG

We should swim cautiously.

Kala lacks morphological prepositions and instead uses locational and relational verbs.

mita ke yempa tahe

dog O table be.under

The dog is under the table.

Clauses

Relative clauses (or adjective clauses) function like adjectives. Relative clauses follow the noun or noun phrase that they modify:

naka ke na itsatle te ameyo

woman O 1s love-REL from America

The woman (that) I love comes from America.

mayo ke na kitlayetle muyak

tool O 1s create-PST-REL do-NEG

The tool (that) I built doesn't function.

na ke ta yani unyak / na ke yani tayo unyak

1s O 2s mean know-NEG / 1s O meaning 2s.GEN know-NEG

I don't understand what you mean.

Subordinate clauses rely on conjunctions and other particles.

eya ta ke mpeka inaye yatli ta pasala

maybe 2s O toad eat-PST therefore 2s nauseous-become

If you ate the toad (which you might have), you might get sick.

naye na tasa ke masa okyohue anyaye

while 1s hunt O deer clearing-LOC see-PST

While hunting, I saw a deer in a clearing.

Questions

There are two types of questions: Polar, those which may be answered "yes" or "no," and those which require explanations as answers.

Polar Questions

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.

nta'i moku

baby sleep

The baby is sleeping. / The baby sleeps.

ta ke tlo'o anyaye

2SG O elephant see-PST

You saw the elephant.

tekatlo eta ke ya'a yetaye

heal-AG P.2SG O medicine give-PST

The doctor gave you the medicine.

mita ina ka

dog eat Q

Does the dog eat?

nta'i moku ka

baby sleep Q

Is the baby sleeping?

ta ke tlo'o anyaye ka

2SG O elephant see-PST Q

Did you see the elephant?

tekatlo eta ke ya'a yetaye ka

heal-AG P.2SG O medicine give-PST Q

Did the doctor give you the medicine?

Content questions

Questions that give a list of possible answers are formed like polar questions, with the conjunction ue ‘or’ introducing each alternative (which must appear in the form of a noun phrase).

ta ke nkapa ue maya inuue ka

2s O beer or.EXCL water drink-DES Q

Do you want to drink beer or water?

uala ta ke sinka mataye ue empa ma koma ka

truly 2s O lion kill-PST or.EXCL flee CONJ hide Q

Did you really kill the lion, or did you run away and hide?

Open content questions are most easily formed with the correlatives, such as ko ‘person’, mo ‘place’, to ‘manner’, etc. These correlatives always appear clause-initially:

ko ta ka

person 2ss Q

Who are you?

itla ka

this Q

What is this?

to kihu ka

manner weather Q

What's the weather like?

The other type contains a question word and is followed by ka:

kanyo
	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?

Semantic fields and pragmatics

Writing system

Kala conscripts are many and varied. Rather than multiple pages explaining each of them, this page serves as a working list with a consistent example across each script. The most commonly used script is the Hangul adaptation for Kala.

Han Moya

Han Moya is an adaptation of Hangul for writing Kala. It is written horizontally, in lines running from left to right. It can also be written vertically in columns.

consonants

ㄱㄲㄴㄷㄸㄹㅁㅂㅃㅅㅆㅇㅈㅉㅊㅋㅌㅍㅎ

k nk n t nt l m p mp s ns a ts nts ts` k` tl p` h

/k~g ᵑk~ⁿg n t~d ⁿt~ⁿd l~ɾ m p~b ᵐp~ᵐb s~ʃ ⁿs~ⁿʃ - ts~t͡ʃ ⁿts~ⁿt͡ʃ tsʰ~t͡ʃʰ kʰ t͡ɬ~tl pʰ h~ɦ/

The adaptations of doubled consonants are used word initially to indicate prenasalization. Medial occurrences of nasalized syllables are written across syllables.

Example:

까바 - nkapa - alcohol; liquor / 단가 - tanka - eagle; hawk; falcon

감바 - kampa - Cheers! / 쁘라 - mpula - lamp; lantern; light

vowels

ㅏ ᅶ ㅐ ㅑ ᅸ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ

a ao ai ya yao e ye o ao yo ua uai ue u i

/a~a: aʊ̯ aɪ̯ ja~ʲa: jaʊ̯~ʲaʊ̯ e~ɛ je~ʲɛ o~o: jo~ʲo: wa~ʷa: waɪ̯~ʷaɪ̯ we~ʷe: u~u: i~ɪ/

ㅘ This is pronounced /wa/ in Korean because of the order of the vowels; however, because obsolete jamo are difficult to type and look junky as images, in Kala, this is used for /aʊ̯/ when typing. It is rarely seen due to the diphthong itself being uncommon.

Examples

어하 거 거하 가먀터 하요 마아 타감 뱌사하먀여

eha ke keha kamyatle hayo ma’a tlakam pyasahamyaye

[eːɦa kɛ keːɦa kamʲaːt͡ɬe haːjo maːʔa t͡ɬaːkam pʲaʃahamʲaːjɛ]

P.3s O body stun-REL 3s.POSS with man-PL be.popular-AUG-CAUS-PST

Her bewitching body made her very popular with men.

Numbers

Kala uses a base 10 number system. The basic numbers are as follows:


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

Long form numbers are used in formal situations, including financial transactions, especially involving large sums. Short form numbers are used in everyday speech and when calculating basic math.

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 duodecuple	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 106^th	tinyetsa'o 106 times	inyetsa'o a 106^th
katle'o	7000	seven thousand	kikatle'o seven thousandth	tikatle'o 7000 times	ikatle'o 1/7000

Math Operations

Kala math is fairly basic and relies on particles and verbs to express functions.

Addition uses ma (and; also). There is no specific order to the numbers in the phrase/equation.

ha'o ma ya'o ke pa'o a

3 and 5 O 8 COP

Three plus five is eight.

Subtraction uses ma (and; also) and a negative form of the smaller integer. There is no specific order to the numbers in the phrase/equation.

tsa'o ma ya'ok ke na'o a

6 and 5-NEG O 1 COP

Six and five-less is one.

Multiplication uses ma (and; also) and a multiple form of one of the integers. There is no specific order to the numbers in the phrase/equation.

ha'o ma tima'o ke ueta'o a

3 and multiple-4 O 12 COP

Three times four is twelve.

Division uses yeka (divide; separate; partition), or ma (and; also) and a multiple-negative form of one of the integers. There is no specific order to the numbers in the phrase/equation.

tama'o ma ha'o ke pa'o yeka

24 and 3 O 8 division

Twenty-four divided by three is eight.

Lexicon

references

akana.conlang.org/wiki/Ronc_Tyu
en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Na’vi
frathwiki.com/Kala
hungarianreference.com/
japaneselanguageguide.com/grammar/noun.asp
kinezika.info/pdf/ChineseEssentialGrammar.pdf
klingonwiki.net/En/Math
ossicone.com/conlangs/uskra
pomax.github.io/nrGrammar/
resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/
rickmor.x10.mx/arabic_morphology.html
turkishlanguage.co.uk/
zompist.com/kitgram.html
zompist.com/wedei.html
languagesgulper.com/eng/Quechua.html

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