Kalo

Introduction

Kalo is intended to be a minimalist artlang, not an auxlang. It draws primarily on vocabulary from the five most spoken languages in the world; Mandarin, Spanish, English, and Arabic (Hindi is used sparingly although it is spoken by more speakers than Arabic). The grammar is mostly isolating with very few elements of inflection, mostly to show plurality or possession.

Kalo is NOT meant to mimic, replace, or be inspired by Toki Pona or any IAL. Any similarities are based on design aesthetic coincidences and the minimalist nature of the language.

Phonology

kalo has nine consonants (/p, t, k, s, m, n, l, j, w/) and five vowels (/a, e, i, o, u/). Stress is word final.

consonants

	Labial	Coronal	Dorsal
Nasal	m	n
Plosive	p	t	k
Fricative		s
Approximant	w	l	j (y)

vowels

Vowels	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid	e	o
Open	a

diphthongs

There are two diphthongs [ai̯] ai, and [au̯] au. These are rare and typically only occur word-finally.

syllable structure

All syllables are of the form (C)V(N), that is, optional consonant + vowel + optional final nasal, or V, CV, VN, CVN.

phonotactics

A few syllables sequences are disallowed; /ji, wu, wo/. Also, a syllable-final nasal may not occur before /m/ or /n/ in the same root.

syllables

a	ka	sa	ta	na	pa	ma	ya	la	wa
i	ki	si	ti	ni	pi	mi		li	wi
u	ku	su	tu	nu	pu	mu	yu	lu
e	ke	se	te	ne	pe	me	ye	le	we
o	ko	so	to	no	po	mo	yo	lo

writing

If desired, an adaptation of Hangul may be used to write Kalo.

• ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅇ

k n t l m p s -

• ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅘ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ

a ya e ye o wa yo u we wi yu - i

Examples

• 와로 너 고머 사

walo ne kome sa

1pl NEG eat FUT

We will not eat.

allophony

The nasal at the end of a syllable can be pronounced as any nasal stop, though it is normally assimilated to the following consonant. That is, it typically occurs as an [n] before /t/ or /s/, as an [m] before /p/, as an [ŋ] before /k/, and as an [ɲ] before /j/. Because of its small phoneme inventory, kalo 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/ as [z] or [ʃ] as well as [s], /l/ as [ɾ] as well as [l], and vowels may be either long or short. Both its sound inventory and phonotactics (patterns of possible sound combinations) are found in the majority of human languages and are therefore readily accessible.

Syntax

Kalo is an SVO (subject-verb-object) language. Modifiers generally follow what they modify, as do prepositional phrases and subordinate clauses.

• wa kome - 1S eat - I eat. (SV)

• wa amo ko - 1S love 3S - I love her. (SVO)

• o ona amo - DO woman love - The woman is loved. (OV)

questions

The interrogative particle ma (taken from Chinese (嗎) is used in conjunction with various nouns, adverbs, and adjectives to form specific questions.

non-polar questions

• ma - what; which
• ma ko - who, whom
• ma koyo - whose, of whom
• ma tenpo - when

• ma loka - where
• ma moto - how
• ma laka - how much, how many
• ma liyo - why

polar questions

Any statement can become a polar question by adding the interrogative particle ma at the end of the sentence.

• wa wite le kasa

1S see PST house

I saw the house.

• ni wite le kasa ma

2S see PST house Q

Did you see the house?

phrases

• ola - Used for "hello; goodbye; farewell; welcome"

• ola yuma - Used for "Good morning, Good afternoon"

• ola note - Used for "Good evening, Good night"

• moto niyo ma - manner 2s.POSS Q - How are you?

• tenpo ta ne wite - time big no see - Long time no see

Nouns

Nouns only decline for number and possession. They are altered with -lo to show plurality, and possessiveness with -yo.

pronouns

kalo has three basic pronouns; wa [1sg], ni [2sg], and ko [3sg]. These do not indicate gender. These can be made plural using the suffix "-lo", and possessive with "-yo".

	singular	plural	possessive
1st person	wa I; me	walo we; us	wayo my; mine; our(s)
2nd person	ni you	nilo you (all)	niyo your(s)
3rd person	ko he; she; him; her; it	kolo they; them; those	koyo their(s)

• walo wite ni - 1pl see 2s - We see you.

• kolo ne sapa wa - 3pl NEG know 1s - They don't know me.

Verbs

Verbs do not change and are only ever modified by particles.

• maka - do; make; cause (from make)
• yo - possess; have; hold (from 有)

tense, aspect, and mood

Past tense is indicated by the particle le (了) following the verb. Future tense is indicated by the particle sa (سَـ).

tense/mood	particle	example	translation
present	-	wa ila	I go
past	le	wa ila le	I went
future	sa	wa ila sa	I will go
conditional	kisa	wa ila kisa	I would go

• ko ne kome le - 3sg NEG eat PST - He didn't eat.

• walo wite sa ko - 1pl see FUT 3sg - We will see her.

positional verbs

Kalo does not use prepositions, but instead uses positional verbs as auxiliaries. These are also used as temporal adverbs in certain situations.

• yu - in; at; within; inside; during; between | from (于)
• ila - be toward; at; in the direction of; go; walk; travel | from (إلى)

Particles

determiners

Determiners in kalo precede the noun they modify.

deixis

• pu - this; these
• su - that; those

amount

• aku - many; much (one hundred)
• kula - all; every; each
• ne - no; none; zero
• saki - some; several; a few

• kali - less; fewer / few; a little
• lo - more

other-ness

• asi - such
• ayo - whichever; whatever
• oto - other
• tonye - same

Number

Kalo	number	English	Kalo	number	English
sunya	0	zero	na	7	seven
wa	1	one	pa	8	eight
li	2	two	nun	9	nine
san	3	three	ye	10	ten
si	4	four	aku / -ku	100	(one) hundred
pen	5	five	mila	1000	(one) thousand
we	6	six

When numbers one through ten occur independently, the indicator "ke" precedes the number.

• ko yo le o kasa ke li

3s have PST O house NUM two

She had two houses.

• wa wite o nano ke si

1s see O man NUM four

I see four men.

Higher Numbers

• yewa - 11; eleven
• yeli - 12; twelve
• liye - 20; twenty
• liyesi - 24; twenty-four
• kuyeli - 112; one-hundred-twelve
• sankuweyepen - 365; three-hundred-sixty-five

Lexicon

word	POS	meaning	source	language	category
aki	n	brother; male cousin	أخ	ARA	family
aku (-ku)	num part	(one) hundred many; much; a lot	ひゃく	JPN	number
amo	v	like; enjoy; love	amo	SPA	verb
kai	v	should; ought to; must be; deserve; owe	该	ZHO	verb
katu	v	be new; recent; young; fresh	حدث	ARA	verb
ke	part	number marker	个	ZHO	particle
kisa	part	maybe; perhaps; if	quizá	SPA	particle
ko	n pro	person; individual he; she [3sg]	個	ZHO	pronoun
kome	v	eat; consume	comer	SPA	verb
le	part	past tense marker	了	ZHO	particle
li	num	two; double; duo	两	ZHO	number
maka	v	do; make; cause	make	ENG	verb
mila	num	(one) thousand	mil	SPA	number
na	num	seven	なな	JPN	number
nama	v	sleep; rest; relax	نام	ARA	verb
nano	n	man; male	男	ZHO	family
ne	part	no; not; none	nay	ENG	particle
nesa	v	need; require; must	necesitar	SPA	verb
ni	pro	you [2sg]	你	ZHO	pronoun
note	n	night; darkness	noche	SPA	time
nun	num	nine	h₁néwn̥	PIE	number
o	part	marker preceding the direct object	を	JPN	particle
ola	part	hello; goodbye	hola	SPA	civility
oma	n	mother; female parent	Oma	GER	family
ona	n	woman; female	おんな	JPN	family
opa	n	father; male parent	Opa	GER	family
pa	num	eight	八	ZHO	number
pala	n	word; morpheme	palabra	SPA	language
pen	num	five	πέντε	ELL	number
pina	n	child; offspring; kid	ابن	ARA	family
pu	det	this; these	bu	TUR	pronoun
sa	part	future tense marker	سَـ	ARA	particle
san	num	three; triple	三	ZHO	number
sana	n	year; 365 days	سنة	ARA	time
si	num	four	四	ZHO	number
sosa	n	juice; sauce; gravy; dressing	sauce	ENG	food
su	det	that; those	şu	TUR	pronoun
sunya	num	zero; empty; nothing	शून्य	HIN	number
tenpo	n	time; period; age	tiempo	SPA	time
wa	pro num	I; me one; single	我 واحد	ZHO ARA	pronoun number
we	num	six	swéḱs	PIE	number
ye	num	ten	열	KOR	number
yeme	n	sister; female cousin	姐妹	ZHO	family
yo	v	have; possess	有	ZHO	verb
yuma	n	day; 24 hours	يوم	ZHO	time

abbreviations

• ARA - Arabic
• ENG - English
• GER - German
• ELL - Greek
• HIN - Hindi
• JPN - Japanese
• KOR - Korean
• ZHO - Mandarin
• PIE - Proto-Indo-European
• SPA - Spanish
• TUR - Turkish