Kala
THIS SECTION IS CURRENTLY BEING UPDATED TO REFLECT A NEW GRAMMAR.
The Kala conlang...
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. |
| 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. This set of six verbal suffixes indicating the nature of the evidence supporting a statement. These morphemes are not obligatory; however, the lack of an evidential in a main clause not marked as interrogative or irrealis is usually taken as a sign of pure speculation and thus likely to raise suspicions about the statement's truth.
| Kala | gloss | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visual [VIS] | kam ke yoti matsunya | 3pl O game win-VIS | They won the game. (I saw it) |
| Auditory [AUD] | naku hayo ke metlamyanu | sister 3s.GEN O flute-CAUS-AUD | His sister plays the flute. (I heard it) |
| Hearsay [HSY] (reported speech) |
kye ota tayo kupanko | HSY father 2s.GEN die-CONT | (it is said) Your father is dying. |
| Inferred [INFR] | kola ke katso kuhatsi | AG.INDEF O meal cook-INF | Someone is cooking a meal. (based on evidence) |
| Assumptive/Assertive [ASS] | ke maliya kantipuaho | O Maria cheat-PFV-ASS | Maria has been cheated. (I assert) |
As can be seen in the above examples, there are two direct evidentials, and three indirect;
- Direct:
- -nya - visual evidence, the speaker witnessed the event
- -nu - auditory/general evidence, the speaker heard/felt the event
- Indirect:
- kye - reported speech; hearsay, the speaker received via hearsay and may or may not be accurate
- -tsi - inferred based on physical evidence
- -ho - assumed or asserted based on experience
Particles
Particles in Kala cover a broad spectrum of what are more accurately called function words. These include adverbs, prepositions (more accurately locative or relative verbs), conjunctions, interjections, onomatopes, and structural particles.
Interjections
The term “interjection” is used to cover a range of pragmatic, or discourse markers that do not fit well into any other category. This is because many words and expressions have a pragmatic rather than a semantic meaning.
- a – expresses acknowledgement, agreement, or simply that one is listening
- e – marks dispreferreds, ends a digression,
- po – marks a sudden change of topic
- ya – vocative marker, polite imperative, expresses commiseration
- yali – excuses jostling or interruptions
These can occur either at the beginning or the end of a sentence.
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Cursing
Other common interjections – of course – include curses, vulgarities, obscenities, etc.
- kotsa – a spiteful person (“bitch; bastard”)
- kuna – excrete; expel; defecate (“shit”)
- kyosa – sex; copulation; fornicate (“fuck”)
- nanka – emphasizing disgust; [interj. of contempt]; (“damn; darn”)
- tsaya – damn [general invective]
Locative Verbs
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:
- -hue – in; at; on (general locative)
- nahe – within; inside
- nyaue – out; outside of; exterior
- ma’e – before; in front of
- pue – behind; after; in back of
- ua’e – above; over; on
- tahe – below; under; beneath; bottom
- ya’e – near; close to
- uaye – away (from)
- maye – between; among
The above are used as prepositions, but can also function strictly as verbs.
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The suffix -la (from yala “go; walk; travel”) forms an allative (or motive) preposition, expressing movement in the indicated direction, stopping at the position indicated by the locative:
- nahela topu – into bed
- pahela ke ana tayo – onto your head
- tsayela tsaka – up to the house
The locative/allative pair works like English on/onto, in/into, but in Kala this distinction is made for all locatives: you must distinguish between them:
- pue’ela kuanu – go behind a bush - (motion implied → allative)
- pue kuanu koma – hide behind a bush - (no motion → locative)
Derivation
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
Clipped compounding does occur and is distinctive. This clipping occurs consistently in content words, but is usually blocked in functional words and auxiliaries. Syllables are clipped based on euphonic choices but must remain recognizable and retain grammatical functionality.
- naka – woman & kana – leader → nakkan – chieftess; queen
- naua – to tie & ualo – bring → naualo – get someone involved in one's trouble
- uaso – cup; jug; vessel & sitsa – hot; heat → uassitsa – flask; thermos; bottle
- yasa – wind & sitsa – hot; heat → yassitsa – warm breeze
- yasa – wind & yesa – peace → yassa – peaceful-wind
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
In Kala, new words can be formed by adding prefixes or suffixes to existing words, or by combining two existing words as a compound noun. It's also possible to reuse adjectives as nouns, and verbs as nouns, without adding an affix.
The most common ending (other than tense, aspect, and modals) is the adverbial ending –n. It is used to mean "similar to ...", "-like", "-ish", "full of ..." or "made of ...", and "pertaining to ..." or "to do with ...".
Here are some common examples:
- kyo’a - "quiet" → kyo’an – quietly
- enke - "simple" → enken – simply
- ntahi - "child" → ntahin – childish; childlike
- putsu - "monster" → putsun – monstrous
- yoti - "game" → yotin – playful
- hanya - "nation" → hanyan – national
- kuaha - "science" → kuahan – scientific
- olo - "gold" → olon – made of gold
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.
Basic Sentences
The importance of word order can be seen by comparing the following sentences:
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In both sentences, the words are identical: mita – “dog”, tlaka – “man”, anya - “eye; see”. The only way to know who is seeing whom is by the order of the words in the sentence. Intransitive (including those of the existential type) clauses in Kala minimally consist of a subject followed by an intransitive verb, giving SV word order.
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Transitive clauses follow a SOV pattern and grammatically require the object particle ke.
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Predicates
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” in interlinears.)
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The same phrases can be formed using the copula a, this is grammatical but bulky and jarring.
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Negation
The negative mood [NEG] (always marked finally on the primary verb) is indicated by the suffix –k or –nke (when the last syllable contains /k/). See also: 3.2.3) Mood
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In general, contiguous serial verb constructions can only be negated as a whole. Negating one or more of the verbs in the construction separately is ungrammatical.
- na ke tsakahue nya ina ka’elatlik
- 1s O home-LOC for eat toward-MVT-FUT-NEG
- I'm not coming home for dinner.
However, if there is a modal auxiliary, negation may either take scope over the modal (and thus over the whole clause), or alternatively only over the non-modal part of the serial verb construction:
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In some serial verb constructions, where the middle noun phrase acts both as the object of the first verb and as the subject of the second verb, each verb phrase can be negated separately.
Voice
Passive voice emphasizes the process rather than who is performing the action. In Kala this form is called kemi. There are few patterns to help distinguish between active and passive voices in Kala verbs. Using the passive voice is not common in Kala. It can sometimes be used to emphasize what would normally have been the object of the sentence. In order to shift emphasis away from the agent and towards the patient or theme, a transitive sentence can be passivized simply by word order, or using the particle ni (“by”) [PASS].
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ACTIVE
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PASSIVE
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Compound Sentences
Two sentences may be joined together to form a longer compound sentence. Both sentences must be able to stand alone as properly formed sentences. When combined, they simply come one after the other, joined by a conjunction. Common Conjunctions:
| Kala | meaning | example |
|---|---|---|
| pa | although; even; despite | She is here despite my protest. |
| po | so; thus | He seems nice so I ate with him. |
| ku | and; also; too | I see it and I see you. |
| ma | and; also; too | I see it and you. |
| ua | and/or; either | You may eat and/or drink. |
| ue | either X or Y | You may either eat or drink. |
| uenke (uek) | neither X or Y | You may neither eat nor drink. |
| yema | both X and Y | I ate both soup and bread. |
| yo | if X then Y; therefore | If she comes then we’ll eat. |
| ehe (me) | but ; however | I dislike him, but he is my brother. |
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Note: ku is a clause level conjunction used to join to independent clauses.
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Clause-level conjunctions such as ku (“and; also; too”), ua (“or; either; otherwise”), or ehe (“but; however”) are placed clause-initially. Note that these conjunctions (except for ku) can be used to connect noun phrases.
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Non-subject noun phrases are coordinated using the conjunction ma "and" (sometimes "with").
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Noun phrases can be presented as alternatives to each other with the conjunction ua ("or; other"). This conjunction can be used with both subjects and non-subjects. The conjunction ue ("(exclusive) either X or Y") is used to delimit other nouns from the conjunction phrase.
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Contrastive coordination of noun phrases is achieved with ehe ("but; however") (or me more informally) if the noun phrases appear in subject position.
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Compliment Clauses
Complement clauses, i.e. subordinated clauses acting as a noun (most importantly as the subject or object of a sentence), and are formed exactly like ordinary main clauses, preceded by the particle ke (“topic particle”).
- nakkan ke eya tekim kamahi hyoka munaye
- woman-chief O maybe enemy-PL city-DIM attack worry-PST
- The queen was worried that the enemies might attack the village.
- itomatle ke maliya noyamya
- wood-carve O Mary happy-CAUS
- Carving wood makes Mary happy.
Complement clauses can also act as the object of a motional/locational verb:
- ta ke naha ka’elak yatli ke tlohi kuyepak
- 2s O river toward-MVT-NEG if.X.then.Y O salmon grab-ABIL-NEG
- You can't catch salmon if you don't go to the river.
- kam ka’e tsiua uahe moku ma ina yalayenko
- 3pl toward lake instead.of rest and eat walk-PST-CONT
- Instead of taking a rest and eating, they continued to walk towards the lake.
Since complement clauses behave like nouns syntactically, they may participate in existential constructions as well. Semantically, this indicates that the occurrence of the action described in the complement clause is emphatically affirmed.
- uala ke yemua tlana masenko
- verily O DIST-place person dance-CONT
- There is dancing over there. (lit. it's true that people are dancing there)
In addition to the particle ke, Kala possesses a few other words which may fill the same syntactic position under special circumstances. The most common of these appears in the context of reported speech. A couple of other specialized particles have a more limited distribution, appearing mainly in evidential constructions.
Relative Clauses
Relative clauses, i.e. subordinated clauses acting as an attribute to a noun phrase, are marked with the relativizer -tle (or -le if the last syllable has tl). A pronoun referring to the relativized noun is retained within the relative clause:
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- naku nayo ke yakokua na tikuyetle inapua
- sister 1s.GEN O strawberry-all 1s pick-PST-REL eat-PFV
- My sister has eaten all the strawberries that I picked.
If both subject and object of a transitive relative clause are represented by the same pronoun, the relativized noun will be assumed to be the subject of the subclause. In order to relativize the object in such a situation, the subject must be represented by one of the reflexive, or reciprocal pronouns instead, which explicitly refer back to the subject of the matrix clause:
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Relativization of oblique participants works very much the same way as relativization of subjects and objects, but the repeated pronoun needs to appear inside a prepositional phrase or coverb phrase which shows the role of the relativized noun within the subclause.
- ikamahi ena nasayetle
- PROX-city-DIM P.1s be.born-PST-REL
- This is the village in which I was born.
- ke taku tlakayo na tlayayetle nya teki matapua
- O brother man-GEN 1s wed-PST-REL by enemy kill-PFV
- The man whose brother I married has been killed by the enemy.
- iyoma ke yomatle ta’ena nya uapa talaue
- today O day-REL 2s-P.1s for visit come-VOL
- Today is the day on which you want to come and visit me.
In case a relative clause would contain only the subject and an intransitive verb phrase, speakers of Kala are likely to use an attributive construction instead. If the attributed verb phrase contains more than one verb, all of them need to appear in the attributive form.
- na ke nahi amyan pesoue
- 1s O girl like-ADV meet-VOL
- I want to meet a girl who is friendly. (lit. a friendly girl)
- kola sima ke ina kapyatli
- AG-INDEF sit O food receive-FUT
- Anyone who is sitting quietly gets food.
Note that both relative clauses and attributive constructions tend to be avoided when they refer to the subject of a sentence. Instead, the semantically ‘attributive’ verb describing the subject is treated syntactically as forming a sequential or simultaneous event together with the main verb of the sentence:
- tahi pina ke kema unya
- boy smart O task understand
- The smart boy understands the task.
Adverbial clauses
Kala has several different ways to express adverbial elements – adverbial suffix, adpositional phrases, serial verb constructions, and full-scale adverbialized subclauses. For most types of adverbials, more than one of these methods can be used. Because an adequate description of this gets rather lengthy, and because it presupposes an understanding of how serial verb constructions work in Kala, it is described in a later section of this document. Adverbial constructions which are valid constituents typically appear near the beginning of a sentence, with adpositional phrases preceding subclauses, but they may be topic-fronted for emphasis. If several adverbial constituents of the same syntactic type are present, they are generally ordered place → manner → reason → purpose → result → time.
Copular Sentences
The copula a (to be; exist; yes) is not used as it is in English. It is primarily used to affirm Yes/No questions. ta inaye ka (Did you eat?) a (Yes.) However, it can be used to add emphasis or nuance to a descriptive phrase. In an adjectival predicate the verb [to be] is not normally used.
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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.
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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-VOL 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:
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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-GEN 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 | INDEF dog eat Q | Which dog eats? |
Comparison
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.”
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When comparing the amount of involvement of several participants in a transitive verb, an appositional construction is used with competing subjects, and complement clauses are used with competing objects:
- tsaneya ke ona pa’e naku hayo itsaha
- Jane O mother other.than sister 3s.GEN love-AUG
- Jane loves her mother more than her sister does.
- imukuhi ke asua uahe tleno telaniha
- PROX-blade-DIM O leather instead.of timber cut-nice-AUG
- This knife cuts leather better than it cuts wood.
Indirect Objects
Kala verb phrases have only a single object slot. As a result, the recipient of a ditransitive clause needs to be introduced with the help of an adverbial preposition. The same strategy is also used to introduce other participants in oblique roles.
- ka’e – to; toward [Dative]
- ma’a – with; using [Instrumental] / with; together [Comitative]
- mue – without; lacking [Abessive]
- nya – for (the benefit of) [Benefactive] / by [Passive]
- -hue – at; in; on [Locative]
Dative
Dative participants can be marked with ka’e (“toward; to”), nya (“for; by”), or be syntactically indicated.
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Instrumental
Instrumental participants can be marked with ma’a (“with; using”), nya (“for; by”), or be syntactically indicated.
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Comitative
Comitative participants are marked with the preposition ma’a (“with; together”), and anticomitative (or abessive) participants are marked with the preposition mue (“without”).
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Locative
Locative participants can be marked with a variety of adverbial prepositions, most typically -hue (“at; in; on”). See also: 5.1) Locative verbs.
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Semantic Fields and Pragmatics
Kala, like all languages relies on the relationship of meanings instead of meanings in isolation. Additionally, morphemes tend to have a range of meanings that exist on a spectrum. A morpheme often can only be defined by its relationship to other morphemes within an utterance, or to other words of a similar semantic field.
One example would be in discussing temperature. Of course there is a system of degrees, but that is a quantitative statement, a qualitative statement would be more relative and open to interpretation.
English divides temperature into "hot, warm, cool, cold", while Kala has just sitsa, tlolo, and manka. However, these can be expanded to be more specific;
- manka – cold
- tlolo – cool; warm (mild)
- sitsa – hot; heat
Using the augmentative -ha and the diminutive -hi adds even more nuance to expressing temperature. mankaha (or mankampa, mankahu) being the coldest, and sitsaha (or sitsampa, sitsahu) the hottest means that tloloha is closer to sitsahi and tlolohi is closer to mankahi. This means that tlolotso (mild-middle) is likely how someone would describe their ideal temperature.
- ya iyoma kihua tlolotso!
- VOC PROX-day fine.weather mild-middle
- Oh, how today’s weather is so mild!
Of course, some meanings do exist in a binary state;
- asa - alive / kupa - dead
Meanings may also be divided into non-linear semantic space — e.g. color, social classes, directions, parts of the body, time, geographical features.
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 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 |
Math Operations
Kala math is fairly basic and relies on particles and verbs to express functions. Notable is the use of the copular a to express the result of an equation.
Addition uses ma (and; also). There is no specific order to the numbers in the phrase/equation. 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.
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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. Division uses 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.
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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.
Examples
- seko saye puani nahayo yalaye ma ke tsa’eto omoye
- scorpion along bank river-GEN walk-PST and TOP across-way think-PST
- A scorpion was walking along the bank of a river, wondering how to get to the other side.
- haye seko ke tsola anyaye
- sudden scorpion TOP fox see-PST
- Suddenly, he saw a fox.
- seko nya tsa’e naha amo ua’e muta tsolayo kanyoye
- scorpion for across river carry on back fox-GEN ask-PST
- He asked the fox to take him on his back across the river.
- tsola kye ak na’eta amo yatli ta’ena kute nuesitli
- fox IND.SP COP.NEG 1SG-P.2SG carry if.X.then.Y 2SG-P.1SG sting drown-FUT
- The fox said, “No. If I do that, you’ll sting me, and I’ll drown.”
- seko kye na’eta kute yatli nam nuesitli
- scorpion IND.SP 1SG-P.2SG sting if.X.then.Y 1PL drown-FUT
- The scorpion assured him, “If I do that, we’ll both drown.”
- tsola pue omo nkataye
- fox after think agree-PST
- The fox thought about it and finally agreed.
- ya seko ua’e muta tsolayo uayaye ma tsola yokomuye
- VOC scorpion on back fox-GEN climb and fox swim-begin-PST
- So the scorpion climbed up on his back, and the fox began to swim.
- me tsa’etsohue nahayo seko ke tsola kuteye
- however across-half-LOC river-GEN scorpion TOP fox sting-PST
- But halfway across the river, the scorpion stung him.
- tsola ike sunu ke sila hayo yeno ka’e seko muka kye nye ta’ena kuteye ka ima ta nuesitli
- fox while poison TOP vein 3SG.POSS fill toward scorpion face IND.SP reason 2SG-P.1SG sting-PST Q now 2SG drown-FUT
- As poison filled his veins, the fox turned to the scorpion and said, “Why did you do that? Now you’ll drown, too.”
- seko kye na’i ke to nayo tlinapayek
- scorpion IND.SP 1SG.REFL TOP way 1SG.POSS stop-able-PST.NEG
- “I couldn’t help it,” said the scorpion. “It’s my nature.”
Lexicon
See also: Lexicon, Kala thematic lexicon, and Kala etymological lexicon.
A small sampling of Kala lexemes.
- pa - although; even though; even if
- pa'a - be well-ordered; regular; organized
- pina - be clever; intelligent; wise
- punka - fruit; fruit tree
- mpana - wide; broad; extensive; vast; width
- tanko - group; organization; team
- tepe - conceal; cover; shield; shelter
- tiku - extract; withdraw; pick-up
- tona - tuna
- ntela - interact; interplay; interrelated
- kanyo - question; ask; raise a question
- kemu - experience; undergo
- kinyo - intervene; get involved
- kona - dress; skirt
- kunye - moon; lunar; satellite
- kuya - green; foliage; verdant
- nkanu - short [in height and from end edge]
- makua - iron; press; smooth out
- menka - cotton
- mosukua - Moscow
- mutla - be absolute; unconditional
- napo - turnip
- ne - indirect object particle
- nota - lie; be in horizontal position; horizon
- nyalo - call; number; telephone
- sahe - across; opposite; other side
- sipanya - Spain
- sokyo - helium
- suama - sew; seam; mend; stitch
- hasu - conjecture; guess; supposition; assumption
- hilo - plaza; public square
- hueta - testicle
- tsame - accumulate; collect; gather; cluster
- tsemu - jam; marmalade
- tsitli - farm; ranch
- tsuto - be curly-haired
- tlato - recite rhythmically; chant; intone
- tlehe - esteemed; honest; candid; sincere
- tlokua - everybody; everyone
- ato - that way [over there]
- atsa - disc; rotate; wheel
- esue - fail; lose
- ila - sail; fly; navigate
- otso - wolf; lupine
- ulo - crop rotation
- uatli - inferior; of lower quality
- uetsi - dispirited downcast [idiom]; in low spirits
- yatso - ferment; brew; make honey; liquor
- yopi - mail; post [office]
