Kosi

• Language name: Kosi
• Language author: Trebor Jung
• Started: December 2003
• Abstract: I wanted to make a Uralic-esque language - but not a clone. Important features of Kosi include: (1) Tense is only optional (as in Chinese) and is indicated with temporal adverbs; perfectness takes its place. (2) Some grammatical functions are marked with ablaut (as in English and Kebreni), as well as with affixation. (3) Much of the vocabulary is Uralic: ir- 'to write', kek 'blue', and öt 'five' come from Hungarian; kesa 'eight', kel- 'to speak', and tuli 'fire' come from Finnish. Some lexical items were borrowed from Romance: am- 'to like', mer 'ocean', mil 'one thousand'. (4) The language has numerous irregularities and oddities.

Phonology

Kosi's phonemic inventory is as follows:

Consonants

Labial	Labiodental	Interdental	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stops	p, b		t, d		c ([C] intervocalically in some dialects)	k
Nasals	m		n
Fricatives		v	th, dh	s ([z] intervocalically, [s] = ss; [S] before /i/ in some dialects)				h ([x] pre-consonantally)
Affricate				ts ([tS] before /i/ in some dialects)
Liquids				l	r
Glides						j

Vowels

Front	Central	Palatal	Back
High	i, ü			û (1), u
Mid	e (realized as [E]), ö (realized as [9])	y	jo	ô (1), o
Low		a	ja

Diphthongs: ae /ai)/, au /au)/

Stress falls on the first syllable of a word.

Syllable structure is (C)V(C). If the addition of a suffix to a root or another suffix would cause an awkward consonant or vowel cluster, the epenthetic vowel /i/ or consonant /j/ is added. The consonants /m/, /n_d/, /l_d/, and /r/, do not cause this because they are pronounced as syllabic consonants.

(1) These vowels are only found in words whose roots contained the vowels /i/ and /e/ which were backed to /M/ and /7/.

Morphology

Nominal and Adjectival Morphology

Case

In the table below, you will notice some words contain ss (e.g. hasse) and others s (e.g. hasjak). The second s in hasse is not part of the case ending - which is -e, not *-se - but because of the orthographical rule that intervocalic s = [z], the s is doubled to prevent hasse being pronounced [haze].

Case	Example	English gloss
Nominative	has	'house (as subject of the sentence)'
Partitive	hasip	'part/some/any of the house'
Accusative	hassyt	'house (as direct object of the sentence)'
Dative	hassad	'to a house'
Genitive	hasse	'of a house'
Sociative	hassü	'associated with a house'
Instrumental	hassi	'by means of a house'
Essive	hasken	'as a house'
Benefactive	hassenk	'for a house'
Inessive	hassah	'in/at a house'
Illative	hastah 'into/towards a house'
Adessive	hassam (2)	'on (top of) a house'
Allative	hastam	'onto a house'
Ablative	hasiv	'from a house (the source)'
Delative	hasri	'downwards from the top of a house'
Abessive	hassac	'without a house'
Commetative	hasru	'accompanying a house'
Prolative	haseb	'alongside the house'
Purlative	hassath	'through/across/beyond/past a house'
Terminative	hasjo	'as far as/until a house'

(2) -am may also be used temporally: ötam.

Possession

• (non-nominative forms derived with the suffixes -l (accusative) and -n (dative))

Person	Example (with noun has 'house')
1s	hasmi
2s	hasta
3s	hasen
1p	haspa
2p	hasüt
3p	hasev

Plural

The first vowel of a root is changed as follows: i > û, ü > u, e > ô, ö > e, y > i, a > e, o > ö, u > ü.

Demonstratives

• (non-nominative forms derived with the suffixes -t (accusative) and -n (dative))

Person	Example (with noun has 'house')
1s	hastu
2s	hasti
3s	hassa
1p	hastü
2p	hastû
3p	hasse

Concordance Rules

Adjectives must agree in case and number with the nouns they modify. The same operations and suffixes are used for declension of adjectives and nouns. Use of quantifiers does not affect the number: öt 'five' + has 'house' = öt has 'five houses' - not *öt hes.

Comparison

Form	Example (with adjective nac 'big')
Comparative of inferiority	linac
Comparative of superiority	denac
Superlative of inferiority	tonac
Superlative of superiority	runac
Equative	sönac

There is no comparative conjunction: ‘X less-big Y’, 'X more-big Y', ‘X equally-big Y’, ‘X least-big Y’, 'X most-big Y'.

Verbal Morphology

Person

See possessive suffixes above; third person singular is marked with a null morpheme -0.

Aspect

Examples are with the verb keli 'to speak', adjective kek 'blue', or vila 'having reflected/illuminated light'.

Aspect	Example
Perfect	kel
Imperfect (3)	kile
Habitual	kelim
Inceptive	keltö
Inchoative	kekatö
Causative	kelmit
Cessative	kelse
Pausative	kelda
Resumptive	kelsu
Protractive	kelke
Iterative	kelha
Random	kelvo
Frequentative	keltü
Experiential	kellau
Volitional (4)	hiky
Intensive	vilcö
Moderative	vilkae
Attenuative	veltsa
Crescendo	vilnu
Decrescendo	viladh

(3) For imperfect, add the person endings and substitute the root vowel with the ending -i and -i with the root vowel.

(4) For volitional, change the height of the first vowel: i > e, ü > ö, e > i, ö > ü, y > a, a > y, o > u, u > o.

Mood

Imperative (5)	Kile!
Subjunctive	keltae
Obligative	keles
Abilitative	Kelvi
Interrogative	Kelviko?

(5) See the rules of imperfect aspect formation above.

Valency

The suffix -yth converts intransitive verb to its transitive form, or vice versa.

Voice

Active	kel
Passive	kelen
Reflexive	keljo
Reciprocal	kelum

The verb 'to have'

Kosi has no verb meaning 'to have'. Instead, it uses periphrasis: hasmi kelah 'My house exists'.

Derivation

Verbal noun	lek 'book' (< leki 'to read'), hesti 'goodness' (< hasti 'good')
Gerund	laka 'an act of reading' (< leki 'to read'), myska 'an act of singing' (< mys- 'to sing')
Verb	tuli 'to burn' (< tuli 'fire'), mys- 'to sing' (< mys 'music/song')
Adjective	mysu 'musical' (< mys 'music/song'), kal 'linguistic' (< kel 'language')
Perfect active participle	leki
Perfect passive participle	lekin
Imperfect active participle (6)	like
Imperfect passive participle (7)	liken
Personal participle (8)	liki

(6) Substitute the root vowel with the ending -i and -i with the root vowel.

(7) Repeat (6), and add the suffix -n.

(8) For the personal participle, substitute the root vowel with the ending -i and -i with the root vowel, then raise or lower the second vowel, according to the pattern i > e, ü > ö, e > i, ö > ü, y > a, a > y, o > u, u > o.

Syntax

Basic word order is SOV. Adjectives follow their head - numerals are exceptions. Relative clauses are formed using participles: kile man 'the man who spoke/the spoken man', inemi en 'the food I want to eat/the I-want-eat food'.

Lexicon

Kosi	English
abad	white
abit-	to live, to inhabit
ad-	to give, to add
ada	branch
adi	sheep
ajan-	to offer
al-	to stand (to be standing)
alit-	to cease, to discontinue, to quit, to stop, to terminate, to end, to die
alun-	to sleep
am-	to like, to love
anaja	brother (of a male person)
anak	child
andin	dog
apal	shelf
apatmen	apartment, flat
areba	sister (of a male person)
at	door, gate
atap	roof, ceiling
atetis	future
avan	cloud, clump, part, chunk, piece
avi	bird
badan	body
bajan	hollow
banjak	much, many, numerous, lots
banjavahtu	frequently, (lit.) many times
barat	loyal
baru	new, recent
basah	wet
baerak	flag, banner
beh-	to meet
behi	cow
bentsa	same, equal
berat	difficult, tedious, heavy, hard, complex, advanced, interesting, intelligent
beressi	special, important
betü	letter, character
bin-	to create, to construct, to build, to invent, to draw
bisyt-	to prove
bo	wine
bos	chief, leader, boss
buk	book
bukas	open
bulan	moon
bulat	round, circular
butuh-	to need
ceran	liquid
cütet	city, town
cütet sedik	village
dekat	short, brief, low, shallow, near(by), close, slender, narrow, thin
des-	to dislike
dme	tomorrow
dob-	to throw, to toss
dolos-	to work
dos-	to win
duha	also
duna	world, planet, home
e	no
e ad-	to remove, to subtract, to delete
e basah	dry
e bentsa	different, eccentric
e bukas	closed
e duha	only
e kaja	poor, impoverished
e komn	rare
e mahal	cheap
e nacur	unnatural, abnormal, strange
e ramah	mean, unkind
e tista	dirty, murky, untidy
ek	sky
ek ves	rain, (lit.) sky water
emby	person
entis	past
eraldi	weather, climate
erin	to touch
es-	to eat
et-	to understand, to comprehend
ev	year
ha	tree
ha loka	forest, (lit.) tree place
hal-	to hear, to listen, to perceive audibly
hari	stone, rock
has	house
hasti	good, well
hat	back, dorsum
hato	cake, pie, pastry
hejes	right, correct, true
hes-	to paint
het	seven, week
hetelen	wrong, incorrect
hibas	defective (having defects)
hiltsa	key
hiset-	to pay
hitam	black
hodit	to translate
hojo	river
hondol-	to think (act of thinking)
hul	mood, atmosphere, emotion
huth	left (as opposed to right)
hü	grass
hü loka	field, park, (lit.) grass place
idö	time (the fourth dimension)
idöta	present, now
ildis	star
iloba	nephew, neice, grandchild
ir-	to write
is-	to drink
isel-	to taste (perceive by the sense of taste)
ja	yes
jalan	finger, toe
jatyk-	to continue
jats-	to play
jauh	long, lengthy, tall, high, deep, far, fat, wide, thick, distance
ka	arm
kaja	rich, wealthy
kala	fish (of saltwater)
kalimat	sentence (cf. phrase)
kama	room, chamber
kamus	dictionary
kanal	canal, channel, ditch
kanto	office
kap-	to receive, to obtain, to get
karom	three
kata	word
kats-	to try, to attempt, to endeavor
kaüt-	to use (to make use of)
kedi	cat
kedvel-	to enjoy
kek	blue
kel-	to speak, to talk, to say, to make a proposition, to ask (a question), to state a question
kel- e kut	to complain, (lit.) express dissatisfaction
kelah-	to exist
kele bin	grammar, (lit.) language's structure
kepala	head, pot
keras	firm, steady; loud
keris-	to seek
kes-	to begin, to start, to commence
kessa	eight
ket	two
ket-	to cook
kilap	comforting
kinjo	lunch, midday meal
komat-	to fight, to combat
komn	common
koran	early, before, already, previous, quick, fast, rapid
kosmo	space (outer space)
kot	happy, contented, satisfied
könjü	easy, light (opposite of heavy), soft, simple, basic, primitive, dull, stupid
kös-	to thank
Kös! (colloquial), Kösmital! (to one person; formal), Kösmiütl! (to more than one person; formal)	Thanks!, Thank you!
köv-	to follow, to go after
kuras	monarch
kurase lan	princess
kurase mas	prince
küeta	president
kül-	to send, to dispatch, to transmit, to convey
küs-	to greet
Küs! (colloquial), Küsmital! (to one person; formal), Küsmiütl! (to more than one person; formal)	Hello!, Hi!
lah-	to run (to move quickly)
lambat	late, after, still, next, slow
lan	girl, daughter
lantae	floor
lat-	to see
lecem	bread, grain
lehd-	to say farewell/goodbye to (opposite of küs)
Lehd! (colloquial), Lehdmital! (to one person; formal), Lehdmiütl! (to more than one person; formal)	Bye!, Goodbye!
leho	window
lek-	to read
leske	lesson
likaht-	to move
likaht- ...-iv	to come, (lit.) to move from
likaht- ...-tah	to go, (lit.) to move to
likaht- ot loka	to leave, (lit.) move elsewhere
likaht- sabe kepalai	to walk, (lit.) to move by foot
loka	place, location
lop-	to steal
lora	flower, plant, vegetation
lora loka	garden, (lit.) plant place
lot-	to hope
luh-	to pull someone's hair
lun-	to clean the plate and lick the fingers, to eat to one's heart's content
mahal	expensive, costly
man	man, father
man kuras	king
manman	grandfather (paternal)
mannü	grandmother (paternal)
mapana	boyfriend, husband
mas	boy, son
me	ocean, sea
melek	warm
meret	size
mil	one thousand
minut	minute
molte	all, every, each
molte loka	everywhere, (lit.) every place
molte vahtu	always, (lit.) every time
mon-	to tell
mon- hes kal	lie (tell an untruth)
mosso-	to smile
mys	music, song
nac	big
nacur	natural
naeru	awe and respect for something dangerous
neri	four
net-	to laugh
njama	meat, flesh, skin
nol	zero, none, nothing
nol loka	nowhere, (lit.) every place
nol vahtu	never (lit.) no time
nü	woman, mother
nü kuras	queen
nüman	grandfather (maternal)
nünü	grandmother (maternal)
nüpana	girlfriend, wife
opp-	to learn, to study
or	hour
os-	to buy
ot	other
ot loka	elsewhere, (lit.) another place
ot vahtu	again, (lit.) another time
ör	evening, night
örek	old
öt	five
pa(k)- (prefixed to verb)	Please (contracted form of the defective verb root *pak- 'to ask (a favour)')
padat	dense
pana	partner (of either gender in either a dating or married relationship)
para	money, currency, coins, cost
pas-	to spend
pemin-	to govern, to administrate
pes-	to consider, to ponder
piros	red
ramah	kind, nice
rendah	low (in pitch)
repon-	to answer, to respond, to reply
riba	fish (of freshwater)
rih-	to laugh (maliciously)
sab	six; leg
sabe kepala	foot, (lit.) head of the leg
sahil	beach, shore, coast
sakit	ill, sick, unhealthy
sal-	to sing
sav-	to be familiar with
sedik	small, little
sek	chair
sekn	second (time)
setn	certain
sim	eye(ball)
sir-	to cry
skol	school
sol	sun, day, today
sön	young
söndörü	beautiful, pretty, handsome, good-looking, nice-looking, aesthetically pleasing
sötet	dark
spital	hospital
stoj-	awaken
surat	letter (written message addressed to a person or organization)
suven-	to remember, to recall
taht-	to inspire
tal-	to find
tala	table, desk; flat surface
tam-	to attack
tan-	to dance
tanan	hand
tat-	to keep, to retain
taua	tower
tema	subject, theme, topic
tenap	yesterday
tes-	to put, to place
tev	healthy
tis	sad
tista	clean, clear, tidy
to	lake
toko	store, shop
tud-	to know (a fact)
tul-	to burn
tulli	wind, breeze
tset-	to help, to assist, to aid
tsin-	to do, to make
ulis	street
unisti	university
utas	to travel
ül-	to sit
ülke	nation, state, country
ürün	merchandise, products, goods
üs	one
üt-	to hit, to strike
vaco	dinner, supper
vah-	to wait
val-	to choose
van-	to float
vahtu	time, occurrence
ved	green
ved-	to defend
velyt-	to forget
velyt- loka	to lose, to misplace, (lit.) to forget [the] location [of]
ves	water
vidam	funny, comical
vila	having reflected/illuminated light
visit-	to visit
voimik	possible, maybe