Kala Nouns

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Nouns

Plurals

  • Nouns are either singular, plural or collective.
  • Concrete nouns are pluralized by suffixing -m.
Examples : kono - stone > konom - stones | naka - woman > nakam - women
  • When the last syllable of a word contains an m, the plural is marked by reduplicating the final vowel.
Examples : kama - village > kama'a - villages | teyemi - phrase > teyemi'i - phrases
  • Collective (plural) nouns are marked by prefixing tli-.
Examples : tsaka - house > tlitsaka - neighborhood | yama - mountain > tliyama - mountain range
  • Nouns need not be marked plural if a number is used to show quantity.
Example : sahi - color > sahim - colors > sahi ya'o - five color(s)
  • Adjectives do not show plural agreement. However, when an adjective is used nominally, it can be pluralized.
Example : nyeli - pink > nyelim - (the) pink (ones)

Affect / Degree

  • The diminutive is formed with -hi, and the augmentative with -ha.

These are respectively realized as -ki and -ka when attached to a word that has a final syllable onset is /h/.

Example : ina - food, meal | inahi - snack, morsel | inaha - feast, banquet
Example : tsaka - house, home, dwelling | tsakahi - shack, hut, cabin | tsakaha - palace, mansion
  • These are also used to differentiate hue, or shade.
Example : yanahi - light yellow, kuyaha - dark green
  • In Kala the concepts of comparative and superlative degree of an adjective 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.”
Example : tahaka - bigger/biggest
tsaka hayo ke nayo tahaka - His house is bigger than mine.
Example : yanaha - more yellow/most yellow
ke mauam tayo yanaha - Your flowers are the most yellow.

Gender

  • In general, nouns do not indicate their gender. To distinguish the sexes, one can use the adjectival endings -ta and -na.
Example : nikata "a male dog", nikana "a female dog".

Articles

  • There is only one article in Kala, ke. It is used primarily as a "noun marker".
  • It is ambi-definite, meaning it can be either definite or indefinite. The distinction is made through context.
Example : kama "village", ke kama "the/a village", ke kama'a "the villages"
Example : inahi "snack", ke inahi "the/a snack", ke inahim "the snacks"


Pronouns

  • Kala generally distinguishes four persons, the fourth person indicating abstract and inanimate nouns – both in the singular and plural numbers.

There is also a distinction between inclusive (I/we and you) and exclusive (we but not you) forms of the first person plural.

Nominative Accusative Possessive Reflexive Reciprocal
1S na ena nayo na'i
2S ta eta tayo ta'i
3S ha eha hayo ha'i
4S tla etla tlayo tla'i
1P nam enam namyo nami nanku
1P (EXCL) na'am ena'am na'amyo na'ami na'anku
2P tam etam tamyo tami tanku
3P kam ekam kamyo kami kanku
4P tlam etlam tlamyo tlami tlanku
  • A chart of the agent-patient transitivity constructions;
A-P construction
1st sing 2nd sing 3rd sing 1st plu 2nd plu 3rd plu
1st sing - na'eta na'eha - na'etam na'ekam
2nd sing ta'ena - ta'eha ta'enam - ta'ekam
3rd sing ha'ena ha'eta - ha'enam ha'etam ha'ekam
1st plu - nameta nameha - nametam namekam
2nd plu tamena - tameha tamenam - tamekam
3rd plu kamena kameta kameha kamenam kametam -

Correlative Pronouns

query this that some none any every whichever
adjective ka itla uatla iha ak ula kua ote
person ko...ka iko uako ihako hok kola kohua oteko
thing no...ka itla uatla ihano nok nola nokua oteno
time ama/tsima...ka ima uama ihama amak amala kuama otema
place mo...ka hina uana ihamo mok mola mokua otemo
way to...ka yoto uato ihato tok tola tokua oheto
amount ku/o...ka iku uaku ihaku huk/ok kula hukua/okua oteku
reason nye...ka inye uanye ihanye nyek ulanye nyekua otenye
kind su...ka isu uasu ihasu suk sula sukua otesu

Index

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