Kala Nouns
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Nouns
- Nouns include pronouns, adjectives (nouns of quality), and determiners.
plurality
- A countable noun (or "count noun") can be modified by a number, and can accept the plural. Typical countable nouns represent objects that are clearly individual entities, such as houses, cats, and thoughts. For example:
root | usage | example | |
---|---|---|---|
-m | ma | general plural | tsakam houses |
-mha | ma + -ha | indefinite abundance | tsakamha many/a lot houses |
-mi | ma + -hi | indefinite insufficiency | tsakami few houses |
tli- | tatli | collective plural | tlikuma sleuth of bears |
-lo | ma | alternative to -m | yamalo mountains |
- When modified by a number, general plurals need not be marked. Example:
- tsaka ta'o - Two houses.
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
- Nouns do not normally indicate their gender. To distinguish the sexes, the suffixes -ta and -na are used:
- uma - horse
- umata - a male horse, a stallion
- umana - a female horse, a mare
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.
-
inflectional affixes
- -m - plural
- -nku - reciprocal
- e- - accusative
- -i - reflexive
- -yo - possessive
-
- Example:
eta nahe tsaka hayo a acc-2sg inside house 3sg-poss be
Correlative Pronouns
query | this proximal |
that medial |
that (over there) distal |
some | none | any | every | whichever | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
adjective | ke...ka which |
itla this |
uatla that |
yetla that (over there) |
iha some |
ok none |
ula any |
kua every, all |
ote whichever |
person | ko...ka who |
iko this person |
uako that person |
yeko that person (over there) |
hyako someone |
tlok no one |
kola anyone |
tlokua everyone |
teko whoever |
thing | ke...ka what |
itla this |
uatla that |
yetla that (over there) |
hyano something |
nok nothing |
nola anything |
nokua everything |
teno whatever |
time | ama...ka when |
ima now |
uama then |
yeme then |
hyama sometime |
amak never, at no time |
tlama anytime |
kuama always |
tema whenever |
place | mo...ka where |
hina here |
uana there (near you) |
yemo there (away from us) |
hyamo somewhere |
mok nowhere |
mola anywhere |
mokua everywhere |
temo wherever |
way | to...ka how |
yoto thus |
hyato somehow |
heto however | |||||
amount | uku...ka how much |
ok none |
teku however much | ||||||
reason | nye...ka why |
tenye why ever |