User:Masako/nkala
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sounds
consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p | t | k | (ʔ) | |
| Affricate | ts~tʃ | ||||
| Fricative | s~ʃ | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Approximant | l (t͡ɬ) | j | w |
vowels
| Short | Long | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Back | Front | Back | |
| Close | i | u | iː | uː |
| Open | ɑ ~ ə | aː | ||
nouns
Nouns can be marked for gender, number, size, and in several other ways.
pronouns
subject
| Singular | Dual | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | wa- | pwá- | kwa- |
| 2nd | ni- | pí- | (n)ki- |
| 3rd | ∅ | ú- | ku- |
object
| Singular | Dual | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | mwa- | twá- | skwa- |
| 2nd | mi- | (n)tí- | ski- |
| 3rd | (m)pu- | tú- | sku- |
verbs
- Pronominal prefix - VERB STEM - tense/aspect-modal
tenses
There are three tenses...nonpast, past, and distant past.
- -á - non-past [NPST]
- wanuyá - wa-nuy-á - 1S-eat-NPST - I eat.
- -í - past [PST]
- ninuyí - ni-nuy-í - 2S-eat-PST - You ate.
- -ayí - distant past [DSPT]
- pwánuyayí - pwá-nuy-ayí - 1DU-eat-DPST - We (two) ate long ago.
other modifiers
Various moods (or modals), aspects, and syntactic markers are used to add nuance and subtlety.
| -ank- negative [NEG] |
skumatankí | sku-mat-ank-í | 3PL-kill-NEG-PST | They were not killed. |
| -iy- obligation [OBG] |
walakiyá | wa-lak-iy-á | 1SG-go-OBG-NPST | I should go |
| -úy- ability [ABIL] |
tumúyá | tum-úy-á | attend-ABIL-NPST | She/he is able to attend. |
lexicon
These are listed by stem, and do not distinguish nominal and verbal meanings or usages.
- kál - say; tongue; voice; language; talk
- káw - love; desire; dear; care
- kay - earth; ground; land
- kúp - show; evident; witness
- (t)lak - go; move; mobile
- mat - cut; kill; knife
- nak - season; suit; opportune
- nuy - eat; nourish; bread
- pun - vegetable; herb green
- (t)sat - meet; contact
- tan - limit; wall; city
- tum - serve; tend; attend
- túy - advise; prompt; urge
examples
speak
- kál - speak
- wakálá - I speak
- nikálí - you spoke
- wakálutlá - I may speak to him
- pukálámí - did he speak to someone else?
- nikálí - you had spoken
- inikálí - you were spoken to
- nikál! - speak to me!
- kálúna - made to speak
- nimpukálí - you were speaking to him
- únyikálanká - they are not speaking to each other
- kálanyá - and he keeps on speaking
break
- put - break
- puputí - it broke
- puputásá - it’s beginning to break
- wampuputí - I broke it
- mwaputúní - he made me break it
- puputanyá - it is broken again
