Lesson 1)
Phonology
vowels:
/a e i o u/ <a e i o u>
diphthongs
/aɪ/ - ai
/aʊ/ - ao
Where ~ appears, it indicates free variation between phonemes.
consonants:
Nasals: /m n ɲ/ <m n ny>
Plosives: /p~b t~d k~g ʔ/ <p t k '>
Affricates: /t͡s~t͡ʃ tɬ/ <ts tl>
Fricatives: /s~ʃ h~ɦ/ <s h>
Other: /l~r j w/ <l y u>
allophony
* /h/ > /ɦ/ when preceded or followed by a front vowel.
* The glottal stop is not phonemic but is included in the chart above. It is pronounced between two vowels and/or diphthongs that are not connected.
* <s> & <ts> are /ʃ/ and /tʃ/ respectively, unless immediately preceded or followed by one another, then <s> is always /s/ and <ts> is always /tʃ/. However, one could pronounce them either way (e.g. always /s/ & /ts/) and still be understood.
phonotactics
* Kala phonotactics does not allow the onsets of adjacent syllables to be identical, nor both to be labialized or palatalized. (There are a few exceptions to this, such as tata for the informal/familiar form of father, etc.)
* Syllables beginning with /l/ do not occur as the first syllable of a headword.
syllable structure
(N)(C)V/D(F)
N - nasal; prenasal; /n/ or /m/
C - consonant
V - vowel
D - diphthong
F - final; coda
stress
In Kala stress falls on the penultimate syllable with the exceptions of negatives and words that end with a syllable onset palatal approximant, in which case stress is ultimate.
Next lesson will be some basic syntax and vocabulary.
Lesson 2)
Sentence Structure
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 at least a verb preceded by an agent (optionally followed by modifying particles).
Kala phrase structure can be represented as follows:
(temporal adverb) subject-(modifier) (particle) ((object)-(modifier)) verb-(modifier) (particle)
…or, more simply SOV
ha kalak
3SG speak.NEG
He is not speaking.
tlok kalak
AG.NEG speak.NEG
No one is speaking.
ha’etla mataye ka
3SG-P.4SG kill-PST Q
Did he kill it?
(This sentence shows an example of the nkalo [pronouns] being linked when both agent and patient are pronouns.)
ote ha mataye ka
which 3SG kill-PST Q
Which did he kill?
A few words:
mita - dog
yatsi - bite; chew
tlaka - man; male
-ye - past tense [added to verb]
niua - yard; garden
malo - brown
-hue - locative marker
ma - and; also
Some exercises:
1) The dog is in the yard.
2) The man and the dog are in the yard.
3) The dog bit the man.
4) The dog is biting the man. / The dog bites the man.
5) The brown dog bit the man in the yard.
6) The man was in the yard.
Answers:
1) The dog is in the yard.
mita niuahue
dog yard-LOC
2) The man and the dog are in the yard.
tlaka ma mita niuahue
man and dog yard-LOC
3) The dog bit the man.
mita tlaka yatsiye
dog man bite-PST
4) The dog is biting the man. / The dog bites the man.
mita tlaka yatsi
5) The brown dog bit the man in the yard.
mita malo niuahue tlaka yatsiye
dog brown yard-LOC man bite-PST
6) The man was in the yard.
tlaka niuahue aye
man yard-LOC COP.PST
Lesson 3)
Pronouns
na - 1SG
ta - 2SG
ha - 3SG
tla - 4SG [inanimate]
ha is genderless and therefore is used for both male and female.
Special pronouns:
kam - 3PL [also genderless]
na'am - 1PL.EXCL [exclusive, we but not you]
-m - plural
-nku - reciprocal
(-)e- - patient marker
-i - reflexive
-yo possessive
Putting these together, we get this sleek chart:
A few examples:
kanku yatsiye
3PL-RECP bite-PST
They bit each other.
ta'enam yatsi
2SG-P.1PL bite
You are biting us!
Exercises:
1) He killed himself.
2) She bit it in the yard.
3) We [exclusive] bit ourselves and the brown dog in the yard.
4) They are killing the dog.
5) They killed it (the dog).
