Pkalho-Kolo 2

I. Phonology

A. Pkalho-Kölo has 24 consonants, some of them easily intabulated, others requiring explanation:

ph, as you would expect, is the bilabial fricative written with the Greek letter phi, which I am unable to paste here.

pk is a sound peculiar to the city of Pkalho, double-articulated, a simultaneous implosive p and plosive k. Form the lips to pronounce a p and the back of the tongue to pronounce a k. The lips open with a pop, and at the same moment the k is released. Not difficult with a little practice. pkw is the labialised version. fh is the corresponding fricative, which could be written /fç/ (I thought I had invented this sound, but in fact it is used by one of those obscure African languages that have 80 or more consonants. (It was in fact the Chadic language Margi/Marghi. Hinotëma.))

lh is an interdental lateral, close in sound to /ð/ Compared to "l" it sounds "dark" i.e. velarised.

n is /n/ between vowels and before t, c, y and n. Before or after any other consonant it is /ŋ/

Sounds missing from the chart:

rl at the beginning of a word, at the end of a syllable or after a consonant is /ļ/ the post-alveolar lateral of Dravidian and Australian Aboriginal languages. Between vowels it is /r/ an alveolar flap; I write "r" at the end of a syllable for brevity. Rl- retains its word-initial sound even if a prefix or aspectual extension is added.

pr could be written /pļ/ Native speakers regard it, like pk, as a single sound. The tongue should press against the back of the alveolar ridge, and release as the lips open.

cw is not simply labialised c. In pronouncing it, the tip of the tongue should press against the back of the bottom teeth while the the top of the tongue touches the hard palate. fw is the corresponding fricative: it could be written /çw/ but the tongue should be in the same position as for cw. Why do I write "fw"? I was trying to avoid diacritical marks, I didn’t like sw, chw or xw, and I couldn't think of anything else except fw.

hw is the voiceless fricative w that we used to have in English in words like “hwæt.”

B. Vowels

ä is the low rounded back vowel in British English “swan,” written with an upside-down a. ë is a mid-central vowel. (I can't paste these symbols.)

There are twelve diphthongs, six “like” (rounded + rounded, unrounded + unrounded) and six “unlike” (one rounded, one unrounded.)

'''II. Phonotactics'''

1. All root words end in a vowel

2. Syllables can end only in a vowel or the consonants m, n, rl, lh, or l.

3. A syllable can contain a diphthong or a final consonant, but not both. The exception is when a one-syllable word containing a diphthong takes the relative suffix in its reduced form -n.

4. Words do not begin with a diphthong, though three words, au, ea and ui consist of a diphthong.

5. Words beginning with a vowel have glottal onset. Elision occurs only when the neutral demonstratives e and o follow the suffixes -la, -rë or -pë. Thus iturë en, (someone) said the following, becomes itur'en.

(Also, the word erä, person, human being, loses its first vowel in compound words: velya (to play music) - velyarä (musician), kaulo (garden) - kaulorä (gardener). The word for ten, thilä, also loses its last vowel before ea, one: thil'ea, eleven; heru thil'ea, forty-one, etc.)

6. When a word beginning with a vowel takes a directional prefix, or is extended by aspectual stem-modification, an epenthetic r is inserted. Thus olkwela (it resembles) - pkärolkwela (they resemble each other); ilurë (a light shone) - yërilurë (a light flashed for a moment). Word-initial rl keeps its pronunciation /ļ/ even after a prefix, as noted above.

Minor points: after m, the consonants k and kw are realised as pk and pkw. The sequences m+kw and m+pkw I always write mkw, regardless of the original script. After m, r and l the consonant hw becomes the labialised form of the bilabial fricative written with the letter phi, which I can't seem to paste here. The sequence l+hw I write lphw, to distinguish it from the sequence lh+w. The double consonants mm, nn, rll and ll occur frequently: doubled lh ought also to occur, but it seems to have been replaced by the rather rare sequence lh+th, which I write lth.

'''III. Intonation.'''

Unlike English, Pkalho-Kölo does not have word-stress: each syllable is pronounced with equal weight, allowing for natural variation. It does however have pitch accent: accented syllables are pronounced at a higher pitch. Three rules roughly cover this:

I. Directional prefixes have an accent which they never lose.

II. One-syllable root words do not normally have an accent.

III. Two and three-syllable root words have an accent on the first syllable, which they lose when immediately preceded by a directional prefix.

Actually it’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s enough to be going on with.

A brief sample text, in Latin letters (Pkalho-Kölo has its own writing system, alphabetic and written from top to bottom and right to left, though a few of the literate prefer left to right.) This is the beginning of a translation of the Grimm Brothers story called "The Seven Ravens":

'''Täthumä atäla lemäi tonun lamo niköli akäto teina eali. Cimekoäkuto cwëllen e wöhela icwiyi löipë nörövafhanela eto iturë ölvu thena-mäyupiela yuli.'''

'''Oto cwinli pintörë eali lamovon atähi kwellapkwe poucahwali ewan, eyi valarikurë lumphë nälmen. Epkëväiloto nöweiwë poucamöli, e hëfworë nilneripë fhampon nömäihi kovo nälhmulemä. Waweto äpkäkwearë lhaun kanlöla vayi haulato emäin thopala muriphili.'''

There was once a man who had seven sons, and last of all one daughter. although the little girl was very pretty, she was so weak and small that they thought she could not live but they said she should at once be christened.

So the father sent one of his sons in haste to the spring to get some water, but the other six ran with him. Each wanted to be the first at drawing the water, and so they were in such a hurry that they all let their pitchers fall into the well, and they stood foolishly looking at one another, and did not know what to do, for none dared go home.

'''Vakuito hauvela atäwë yoähauyi ephiun alwä-nänala lupka-prëmon. Mëula, itur’on, thounölela nikö nömäin rlui yakerëvo; mipko nouma lankwäherëto haunöla murirën lhaun, phouvö värurë, vihwëp’en, fwapehwa fhalhkotopë lhau nömäin.'''

'''Ituhöiherëto oraun, nila luncarë kälhkarën nökwärë keipë kaprokalerën fhora-cëlhmu fhalhvo nikön. Yohwekuto e vihwën keila kounarën, hunyëla epwean thonukwä nirë-tekan, ela houri rlöhwala lhöyepkwe lamo nikön cwälu teinavo, ilva voprälel’on vali-prëlli nilkwe-kwörorëyi.'''

In the mean time the father was uneasy, and could not tell what made the young men stay so long. “Surely,” said he, “the whole seven must have forgotten themselves over some game of play.” And when he had waited still longer and they yet did not come, he flew into a rage and wished them all turned into ravens.

Scarcely had he spoken these words when he heard a croaking over his head, and looked up and saw seven ravens as black as coal flying round and round. Sorry as he was to see his wish so fulfilled, he did not know how what was done could be undone, and he comforted himself as well as he could with his dear little daughter, who soon became stronger and every day more beautiful.

I'm going to try to upload a couple of scans of Pkalho-Kölo in its own writing system. These were written a few years ago and the language has changed slightly since then, but they still give an idea of what the script looks like. (Oh bother they're in the wrong order and I have no idea what to do about it.)