Pkalho-Kolo 2

I. Phonology

As mentioned the phonological profile of Pkalho-Kölo is a little different from any other language. Its consonants are

p -  m  -  ph  -  pk -  v  -  fh  -  pkw  -  pw -   pr  -  rl  -  t  -  lh -   th  -  c  -  l  - cw  -  y -   fw  -  kw  -  w  -  hw  -  k  -  n  -  h

Easy ones first:    p is /p/       m is /m/     v is /v/ t is/t/        th is /θ/      c is /c/    y is /j/ w is /w/    k is /k/       h is /h/

pw and kw are self-explanatory. hw is the voiceless fricative w that we used to have in English in words like “hwæt.”

ph is the bilabial fricative written with the Greek letter phi, which I can't seem to paste here.

The r sound is /r/ a single flap between vowels. At the beginning of a word or at the end of a syllable it is /ļ/ which is why I write rl. pr could be written /pļ/ native speakers regard it, like pk, as a single sound.

l is a “clear” palatal l; lh is a “dark,” slightly velarised interdental l, the tongue touching the bottom of the upper teeth: the sound is similar to ð. n is /n/ between vowels and before t, c, y and n. Before any other consonant it is /ŋ/

cw is a labialised dorso-palatal stop. In pronouncing it, the tip of the tongue should touch the bottom teeth, while the top of the tongue touches the hard palate, (as compared to lamino-palatal c, pronounced with the whole tongue pressed against the roof of the mouth.) fw is the corresponding fricative, similar to /çw/ but also with the tongue-tip turned down. (I was trying to avoid diacritical marks, and I didn’t like sw, chw or xw, so I illogically write fw.)

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.))

There are eight vowels, four rounded and four unrounded: Unrounded:    a  ë  e  i          Rounded:        ä  ö  o  u

a  e  i  o  u  are /a/  /e/  /i/  /o/  /u/      ö is /ø/ ä is the low rounded back vowel in British English “swan,” written with an upside-down a. ë is a central vowel, written with an i with a stroke through it. (I can't paste these symbols.)

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

Like:         ea  oä         ei  ou         ie  uo

Unlike:       au  äi          ëu  öi          iu  ui

II. Phonotactics

What the heck, we’ve had phonology, let’s have 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.

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. And finally : 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.

Now:

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 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 epwien thonukwä nirë-tekan, ela houri rlöhwala lhöyepkwe lamo nikön cwälu teinavo, ilva voprälel’on vali-prëlli nilwe-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.)