Pkalho-Kolo

Pkalho-Kölo started as part of an imaginary world. I wanted it to be different, both in phonology and grammar, from any existing language, rather than a smorgasbord language, made up of bits I like chosen from natural languages. One aim was to create a language without distinction of parts of speech: Arabic has three, Inuit only two, nouns and verbs. But since the noun/verb distinction is artificial (thunder is both a noun and a verb, lightning only a noun,) why not take the next step and have only one kind of word? Another was to create an agglutinative language with quite a modest number of affixes (there are 32).

I thought it was likely, and it turns out to be true, that a language can work perfectly well without nouns or verbs, adjectives or adverbs, pre/postpositions or conjunctions; also without singular/plural; without tenses; without active or passive; without subject-object relations. (Minor aims: no articles; no gender; no word to translate "to be"; no near-meaningless "operator" verbs such as do, have, get, go.)

In phonology I wanted at least a couple of sounds not found in any natural language; also to have no sibilants; and to have an overall sound dominated by labial or labialised consonants, rather in the way that Arabic is dominated by sounds made at the back of the mouth. These are the consonants of Pkalho-Kölo in the traditional order:

pa ma pha   pka va fha    pkwa pwa   pra rla    ta lha tha    ca la    cwa ya fwa   kwa wa hwa    ka na ha

There are four unrounded vowels: a  ë  e  i         and four rounded vowels:  ä  ö  o  u.

(More about phonology further down.)

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":

Fhalhvo Nikö

Täthumä atäla lemäi tonun lamo niköli akäto teina eali. Cimekoäkuto cwëllen e wöhela icwiyi löipë nörövafheila eto iturë ölvu thena-mäyupiela yuli. Oto cwinli pintörë eali lamovon atähi kwellapkwe poucahwäli ewan valarikurë lumphë nälmen. Epkëväiloto nöweiwë poucamöli, e hëfworë nilneripë fhampon nömäihi kovo nälhmulemä. Waweto pkäpkwewearë lhaun kanlöla vayi haulato emäin thopala muriphili.

The English is:

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 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 to go home.

Let's have some more of this story:

Vakuito hauvela atäwë yoähauyi ephiun alwä-nänala lupka-prëmon. Mëula, itur’on, thounölela nikö nömäin rlui yakerëmä; 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 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.

Below:

I. Orders

II. Subordinations

III. Mood

IV. Coordination

V. Demonstratives and Pronouns

VI. Indefinite Words

(Sometime soon: Directional Prefixes A, B & C; Inversions; Negatives; Aspect)

Then: Phonology; Phonotactics

OK. The basic grammar of Pkalho-Kölo is as follows:

I. Orders

The first rule is that any unmarked word that precedes a word with a suffix, is a modifier. Long strings of modifiers are not uncommon. The second rule is that the head word of any complete utterance is the first word with a suffix, and this will be one of nine Order suffixes or one of seven Mood suffixes which replace them.

The first three Order suffixes are:

Stative:        -la

Active:        -rë

Habitual:      -mu

Pkalho-Kölo has no nouns or verbs: all the things we can speak about are phenomena, appearing and passing away. If we think of them as extended in space, we use the Stative; if as events occurring at a particular time, we use the Active; and if as events that occur predictably or usually, the Habitual. These are the three basic suffixes; all others are replacements for them.

Stative: cilola - “it is blue”; phoäla - “there are flowers.”

Active: pkaterë - “(it) broke”; hwicorë - “there was a flash of lightning.”

Habitual: ëfwumu - “it gets cold”; tëmamu wehon, cäyumu cwilën: “the sky grows dark, the stars grow bright.”

These are all impersonal, neither active nor passive. So keila means “sees” or “is visible”; lhomirë means “dies”, “kills” or “is killed.”

The next three replace the stative suffix -la

Interrogative:     -wo

Conjectural:     -pwä

Concessive:     -ku

Interrogative forms questions: möiwo - “is (he/she) asleep?”; ëfwuwo - “are you cold?”.

Conjectural translates maybe, perhaps: möipwä - “perhaps (he/she) is asleep”; thulopwä - “perhaps (he/she) has forgotten.”

Concessive expresses surprise or an admission: ëfwuku - “it’s so cold”; yempaku - “yes, it is foolish.”

If we are talking about an event, we add one of the other suffixes: pkateworë - “did it break?”; cännuwomu - “do (they) (usually) sing?”

The last three are:

Denominative:    -to

Conjunctive:     -yi

Resultative:      -pë

Denominative names or identifies things: cäilato - “(he/she) is a friend”; fhiruto - “it is a ruby”.

Conjunctive refers back to the previous word with an Order suffix; it translates “and”: hwäivorë cännuyi - “(they) danced and sang”; lhurkarë hwicoyi - “there was thunder and lightning.”

Resultative describes the result of the previous word with an Order suffix: tepkurë pkatepë - “(he) hit (it) so that it broke”; ämrlola möipë - “it was so warm (I) fell asleep.”

II. Subordinations

Words that add information to a word with an Order suffix are said to be subordinated. There are nine Subordination suffixes, which are similar to a case system, but cases such as nominative, accusative and genitive are absent. There are no subject-object relations; instead, interrelations are modelled in a space/time that can be literal or metaphorical.

The first three Subordinations are:

Relative:        -n(i)

Allative:         -li

Ablative:        -hi

Relative describes what could be called inseparability: cilola phoän - “the flower is blue”; hwäivorë pwenyan - “the boy danced.” (The flower is not separate from its blueness, nor the boy from his dancing.)

Allative marks destination or recipient: wipräli - “to the woods”; kwearë cälpan pali - “(he) gave me a book”.

Allative is also used for the locus of thoughts and perceptions: keila cilo phoän pali - “I saw the blue flower(s)”; mathörë pwenyan rlupeli - “the dog remembered the boy.”

Ablative marks origin or originator: tännuhi - “from the mountain”; pkaterë pwenyahi - “the boy broke (it)”; ceirë pali apkohi - “my older brother told me.”

The next four specify location:

Locative:        -wë

Prolative:        -thu

Adessive:        -kö

Inessive:        -mä

Locative is for general location; often translates “at, by.” Toröwë - “at the front”; leawë - “by the tree.”

Locative is also used for the locus of knowledge or emotion: pamela lho pwenyan pawë - “I know that boy”; yafhëla pawë - “I am afraid.”

It also marks the instrument of an action: cikorë hiwan kilviwë - “(he) cut the rope with a knife.”

Prolative marks location with regard to a line: often translates “along, through.” Tiltarë cähethu - “(they) walked along the street”; larirë pwahethu - “(they) ran through the room.”

It is also used for means of transport: leperë phawethu - “(they) came here by boat.”

Adessive marks location with regard to a surface: often translates “on.” Këula cälpan tällikö - “the book is on the table”; fwärerë pa näkekö - “it settled on my hand.” It often describes the place of impact: tepkurë pakö - “(he) hit me”; kipërë thuoläkö - “(he) played (on) the harp.”

Inessive marks ambient location in space or time: often translates “in.” Kaulomä - “in the garden”; cantomä - “in the box”; torllumä - “in summer”.

The last two are:

Partitive:        -vo

Directive:        -pkwe

Partitive is for the substance of something, or a part of something: torömä tämovon - “in the front of the house” (compare: toröwë tämohin - “in front of the house”); muirë nulhävo nuoyi rlucovo - “(they) ate bread and drank wine”.

Directive marks orientation: thihupkwe - “towards the north”; proärë kilvin apkopkwe - “(I) bought a knife for my older brother”; keila cwean thilkopkwe - “(I) can see a face in the mirror.”

The relative suffix -ni is usually contracted to -n. In this form it links back to the previous word with any suffix, and it can be added to any other Subordination suffix. Këula tällikö - “(it) is on the table.” Këula cantomä tällikön - “(it) is in the box (which is) on the table. (Note that there is no word to translate “to be.” When this means “to be in a place” the word këu. to find, is often used: “it can be found on the table.”) When the suffix is used is its full form, -ni, it links back to the previous word with an Order suffix.

Subordination suffixes replace the Stative -la, but it is perfectly normal for words describing events to be subordinated: you only need to add the Active or Habitual suffixes: Keila hwäivorën cwëllen pwenyali - “the boy saw the girl dancing”; këlphirë ilurën upherëmä - “a ray of light pierced the forming clouds.”

OK. That's enough for now.

Oh damn. I can't figure out how to add more text after the scans, so I'll just have to keep pushing them further and further down. Sigh. Never mind, here we go.

III. Mood

Words with Order suffixes describe actual events; but there are also seven Mood suffixes that refer to unrealised possibilities, in the future, in hypothesis, in hopes or fears, etc. They all replace the active -rë.

Expective       -mö

Subjunctive     -kwä

Injunctive        -kë

Purposive       -phi

Hortative         -ru

Optative          -hwa

Apprehensive    -fhe

Expective is for events foreseen in the future: vuimö - “it’s going to rain”; ecwa nacwimö lhaun - “they leave today”; ilva lhapimö tuinarën tämon - “they will soon finish building the house.”

Subjunctive is for hypothetical situations: källekwä pahi - “I would help (you)”; yöllikwä unohi - “the children would cry”; ceikwä atähi - “(my) father would tell (you).” Subjunctive is also used for requests: hoäkwä cimkwän - “could you lend me the scissors.”

Injunctive is for commands or instructions: cwipë lelhkokë - “tie it up tightly”; hikö tencurë - “decide quickly”; pkoäkë kepwän - “take hold of the ladder.”

Purposive expresses an intention, most often of the speaker, but sometimes of a third person: källephi - “I’ll help (you); touphi phapren - “I’ll bring a chair”; proäphi köllan kumpreyin - “I’ll buy strawberries and raspberries.”

Hortative expresses a suggestion or recommendation, often including the speaker: nuoru rlucovo - “let’s drink some wine”; hwecaru cepron - “better hide the money.”

Optative is for wishes or hopes: talmehwa cäilon - “I hope my friends are safe”; kwentohwa vuirën - “I wish the rain would stop.”

Apprehensive expresses fears, and is often used as a warning: täpufhe - “it’s going to fall over”; pkatefhe - “you’re going to break it”; këfhefhe täivon - “look out, you’ll rip the material.”

More soon.

Right. We're off again.

IV. Coordination

Words that end in one of the last three Order suffixes, and link to another word with an Order or Mood suffix are said to be Coordinated.

The Denominative -to added to other suffixes creates suspended forms waiting for completion: Minlölato wafwula - “It was so complicated I was amazed.” Varerëto thuomä nallurë - “I was late so I sat at the back.”

With the second three Orders:

Pkirewo? “Is it shut?” Pkirewoto letouphi kilwen. “If it’s shut I’ll go and get the key.”

Möipwä. “Perhaps (they’re) asleep.” Möipwäto lilkwä tiltakë cäin. “If they should be asleep, walk quietly.”

Ëfwuku. “It certainly is cold.” Ëfwukuto hwöpe kwomala pakö. “Although it’s cold I am lightly dressed.”

(More on this soon.)

Each of the Mood suffixes can take the Denominative -to, and sometimes the Resultative -pë, to create coordinated clauses expressing the interactions between actual events and unrealised possibilities in the domain of expectation, instruction, intention, hope and so on. To list all the possibilities would be tedious, but below are a few examples:

Lantikwäto pälukö keimö kuphin - If you climb the hill you will be able to see the ocean

Lillä tiltakë virofheto ninyön - Walk very quietly or you’ll wake the baby.

Ölvu keriru lincwa lhapimöto - Let’s begin straightaway and we’ll be finished tomorrow

Kwärvakë rlupen lucemöpë mimwen - Chase away the dog so the cat will come out

Enkwaphi vëllun capkwe kwentokëto yöllirën - I will read you a story provided you stop crying

Pkammärë mofhën pahi elma amrlohwato cäin - I have banked up the fire so that you will be warm in the morning

OK, let’s continue with caveman methods. What are we up to? Oh right.

V. Demonstrative and Pronouns.

There are six demonstratives:

Neutral 1: Reference forward: e

Neutral 2: Reference back: o

Proximate 1: Near speaker: pe

Proximate 2: Near person spoken to: ce

Distant 1: First mentioned: lho

Distant 2: Next mentioned: yo

The demonstratives frequently take Order suffixes: pela - “it’s here; look!”; lhola “it’s there; look!”; lepekë - “come here”; hepekë - “go away”; ela - “the following is the case”; ola - “what came before is the case; yes.”

The neutral demonstratives play an important role in the grammar of Pkalho-Kölo, being used, among other things, to create relative clauses. But more about that later.

As in Japanese, pronouns are omitted unless this would cause ambiguity. Unlike Japanese, however, Pkalho-Kölo has a full set of personal pronouns:

First person singular : pa

Second person singular : ca

First person dual : exclusive : apë

First person dual : inclusive : epka

Second person dual : acë

First person plural : exclusive : päi

First person plural : inclusive : pkei

Second person plural : cäi

Third person singular : lhu

Fourth person singular : yu

Third person dual : exclusive : olha

Third person dual : inclusive : ulle

Fourth person dual : oya

Third person plural : exclusive : lhau

Third person plural : inclusive : ui

Fourth person plural : yau

The fourth person, as in the Algonquian languages, is simply used to distinguish one person or group spoken of first from another spoken of next, so as to avoid the ambiguity of sentences like: “He asked him how well he had known her before his marriage.” The exclusive/inclusive distinction in the dual and plural in the same way clears up sentences like: “He asked him if they were going to go with them.”

Pronouns are only used to refer to people, animals, and anything regarded as person-like.

VI. Indefinite Words

Indefinite words form a small closed class of words with a number of uses. There are 12.

au    something; what?

mäi    someone; who?

pea    somewhere; where?

kui    at some time; when?

hwea    in some way; how?

pwea    by some means; how?

rlui    some kind of; what kind of?

toä    a number of; how many?

voä    some; how much?

wei    one particular; which?

pruo    one of two; which?

phiu    for some reason; why?

The meaning differs depending on which Order they follow:

Stative: Keila mäi - (I) see someone

Interrogative: Keiwo mäi? - Can you see anyone?

Concessive: Keiku mäi? - Who can you see?

Likewise when they are used by themselves:

Mäila - Someone is there/here

Mäiwo? - Is there someone there?

Mäiku? - Who’s there?

Those referring to time, place, manner, reason, obviously appear more often in questions. They can be used as modifiers, or with a Subordination suffix:

Pwea pkälëtäkumu höpin? - How do ants communicate with each other?

Veakumö lapkwan mäili? - Who will win the prize?

They can also introduce the answer to a question:

Phiu kwomaku palkon? - Phiula lucehöiphin.

Why are you wearing a coat? - Because I’m just about to go out.

With the neutral demonstratives e and o:

Horula ephiun hölki nacwikurë lhaun - I don’t understand why they suddenly left

Hunyëla epean paltokuphi lhaun oli - I don’t know where they went to go shopping

Indefinite words can also be used as modifiers with another word, as follows:

Nolwu voä kapula thelkan - The rock was as big as an elephant

Cwilpwi hwea ëfwula pawë - I feel as cold as an icicle

Cillö rlui phoäla - There were flowers similar to jasmine

All indefinite words form compounds with the demonstratives. In the case of au an “r” is inserted: perau, cerau, lhorau, yorau. These words translate “this” and “that”, and are used rather than pronouns in referring to inanimate objects. In the same way, pepea, lhopea, perlui, lhorlui, pephiu, lhophiu, mean here, there, this kind of, that kind of, for this reason, for that reason. It takes time to learn how to work with four demonstratives rather than the two we have in English. With reference to time, cekui relates to the person spoken to, and so to the immediate past: what you have said; pekui to the speaker, and so the immediate future: what I am about to say. Lhokui refers to a more remote past, yokui to a more remote future.

So belatedly we come to phonology. As previously mentioned the phonological profile of Pkalho-Kölo is a little different from any other language. Its consonants are

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

Easy ones first:    p is /p/       m is /m/     ph is [It won't let me paste this character. It should be the letter phi]

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.” 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 is /pļ/ 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 similar to the labialised palatals they have in some Caucasian languages, but I think slightly different. In pronouncing it, the tip of the tongue should touch the bottom teeth, while the blade of the tongue touches the hard palate. fw is the corresponding fricative, similar to /çw/ but with the same difference. (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. Form the lips to pronounce a p and the back of the tongue to pronounce a k. The lips open with a pop (similar to a labial click) 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. Who knows, one of them might have pk as well.

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 couldn’t find 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

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”).)

6. When a word beginning with a vowel takes a directional prefix, or is extended by aspectual stem-modification, an 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.

Right. I'm going to add (I hope) two pages of Pkalho-Kölo in its own writing system. These were written a couple of years ago and the language has changed slightly since then, but the writing system hasn't changed.

(I would like to get rid of these things but don't know how to.