Ko

Ko/Swadesh list

Ko (English: /ku:/, natively Kuam /kɨː/ (-m is a tone letter)) is a language spoken in Bjeheond; it's related to Hlou. It is a monosyllabic tonal language inspired by Hmong and Irish. Like Irish, it has initial consonant mutations.

Todo

• Explain: lexical mutation in Hlou, grammatical mutation in Ku
• dor = to be born ~ Hlou Ndol 'person'

Phonology

Ko has fewer initials and fewer vowels than Hlou, but more tones.

Phonotactics

C + V + tone

Initials

m n ny l r y = /m n ɲ l r j/

hm hn hny hl hr = /ʰm ʰn ʰɲ ʰl ʰr/

p t ts tx c k q b d j g = /p t ts tʃ c k q b d ɟ g/

pl bl tl dl = /pl bl tl dl/

ph th tsh txh ch kh qh bh dh jh gh = /f θ s ʃ ç x χ v ð j ɣ/

phl bhl thl dhl /fl vl ɬ ɮ/

np nt nts ntx nc nk nq nb nd nj ng = /b d dz dʒ ɟ g ɢ m n ɲ ŋ/

npl nbl ntl ndl /bl ml dl nl/

f s x h = /f s ʃ h/

nf ns nx = /v z ʒ/

v z = /v z/

Rimes

a i u w e o aa ee oo ia ua = /a ɪ ə u e o oa ea au i ɨ/

Tones

11 tones: (tone letters should correspond to Hlou tones)

-0 -b -d -g -s -m -r -bh -dh -gh -mh

These tones come in pairs:

• -b -d -g -m
• -bh -dh -gh -mh
  • ~ Hlou tones -b, -d, -g, -n

"Entering" tones:

• -0 -s -r
  • ~ Hlou tones -0, -s/-ß, -l

Grammar

Parts of speech are not very distinct from each other in Ko. A content word will take clitics and possibly mutations depending on its syntactic function, which includes whether it serves as a noun, verb or an adverb.