Kola

Kola (Native: ጅቆለ /d͡ʒɨkʼolə/, Latin script: Jïqolä) is a Bantu language spoken by the Kola people .

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes

		Labial		Coronal		Palatal/ Postalveolar	Velar		Pharyngeal	Glottal
		plain	labialized	laminal1	apical1		plain	labialized
Nasal		m	mʷ	n		ɲ	ŋ	ŋʷ
Stop	ejective	pʼ		tʼ	(ʈʼ)		kʼ	kʷʼ
	aspirated	pʰ		tʰ	(ʈʰ)		kʰ	kʷʰ		ʔ
	voiced	b		d	(ɖ)		ɡ	ɡʷ
Affricate	ejective			t͡sʼ		t͡ʃʼ
	aspirated					t͡ʃʰ
	voiced					d͡ʒ
Fricative	voiceless	f		s	(ʂ)	ʃ	χ	χʷ	ħ	h
	voiced	v		z	(ʐ)	(ʒ)3	ʁ	ʁʷ	ʕ
Approximant				l		j		w
Tap/Trill				r

Notes:

¹ The consonants /tʼ, tʰ, d, s, z/ may be either apical or laminal in the standard language. The stops /ʈʼ, ʈʰ, d/ may be dental or alveolar.

² The consonants /ʈʼ, ʈʰ, ɖ, ʂ, ʐ/ are apical alveolar or post-alveolar. They occur dialectally and correspond to standard /t͡ʃʼ, t͡ʃʰ, d͡ʒ, ʃ, d͡ʒ/ respectively. In these dialects,/tʼ, tʰ, d/ are laminal and/or dental.

³ The distinction between /d͡ʒ/ and /ʒ/ has been lost in the standard language (where they occur in free variation), but is still present in some dialects.

Vowels

Vowel phonemes

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ɨ	u
Mid	e	ə	o
Low		a

Phonotactics

The maximum allowed syllable structure is CVCC word-finally and CVC otherwise. Consonant clusters with more than two consonants are broken up by inserting the epenthetic vowel /ɨ/. /ɨ/ is also added (in speech only) after a word-final consonant cluster when the following word begins in a vowel.

Vowels cannot occur in hiatus. When this would happen, they are separated with epenthetic consonants such as /j/, /w/, or /ʔ/.

Morphophonology

Sandhi

• ï + w, y > u, i / _C / w or y is geminated
• ï + w, y > uw, iy / _V / w or y is geminated
• ä + w, y > o, e / _C / w or y is geminated
• ä + w, y > ow, ey / _V / w or y is geminated
• ï > Ø / C_C whenever possible
• ï, i > Ø / _V in most cases
• ï > w / C_V sometimes in grammatical morphemes - will be indicated with (ï/w)
• u > w / C_V (not always)
• ä/a + ä, a, e, i, o, u > a, a, e, e, o, o
• ä/a + ï > e OR o (depending on origin of ï - indicated in stems as ĭ and ŭ respectively)
• ï + ï > i OR u (ditto)
• front/central vowel > Ø / e_ (usually)
• back/central vowel > Ø / o_ (usually)
• When e/i/o/u are not assimilated to a following vowel or preceding central vowel, y/w is added as an epenthetic consonant for front and back vowels respectively.

Consonant mutations

Spirantization:

p’, pʰ > f

b, w . v

t’, tʰ, t͡s’ > s

d, l, r > z

t͡ʃ’, t͡ʃʰ > ʃ

(d͡ʒ > ʒ)

(t͇’, t͇ʰ, d͇ > θ͇, θ͇, ð͇)

k’, kʰ, g > χ, ħ, ʕ

ŋ, ʔ > ʁ

Nasalization:

p’, t’, (t͇’), t͡s’, t͡ʃ’, k(ʷ)’ > pʰ, tʰ, (t͇ʰ), s, t͡ʃʰ, k(ʷ)ʰ

w, j > b, d͡ʒ

l, r > d

ŋ(ʷ), ʔ > g(ʷ)

χ, ʁ > ħ, ʕ

Ø > ɲ / _V

Palatalization:

ŋ, ʔ > j

k’, kʰ > t͡ʃ’, t͡ʃʰ

χ, ħ, h > ʃ

g, ʁ, ʕ > d͡ʒ, (ʒ, ʒ)

Labialization:

ŋ, ʔ, k’, kʰ, g > ŋʷ, w, kʷ’, kʷʰ, gʷ

χ, ħ, h > χʷ

ʁ, ʕ > ʁʷ

Historical phonology

Grand master plan

(Proto-Bantu reconstruction taken from Wikipedia.^[1] To avoid confusion, Proto-Bantu *j is written ɟ)

ɟ > Ø / V_a, ɲ_a

ɟ > Ø / i_i, i_ɪ (maybe also ɪ_i, ɪ_ɪ) - for class 5/6 nouns, the *ɟ is also dropped from the plural by analogy

p, b > p͡f, b͡v / _i, _u

t, d > t͡s, d͡z / _i, _u

c, ɟ > c͡ç, ɟ͡ʝ / _i, _u

k, g > k͡x, g͡ɣ / _i, _u

ɪ, ʊ > i, u

i, e, u, o > j, j, w, w (transfers high tone to following vowel) / _V

V́, VV > V: (VV = doubled vowel)

ie, ei > e:

uo, ou > o:

ai, ae, au, ao > e:, e:, o:, o:

b, d, ɟ, g > β̞, l, j, ɰ / not preceded by nasal

p͡f, b͡v > f, v / not preceded by nasal

t͡s, d͡z > s, z / not preceded by nasal

c͡ç, ɟ͡ʝ > ç, ʝ / not preceded by nasal

k͡x, g͡ɣ > x, ɣ / not preceded by nasal

c, ɟ > t͡s, d͡z / _a(:)

c, ɟ > t͡ɬ, d͡ɮ / _o(:), _u(:)

c, ɟ > t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ / _e(:), _i(:)

[-voiced +prenasalized +stop/affricate ] > [-prenasalized +aspirated] (i.e. mp, nt, etc > pʰ, tʰ, etc for all voiceless stops and affricates)

[-voiced -aspirated +stop/affricate ] > [+voiced] / in grammatical morphemes

[-voiced -aspirated +stop/affricate] > [+ejective] / otherwise

[+voiced +prenasalized +stop/affricate] > [-prenasalized] / #_, V:_ (i.e. mb, nd, etc > b, d, etc)

[+voiced +prenasalized +stop/affricate] > [-prenasalized +geminate] / V_

NN > N / #_, V:_

velar > palatal / before front vowel

c͡ç’, c͡çʰ, ɟ͡ʝ > t͡ʃ’, t͡ʃʰ, d͡ʒ

c’, cʰ, ɟ > t͡ʃ’, t͡ʃʰ, d͡ʒ

ç, ʝ > ʃ, ʒ

k͡xʰ, g͡ɣ > qʰ, ɢ

p͡fʰ, b͡v > f, v

t͡sʰ, d͡z > s, z

t͡ɬ’, t͡ɬʰ, d͡ɮ > t͡ʃ’, t͡ʃʰ, d͡ʒ (dialectal t͇’, t͇ʰ, d͇, with t’, tʰ, d being dental)

ɬ, ɮ > ʃ, ʒ (dialectal θ͇, ð͇)

ɰ > ŋ / always / ɰV_ + sporadic

qʰ, ɢ > χ, ʁ

Kw > Kʷ (where K = kʼ, kʰ, ɡ, ŋ, χ, ʁ, x, ɣ)

Kʷ > K / _VKʷ, _VP (where P = labial consonant)

β̞ w, ɰw> w / always / _VKʷ, _VP

β̞ w, ɰw> β̞ , ɰ / otherwise

mw > mʷ / in grammatical prefixes

χ, ʁ > ħ, ʕ (this does not affect the labialized equivalents)

x(ʷ), ɣ(ʷ) > χ(ʷ), ʁ(ʷ)

ʒ > d͡ʒ (not in all dialects)

β̞ > w

a, e, o > ə

a:, e:, o: > a, e, o

i, u > ɨ

i:, u: > i, u

wɨ, jɨ > u, i / _C

ɨ > Ø / _#, VC_C (starting from beginning of word) / disallowed by phonotactics

j > Ø / C_V

ɰ > ʔ

l > r / sporadic

χ, ħ > h / sporadic

Morphology

Nouns

Noun classes

Kola preserves most of the Proto-Bantu noun classes.

Noun classes

Class	Noun prefix	Concord prefixes1			Typical meaning(s)
		Subject	Object	Adjective
1	m(ï/w)-; -	a(y)-2	m(ï/w)-	m(ï/w)-	Humans, animate
2	wä-	wa		wä-	Plural of class 1
3	m(ï/w)-	ŋu-		m(ï/w)-	Inanimate
4	mï-	ji-		mï-	Plural of class 3
5	yï-	li-		yï-	Augmentatives, various
6	mä-	ŋa-		mä-	Plural of class 5, mass nouns
7	jï-	ĵi-		jï-	Tools/artefacts, diminutives, languages, various
8	vï-	vi-		vï-	Plural of class 7
9	N-; -3	yi-		N-	Animals, inanimate
10	N-; -3	ĵï-		N-	Plural of classes 9 & 11
11	lï-	lu		lï-	Abstract, manner/way/culture
12	gä-	ga-		gä-	Diminutives
13	dï-	du-		dï-	Plural of class 12
14	wï-	wï-		wï-	Abstract, countries/lands
15	g(ï/w)-	gu-		g(ï/w)-	Infinitives
16	bä-	ba-		bä-	Location
17	g(ï/w)-	gu-		g(ï/w)-	Approximate location

Notes:

¹ These concord prefixes are old-fashioned and tend to be replaced with animacy-based concords. Words agreeing with animate nouns use classes 1/2 (for singular and plural respectively), while those agreeing with inanimate nouns use classes 5/6 or 9/10.

² -y- is added epenthetically before vowels.

³ The initial consonant of the stem (including a null consonant) is often nasalized if applicable, but this is not always the case especially in loanwords.

⁴ Inanimate nouns (especially those whose plural form is identical to their singular) can add the class 6 prefix mä- to their plural. Similarly, animate nouns not already in class 1 can add the class 2 prefix wä-.

e.g. class 3 mïthi "tree" (stem: -thi) → class 4 mïthi or class 6 mämthi "trees"

class 5 yichä "eye" (stem: -ichä) → class 6 mechä or mämechä "eyes"

class 5 yïtt "giant, great person" (stem: -tt) → class 6 mätt or class 2 wämätt "giants, great people"