Kola
Kola (Native: ጅቆለ /d͡ʒɨkʼolə/, Latin script: Jïqolä) is a Bantu language spoken by the Kola people (ወቆለ wäqolä).
Introduction
Phonology
Orthography
Ge'ez Abugida
IPA | ə | u | i | a | e | ɨ/- | o | ʷə | ʷi | ʷa | ʷe | ʷɨ/- | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
h | ሀ | ሁ | ሂ | ሃ | ሄ | ህ | ሆ | ||||||
l | ለ | ሉ | ሊ | ላ | ሌ | ል | ሎ | ሏ | |||||
ħ | ሐ | ሑ | ሒ | ሓ | ሔ | ሕ | ሖ | ሗ | |||||
m | መ | ሙ | ሚ | ማ | ሜ | ም | ሞ | ሟ | |||||
s | ሠ | ሡ | ሢ | ሣ | ሤ | ሥ | ሦ | ሧ | |||||
r | ረ | ሩ | ሪ | ራ | ሬ | ር | ሮ | ሯ | |||||
s | ሰ | ሱ | ሲ | ሳ | ሴ | ስ | ሶ | ሷ | |||||
ʃ | ሸ | ሹ | ሺ | ሻ | ሼ | ሽ | ሾ | ሿ | |||||
kʼ | ቀ | ቁ | ቂ | ቃ | ቄ | ቅ | ቆ | ቈ | ቊ | ቋ | ቌ | ቍ | |
ʁ | ቐ | ቑ | ቒ | ቓ | ቔ | ቕ | ቖ | ቘ | ቚ | ቛ | ቜ | ቝ | |
b | በ | ቡ | ቢ | ባ | ቤ | ብ | ቦ | ቧ | |||||
v | ቨ | ቩ | ቪ | ቫ | ቬ | ቭ | ቮ | ቯ | |||||
tʰ | ተ | ቱ | ቲ | ታ | ቴ | ት | ቶ | ቷ | |||||
t͡ʃʰ | ቸ | ቹ | ቺ | ቻ | ቼ | ች | ቾ | ቿ | |||||
h | ኀ | ኁ | ኂ | ኃ | ኄ | ኅ | ኆ | ኈ | ኊ | ኋ | ኌ | ኍ | |
n | ነ | ኑ | ኒ | ና | ኔ | ን | ኖ | ኗ | |||||
ɲ | ኘ | ኙ | ኚ | ኛ | ኜ | ኝ | ኞ | ኟ | |||||
ʔ | አ (ኧ) | ኡ | ኢ | ኣ | ኤ | እ | ኦ | ||||||
kʰ | ከ | ኩ | ኪ | ካ | ኬ | ክ | ኮ | ኰ | ኲ | ኳ | ኴ | ኵ | |
χ | ኸ | ኹ | ኺ | ኻ | ኼ | ኽ | ኾ | ዀ | ዂ | ዃ | ዄ | ዅ | |
w | ወ | ዉ | ዊ | ዋ | ዌ | ው | ዎ | ||||||
ʕ | ዐ | ዑ | ዒ | ዓ | ዔ | ዕ | ዖ | ||||||
z | ዘ | ዙ | ዚ | ዛ | ዜ | ዝ | ዞ | ዟ | |||||
ʒ | ዠ | ዡ | ዢ | ዣ | ዤ | ዥ | ዦ | ዧ | |||||
j | የ | ዩ | ዪ | ያ | ዬ | ይ | ዮ | ||||||
d | ደ | ዱ | ዲ | ዳ | ዴ | ድ | ዶ | ዷ | |||||
d͡ʒ | ጀ | ጁ | ጂ | ጃ | ጄ | ጅ | ጆ | ጇ | |||||
ɡ | ገ | ጉ | ጊ | ጋ | ጌ | ግ | ጎ | ጐ | ጒ | ጓ | ጔ | ጕ | |
ŋ | ጘ | ጙ | ጚ | ጛ | ጜ | ጝ | ጞ | ⶓ | ⶔ | ጟ | ⶕ | ⶖ | |
tʼ | ጠ | ጡ | ጢ | ጣ | ጤ | ጥ | ጦ | ጧ | |||||
t͡ʃʼ | ጨ | ጩ | ጪ | ጫ | ጬ | ጭ | ጮ | ጯ | |||||
pʼ | ጰ | ጱ | ጲ | ጳ | ጴ | ጵ | ጶ | ጷ | |||||
t͡sʼ | ጸ | ጹ | ጺ | ጻ | ጼ | ጽ | ጾ | ጿ | |||||
t͡sʼ | ፀ | ፁ | ፂ | ፃ | ፄ | ፅ | ፆ | ||||||
f | ፈ | ፉ | ፊ | ፋ | ፌ | ፍ | ፎ | ፏ | |||||
pʰ | ፐ | ፑ | ፒ | ፓ | ፔ | ፕ | ፖ | ፗ | |||||
IPA | ə | u | i | a | e | ɨ/- | o | ʷə | ʷi | ʷa | ʷe | ʷɨ/- |
Note: The base forms for non-labialized guttural (uvular, pharyngeal, and glottal) consonants are not normally used, since they do not occur with the vowel /ə/ except in ideophones. If they do appear, they are generally used interchangeably with the /a/ forms (except for the uvulars). In ideophones, /(ʔ)ə/ is written as ኧ; the rest simply use their base forms (despite the ambiguity for /h/, /ħ/, and /ʕ/).
Latin Alphabet
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Consonants
Labial | Coronal | Palatal/ Postalveolar |
Velar/Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plain | labialized | |||||||
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ŋʷ | |||
Stop | ejective | pʼ | tʼ | kʼ | kʷʼ | |||
aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | kʷʰ | ʔ | |||
voiced | b | d | ɡ | ɡʷ | ||||
Affricate | ejective | t͡sʼ | t͡ʃʼ | |||||
aspirated | t͡ʃʰ | |||||||
voiced | d͡ʒ | |||||||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | χ | χʷ | ħ | h |
voiced | v | z | (ʒ)1 | ʁ | ʁʷ | ʕ | ||
Approximant | l | j | w | |||||
Tap/Trill | r |
Notes:
1 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.
2 "Guttural" refers to everything post-velar - i.e. uvular, pharyngeal, and glottal.
Vowels
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
High | i | ɨ | u |
Mid | e | ə | o |
Low | a |
Prosody
Stress
Intonation
Phonotactics
The maximum allowed syllable structure is CVC word-medially and CVCC word-finally. 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.
Not all clusters are allowed word-finally. The following are allowed:
- Any geminate consonant (except uvular, pharyngeal, and glottal consonants, which cannot geminate in any position)
- Sonorant + non-glottal obstruent - e.g. /nt, mpʼ, ls/
- Voiceless velar/guttural (non-labialized) or labial obstruent + /t/, /s/, or /ʃ/ - e.g. /ft, kʼt, ħʃ, ʔs/
- Voiceless fricative (non-labialized) + stop - e.g. /st, ftʼ, ʃkʼ/ - EXCEPTION: /f/ cannot be followed by a labial stop
Any other word-final cluster is broken with /ɨ/. Alternatively, a word-final /i/ may be added, especially in loanwords - e.g. ዓቅሊ /ʕakʼli/ "reason, common sense" (from Arabic عقل /ʕaql/).
Within a word, most clusters are allowed in theory. Some clusters do not occur due to coalescence (e.g. n, l + r → rr; t + d → dd) Guttural consonants do not normally cluster with each other, except in some loanwords (where they often fuse anyway) - e.g. ማዕሃድ /maʕhad/ institute (also ማሓድ /maħad/). When three or more consonants cluster, they are broken up with /ɨ/ (or sometimes another vowel) - e.g. ጅንግሊዝ /d͡ʒɨŋɡliz/ "English (language)" is actually pronounced [d͡ʒɨŋɡɨliz].
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
- u > w or Ø / C_V (depends)
- ä/a + a, e, i, o, u > a, e, e, o, o
- ï > Ø / V_
- 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.
Allophony and Variation
- When the vowel "ä" occurs after non-labialized guttural (uvular, pharyngeal, or glottal) consonants, it becomes "a". The same change occurs before vowelless gutturals.
- Labialized consonants followed by ä or ï can be pronounced and written as their non-labialized counterparts followed by o or u respectively.
Consonant mutations
Spirantization
p’, pʰ > f
b, w . v
t’, tʰ, t͡s’ > s
d, l, r > z
t͡ʃ’, t͡ʃʰ > ʃ
(d͡ʒ > ʒ)
k’, kʰ, g > χ, ħ, ʕ
ŋ > ʁ
Nasalization
p’, t’, t͡s’, t͡ʃ’, k(ʷ)’ > pʰ, tʰ, s, t͡ʃʰ, k(ʷ)ʰ
w, l, r, j, ŋ(ʷ) > b, d, d, d͡ʒ, 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
b, d, ɟ, g > _ / sporadic (mostly in common words)
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
[-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
ɰ > ŋ
qʰ, ɢ > χ, ʁ
Kw > Kʷ (where K = kʼ, kʰ, ɡ, ŋ, χ, ʁ, x, ɣ)
Kʷ > K / _VKʷ, _VP (where P = labial consonant)
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 > ə
e, o > ə / _ / _C:
eC:, oC: > eC, oC
a:, e:, o: > a, e, o
i, u > ɨ (u sometimes labializes velar consonants, especially in grammatical prefixes)
i:, u: > i, u
wɨ, jɨ > u, i / C_C
wə, jə > o, e / C_C
ɨ > Ø / _#, VC_C (starting from beginning of word) / disallowed by phonotactics
j > Ø / C_V
w > Ø / C_V (not always)
l > r / sporadic
χ, ħ > h / sporadic
ə > a / after non-labialized guttural consonant, before vowelless guttural consonant
Morphology
Nouns
Noun classes
Kola preserves most of the Proto-Bantu noun classes.
Class | Noun prefix | Concord prefixes1 | Typical meaning(s) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subject | Object | Adjective | |||
1 | mï-; - | a(y)-2 | mï- | mï- | Humans, animate |
2 | wä- | wa | wä- | Plural of class 1 | |
3 | mï- | ngu- | mï- | Inanimate | |
4 | mï- | ji- | mï- | Plural of class 3 | |
5 | zï- | li- | zï- | Augmentatives, various | |
6 | mä- | nga- | 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- | wu- | wï- | Abstract, countries/lands | |
15 | gwï- | gu- | gwï- | Infinitives | |
16 | bä- | ba- | bä- | Location | |
17 | gwï- | gu- | gwï- | Approximate location |
Notes:
1 These concord prefixes are considered formal and old-fashioned, and tend to be replaced with animacy-based concords. Words agreeing with animate nouns use classes 1/2, 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 form the plural by adding the class 6 prefix mä- to either their singular or plural. Similarly, animate nouns (especially those not already in class 1) can add the class 2 prefix wä-.
- e.g. class 3 ምጢ mïthi "tree" (stem: -thi) → class 4 ምጢ mïthi or class 6 መምጢ mämthi "trees"
- class 5 ዚጨ zichä "eye" (stem: -ichä) → class 6 ሜጨ mechä or መሜጨ mämechä / መዚጨ mäzichä "eyes"
- class 5 ዝት zïtt "giant, great person" (stem: -tt) → class 6 መት mätt or class 2 ወመት wämätt / ወዝት wäzïtt "giants, great people"
Younger speakers tend to add the prefixes to the noun's singular form, while older speakers add them to the plural forms or don't add them at all.
5 Diminutive and augmentative prefixes may be added before the prefix of the base noun or directly to the stem. Locative prefixes are always added to the full noun before any other prefixes.
- e.g. gä- + zichä → ጌጨ gechä or ገዚጨ gäzichä "little eye"
- bä- + zichä → በዚጨ bäzichä (NOT *ቤጨ bechä) "in (an) eye"
Pronouns
Adjectives
Verbs
Infinitive is a class 15 noun - e.g. ጔደ gwedä "to walk, go" (stem: -edä).
Agent nouns are class 1/2 - e.g. ሜደ medä "person who walks" (pl: ዌደ wedä); ሜዝ mez "companion" (pl: ዌዝ wez).
Passive is formed with the suffix -wa - e.g. *ጔዷ gwedwa "to be walked/gone" (doesn't make sense, but you get the idea).
Syntax
Constituent order
SOV