Kola

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

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
ħ	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/-

Notes:

¹ 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/).

² Gemination is not normally indicated, and the vowel /ɨ/ is not distinguished from a null vowel. If necessary (e.g. in texts meant for learners/foreigners), gemination can be indicated with two dots above the letter, and /ɨ/ with an apostrophe when not obvious from context.

Latin Alphabet

Clusters that can be confused with digraphs are separated with an apostrophe - e.g. s'h /sh/ vs sh /ʃ/.

Letter IPA A a a Ä ä ə B b b C c t͡ʃʰ Ch ch t͡ʃ’ D d d E e e F f f G g ɡ Gh gh ʁ H h h Hh hh ħ I i i Ï ï ɨ J j d͡ʒ K k kʰ Kh kh χ L l l M m m N n n

Letter IPA Ny ny ɲ Ng ng ŋ O o o P p pʰ Ph ph p’ Q q k’ Qh qh ʕ R r r S s s Sh sh ʃ T t tʰ Th th t’ U u u V v v W w w X x t͡s’ Y y y Z z z (Zh zh) ʒ ’ ʔ

Consonants

Consonant phonemes

		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.

³ All consonants have labialized allophones before the rounded vowels /o/ and /u/. The distinction between plain and labialized gutturals is neutralized in this position. Most consonants can also occur labialized before other vowels, but they behave more as sequences of consonant + /w/ (except for -wa, which behaves as a vowel).

Vowels

Vowel phonemes¹

	Front	Central2	Back
High	i	ɨ	u
Mid	e	ə	o
Low		a

Notes:

¹ The vowels /ɨ, ə/ are considered "weak", and the rest are considered "strong". In some circumstances, weak vowels may allophonically be pronounced strong or vice versa. In these cases, the underlying form is taken into consideration in any relevant processes (prosody, sandhi, etc). Note that diphthongs and triphthongs are treated as strong if they are within a single morpheme.

² The central vowels /ɨ, ə, a/ are actually pronounced closer to [ɪ̈, ɜ ~ ɐ, ä] respectively. They have front allophones [ɪ, ɛ ~ æ, a] after palatal/postalveolar consonants and rounded allophones [ʊ̈, ɞ ~ ɞ̞, ɒ̈] after labialized consonants (including /w/). The front and rounded allophones of the weak vowels alternate with the corresponding front/rounded strong vowels.

³ The weak vowel /ə/ becomes /a/ after guttural consonants, and the two vowels alternate with each other when followed by a guttural consonant (especially if said guttural is followed by a central or null vowel).

Phonotactics

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

Morphophonology

Sandhi

The following changes occur at morpheme boundaries:

• ï + w, y > u, i / _C / w or y is geminated
• ä + w, y > o, e / _C / w or y is geminated (this rule is optional)
• ï > Ø / C_C whenever possible
• ï > Ø / _V, V_
• u > w / K_V (i.e. labializes gutturals)
• u > Ø / C_V (otherwise)
• i > Ø / C_V
• ä/a + a, e, i, o, u > a, e, e, o, o
• front/central vowel > Ø / e_
• back/central vowel > Ø / o_
• 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". This can also occur optionally before gutturals, especially if the guttural is followed by a central or null vowel.
• All consonants are labialized before the vowels o and u. The distinction between plain and labial velars is lost in this circumstance.
• Labiovelar consonants followed by ä or ï can be written and pronounced as their non-labialized counterparts followed by o or u respectively. The inverse is also true. Note that w has no non-labialized counterpart and therefore remains w regardless (but the vowel alternations still apply).
• The vowels ä or ï can be replaced with e or i respectively after palatal consonants and vice versa.
• Velars and gutturals are often palatalized before front vowels, but this is not always true even in native words.
• Word-initial vowels are preceded with a glottal stop.

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(ʷ), ʁ, ʁʷ > ħ(ʷ), ʕ, w

Ø > ɲ / _V

Palatalization

ŋ, ʔ > j

k’, kʰ > t͡ʃ’, t͡ʃʰ

χ, ħ, h > ʃ

g, ʁ, ʕ > d͡ʒ, (ʒ, ʒ)

Labialization

ŋ, k’, kʰ, g, χ, ħ, ʁ > ŋʷ, kʷ’, kʷʰ, gʷ, χʷ, ħʷ, ʁʷ

ʔ, ʕ > w

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 / all environments / in grammatical prefixes and some roots

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(ʷ), ʁ > ħ(ʷ), ʕ

ʁʷ > w

x(ʷ), ɣ(ʷ) > χ(ʷ), ʁ(ʷ)

ʒ > d͡ʒ (not in all dialects)

β̞ > w

ɰ > w / before rounded vowel

ɰ > j / otherwise

a > ə

e, o > ə / _

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 (not always)

w > Ø / C_V (not always)

(due to the above two changes, many stems beginning in semivowels drop them and become vowel-initial)

l > r / sporadic

χ, ħ > h / sporadic

ə > a / after non-labialized guttural consonant

Morphology

Nouns

Noun classes

Kola preserves many of the Proto-Bantu noun classes.

Noun classes

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

Notes:

¹ Subject and object concords are used for the subject and object of a verb respectively, and adjective concords are used with adjectives. Other words use pronominal concords.

These concord prefixes are considered formal and old-fashioned, and are normally 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 (most often class 9 for the singular, and class 6 prefix added to class 10 for the plural). When a modifier is used with a noun, the concord prefix can optionally be omitted.

With nouns, class 16 and 17 behave as prepositions. Their concord prefixes may be used with verbs; otherwise, the prefix appears at the beginning of the noun phrase.

² N- = initial nasalization

³ (w/ï) = -w- added before vowels

⁴ Inanimate nouns (especially those whose plural form is identical to their singular) can form an alternative 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 beginning of the noun phrase before any other prefixes and/or modifiers.

e.g. gä- + zichä → ጌጨ gechä or ገዚጨ gäzichä "little eye"

bä- + zichä → በዚጨ bäzichä (NOT *ቤጨ bechä) "in (an) eye"

bä- + lä- "the" + inanimate concord + -ngolä "red" + zichä → በለጎለ ዚጨ bälägolä zichä "in the red eye"

Articles

The definite article is ለ lä (invariant), which attaches to the beginning of the noun phrase, immediately after any locative prefixes or other prepositions - e.g. ለዚጨ läzichä "the eye"; በለዚጨ bäläzichä "in the eye".

Kola does not have an indefinite article.

Verbs

Non-finite forms

Infinitive is a class 15 noun - e.g. ጔደ gweddä "to walk" (stem: -eddä).

Agent nouns are class 1/2 - e.g. ሜዝ mezz "person who walks; companion" (pl: ዌዝ wezz).

TAM

Negation is accomplished with the circumfix kä-m in main clauses and the prefix kä- in subordinate clauses.

Yes/No questions are formed with the suffix -m on the verb.

Voice

Passive is formed with the suffix -wa - e.g. *ጔዷ gweddwa "to be walked" (doesn't make sense, but you get the idea).

Syntax

Constituent order

SOV

Noun phrase

Modifiers precede noun

Verb phrase

Verb-final

Adpositional phrase

Mainly prepositions

Dependent clauses

Follow the same word order as main clauses (SOV, etc). Subordinating particles directly precede the verb, unless they are used fir other functions (such as possession).

Relative clauses

Relativizing particle: a- (attaches to verb)

The relativizing particle may take subject concord prefixes to agree with noun being modified, but this is optional. It combines as -ä-.

The relativizing particle is also used with nouns for possession, in which case it attaches to the possessor noun.

Like most modifiers, relative clauses and possessors precede the noun they modify.