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
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

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.

Vowels

Vowel phonemes

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

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 many of the Proto-Bantu noun classes.

Noun classes

Class	Noun prefix	Concord prefixes1			Typical meaning(s)
		Subject	Object	Adjective
1	mï-; -	yï-	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-	ji-		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	g(w)ï-2	gu-		g(w)ï-2	Infinitives
16	bä-	ba-		bä-	Location, "against", "to the detriment of"
17	g(w)ï-2	gu-		g(w)ï-2	Approximate location, direction, "for", "to", "to the benefit of"

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. When a modifier is used with a noun, the concord prefix can be omitted (especially for adjectives).

With nouns, class 16 and 17 behave as prepositions. Their concord prefixes may be used with verbs; adjectives and other modifiers agree with the base noun. The class 16/17 prefix always comes at the beginning of the noun phrase.

² (w) = -w- added 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 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" + -ngolä "red" + zichä → በለ(ዝ)ጞለ ዚጨ bälä(zï)ngolä zichä "in the red eye" (or በለጎለ ዚጨ bälägolä zichä, with the class 9 concord prefix).

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

Infinitive is a class 15 noun - e.g. ጔደ gwedä "to walk, go" (stem: -edä).

Agent nouns are class 1/2 - e.g. ሜዝ mez "person who walks; 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).

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

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

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 (assuming the clause has one).

Relative clauses

Relativizing particle: a- (attaches to verb)

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.

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