Kah

Kah Kah
Progress: 96%
Type
analytic oligosynthetic
Alignment
Neutral
Head direction
Initial	Mixed		Final
Primary word order
Subject-verb-object
Tonal
No
Declensions
No
Conjugations
No
Genders
animate/inanimate

Kah is a language designed to be easy to master and pronounce. The language was constructed by Yauh in 2012.

Phonology

Orthography

The orthography of Kah is derived from Swahili and consists of the following symbols of the Latin alphabet:

Upper case: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z

Lower case: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p r s t u v w y z

The c only occurs in the digraph ch (designating the palato-alveolar affricate /tʃ/). The letters q and x are not considered part of the Kah alphabet and occur in original spelling of foreign words only.

Consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p /p/ b /b/	t /t/ d /d/		k /k/ g /g/
Fricative	f /f/ v /v/	s /s/ z /z/	sh /ʃ/		h /h/
Affricate			ch /t͡ʃ/ j /d͡ʒ/
Nasal	m /m/	n /n/	ny /ɲ/	ng/n /ŋ/
Approximant	w /w/		y /j/
Flap or tap		r /ɾ/
Lateral app.		l /l/

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i /ɪ/		u /u/
Open-mid	e /ɛ/		o /ɔ/
Open	a /a/

In the orthography these are represented by:

• a /a/, an open front unrounded vowel (as Spanish mal),
• e /ɛ/, an open-mid front unrounded vowel (as Spanish el),
• i /ɪ/, a close front unrounded vowel (as Spanish si),
• o /ɔ/, an open-mid back rounded vowel (as Spanish no),
• u /u/, a close back rounded vowel (as Spanish su).

Vowel sequences

Kah has no thrue diphthongs. In a sequence of vowels, each vowel is pronounced separately. The following vowel combinations are possible: ai, au, ea, eo, ia, io, oa, oi and ua.

Phonotactics

Kah allows a limited yet diverse number of syllabic structures. An extensive description of possible syllable structures along with examples can be found in the following table:

Structure	Description	Example
V	one vowel in rime	a
VN	- plus nasal stop in coda	en
VL	- plus l in coda	al
VS	- plus s in coda	is
CV	consonant in onset, vowel in rime	tu
CVN	- plus nasal stop in coda	bon
CVL	- plus l in coda	kal
CVS	- plus s in coda	sus
CGV	consonant plus glide in onset, vowel in rime	pyo
CGVN	- plus nasal stop in coda	kwan
CGVL	- plus l in coda	mwel
CGVS	- plus s in coda	pyus

Some more consonant clusters in word-medial position bring a great deal of audible diversity to it:

mb nd nj ng mp nt nch nk nz ns nsh mw

lp lt lk

sp st sk

Note the occurrence of the cluster ng which represents a velar nasal [ŋ] when it appears at the end of a word (song), but it expresses [ŋg'] in word-medial position (tengi). Confer the English words "song" and "hunger" respectively. This slight irregularity is permitted in order to sustain the legibility of the romanization.

Compounds

The bulk of Kah lexicon consists of compound words, made up from two of more roots. This means it is a vital process to understand truly how the language works. Compounding basically means that two or more words are combined in order to create a new lexeme with a new, unique meaning.

The advantage of this technique of word formation is, that the meaning of the new word can be derived from the individual elements it consists of. For example the English word bedroom means "a room containing a bed". This kind of logic can also be used on a much more basic level: the Kah word for "argue" is ruka which consists of a combination of the roots ru "conflict" and ka "speak".

Kah was designed an oligosynthetic language, meaning a language with a very limited number of roots, which put together form the lexicon from wich statements are made. Kah has a couple of hundred basic roots from which all of the lexicon was derived. This does not mean however the lexicon is self-explanatory and does not have to be memorized. Every word is a independent lexeme with a semantic value which is not limited to the sum of the roots it is built from and depending on its context.

Frequent roots

Some roots turn up quite frequently, like do for house or building:

yudo - house

talado - factory

angado - stable

fondo - prison

kwando - school

The following roots occur in compounds frequently:

do - house, building

ta - time

pa - money

pu - moral

ka - say, speech

bu - man

wana - woman

sa - shape

shi - manner, way, like

so - water, fluid

shum - powder, grains

ki - food

za - take

ze - back, behind

ku - front, before

no - direction

nu - go

ro - round, cycle, ball

yo - all

wi - many, much

ni - motorized vehicle

Logic

Not all compounds are entirely logical but merely a collection of basic ideas describing something.

zedodi - snail

ze + do + di

back + house + bug

raju - to be patient

ra + ju

sit + feel

sempe - bone

sen + pe

body + stick

This is a system which also exists in Chinese compounds like dong-zuo activity literally meaning "move-make".

Phonotactics of compounding

Situations may occur that contradict the phonotactical rules of Kah as explained in the chapter on phonology. In these situations the following adjustments are made for the words to fit Kah phonology:

• When a root ending in a nasal stop (either -m, -n or -ng) is put in front of another root, the nasal stop is made homorganic with the initial consonant of the root following it:

chen + pe = chempe

kom + ka = konka

rum + so = runso

• When a root ending in a consonant (either -m, -n , -s, -l or -ng) is put in front of f, v, h, lor r the final vowel of this root is reduplicated:

lam + vun = lamavun

• When a root ending with -s is put in front of another root starting with anything other than p, t, k, w or y, the -s is followed by a reduplication of the vowel preceding it:

bas + no = basano

yus + do = yusudo

• When a root ending with -s is put in front of a root starting with y, the combination of s and y results in sh:

mas + yun = mashun

papas + yun = papashun

bos + ya = bosha

• When a root ending with -s is put in front of a root starting with p, t or k, the -s is left untouched and directly precedes the second root:

tus + ka = tuska

bas + tan = bastan

tus + pu = tuspu

• When a root ending with -l is put in front of a root starting with anything other than p, t or k, the -l is followed by a reduplication of the vowel preceding it:

mel + mbe = melembe

• When a root ending with -l is put in front of a root starting with p, t, or k, the -l is left untouched and directly precedes the second root:

mul + ka = mulka

bal + ka = balka

Parts of speech

Kah has four parts of speech:

• verbs
• nouns
• conjunctions
• interjections

Verbs

Main article: Kah/Verbs

Verbs are the part of speech that can be modified by stative verbs in an adverbial manner, aspect and mood markers and canalize the grammatical roles of their arguments as the head of verbal clauses. There are two subclasses of verbs: active and stative verbs. Both subclasses can either be intransitive or transitive, which means they can either have one argument (a subject) or two or more (a subject and one or more objects). Verbs in Kah include states expressed by adjectives, prepositions and quantifiers in other languages such as English.

Verbs in Kah do not conjugate for person, aspect or mood. They have one basic form that is modified by individual constituents surrounding it. There is a distinction considering the following three aspects:

• perfective (marked with kwi)
• progressive (marked with la)
• future (marked with denu)

Nouns

Nouns are a lexical category made up by words that can be modified by stative verbs, the possessive marker or deictic pronouns in an attributive manner and can serve as an argument to verbs. In the semantic aspect of the word this means nouns express items, persons, places, events, actions and such:

kaiko - book

ubu - man

ala - place

In Kah oblique phrases describing things like location, time and such circumstances are made up of nouns also:

ninye ben denu kwando

yesterday child go school

the children went to school yesterday

meo nyau tila ape ye

cat be stuck be on top tree that

the cat is stuck in top of that tree

This means they can function just like any other noun:

tau sinta ming

now moment bad

this is a bad moment

nong jo lai

not know there

I don't know that place

Conjunctions

Conjunctors connect clauses and phrases and describe the nature of this relationship. This part of speech is made up by words like:

ai - and

eom - or

en - that

eno - in order that

esto - but

eta - when

Interjections

Interjections are words that can show up anywhere and often coincide with emotions:

eo - yes, indeed

nong - no, not

wu - how very, what

nye - yay!

ha - question particle

Examples of their use are:

bukim eo de

king yes come

the king has arrived indeed

eo za!

yes take!

gotcha!

aki shu ha?

food be sweet q.

is the food nice?

nong keju

not want

I don't want it

wu nenyun kuku

how very be pretty face

what a pretty face!

Cross-class derivation

Cross-class derivation is a very active process in Kah in order to form new words. Most word roots in Kah occur in multiple word classes.

To verb

The bulk of cross-class derivation results in a verb. Most of those derivations constitute of a derivation from a verb to a verb even. The following verbs act like prefixes to derive verbs:

jam- to do, derives a basic transitive verb

tom- to become, derives an intransitive active verb

we- to be stative, in a state, derives an transitive stative verb

mun- to cause, derives a causative transitive verb

Source	Verb
bo - to be inside	jambo - to insert
biso - urine	jambiso - to urinate
sin - to be small	tonsin - to shrink
api - fire	tompi - to ignite, combust
yun - to look	weyun - to see
chu - to leave	wechu - to originate
de - to come	munde - to summon
jebo - to understand	munjebo - to explain

The phonotactic rules of these prefixes differ slightly from those of normal compounds. When a common verbal derivational prefix ending in a nasal stop (either -m, -n or -ng) is put in front of f, v, h, l, r or another nasal stop, the final nasal is dropped:

jam + le = jale (and not: *jamale)

mun + ren = muren (and not: *munuren)

tom + reven = toreven (and not: *tomoreven)

Verb extensions

Verb extensions in Kah consist of prefixed verbs altering the meaning of the verb they are attached to. This means that a single verb stem can be used to built new verbs from in a standardized manner. This method has proved to be a rich source of verbal derivation in many natural and constructed languages. For constructed languages the main benefit lies in the instant recognizability and logic it adds to the lexicon as well as the fact it keeps the minimum number of roots needed for a mature lexicon beneath acceptable perimeters.

Reversive

The reversive extensions expressed the undoing of an action and is formed by prefixing the verb mon "to undo" to the original verb. Compare:

Verb	Translation	Reversive	Translation
jo	to know	monjo	to forget
mas	to be stabile	momas	to destabilize
zon	to sleep	monzon	to wake up
nenu	to fly	monenu	to land

Permissive

Permissive verbs are formed with the root ten- expressing "to be able" and express something rather hard to describe. It denotes that an action or quality is possible, advisory or morally right.

Verb	Translation	Permissive	Translation
yun	to look	tenyun	to be visible
jo	to know	tenjo	to be famous
kuka	to predict	tenkuka	to be predictable
bum	to explode	tembum	to be explosive

Causative

A causative verbs express an action is caused to happen. The verb mun to cause is prefixed to the basic verb stem:

Verb	Translation	Causative	Translation
kwan	to learn	mukwan	to teach
bas	to stop	mumbas	to halt, make stop
him	to hear	muhim	to play, make heard
yai	to hurt	munyai	to inflict pain, hurt

Intensive verbs

Besides derivation by means of combining roots or attaching affixes, there is a more internal way of extending the meaning of words. This method involves a partial reduplication of the initial syllable of a word. This partial reduplication involves the initial consonant, stripped of an eventual glide following it, and only the initial vowel:

ka -> kaka

denu -> dedenu

chempe -> chechempe

Words with the syllabic structure CVN instead of prefixing this reduplication to the word root, add the reduplication to the end of the word:

dun -> dundu

ban -> bamba

jam -> janja

Intensive verb forms express a certain kind of intensity in an action or quality:

Word	Translation	Intensive	Translation
nu	to go	nunu	to move
si	few, little	sisi	just, only
chau	precise	chachau	exactly

Other intensive verbs have a more repetitive, habitual or continuative nature, meaning something is happening over and over again, see below.

Iterative

Iterative verbs express the repetition of an action:

Verb	Translation	Intensive	Translation
pya	to jump	papya	to hop
che	to hit	cheche	to beat
pim	to hang	pimpi	to dangle

Habituative

Habituative verbs denote actions that are carried out regularly or habitually:

Verb	Translation	Intensive	Translation
denu	to go	dedenu	to attend, go to
ka	to say	kaka	to call
jam	to do	janja	to have the habit

Continuative

Continuative verbs express an action is of a perpetual nature:

Word	Translation	Intensive	Translation
nuda	to spin	nunuda	to rotate
din	light	dindi	to shine
fi	play	fifi	to be playful

To noun

When a noun is created from another word, one of the the following prefixes is used:

u- noun expressing an animate object

a- noun expressing an inanimate object

i- noun expressing a state

Source	Noun
shika - to instruct	ushika - instructor
Bangal - Bengali	Ubangal - Bengali person
fiti - to win	ufiti - winner
toka - to tell	atoka - story
ye - that, those	aye - that thing, those things
vuka - to insult	avuka - insult
namil - free	inamil - freedom
lura - loyal	ilura - loyalty

Then there are nouns which are derived by adding an prefix u- or a- to a resultative verb starting with o-, producing (u- + o-) wo- and (a- + o-) au-.

wo- noun expressing an animate object being the result from an action

au- noun expressing an inanimate object being a result from an action

Source	Noun
ofono - accused	wofono - the accused
okwara - assembled	wokwara - assembly
oko - written	auko - text
okwara - assembled	aukwara - collection

Intensive nouns

Some intensive forms are nouns. Many of those express an occupation ("someone habitually carrying out an action"):

Root	Translation	Intensive noun	Translation
muno	to drive	mumuno	driver
zu	to cook	zuzu	cook
ko	to write	koko	writer

Note this practice is not compulsory. Many professions are expressed by words that are no intensive forms:

umukwan - teacher

udaiche - percussionist

urenka - judge

Inalienables

Another class of intensive nouns describing inalienables like family members and body parts ("things that are usually yours") is characterized by reduplication.

mama - mommy

baba - daddy

memea - sister

bamba - heart

sese - mustle

titi - head

Root	Translation	Intensive noun	Translation
ma	mother	mama	mommy
ban	centre, core	bamba	heart
ti	up, above	titi	head

Kinship terms expressed by a reduplication are informal terms expressing a personal relationship caracterized by endearment. Compare:

Root	Translation	Inalienable	Translation
uma	mother	mama	mommy
uba	father	baba	daddy
bua	brother	bubua	bro
mea	sister	memea	sis

The basic roots used in the words above also occur in formal speech as honorifics:

ba - mister, sir

ma - miss, mrs.,ms., ma'am

bua - young man, used for male children or peers

mea - young woman, used for female children or peers

To conjunction

There is a very limited set of conjuntions in Kah. Some of these are derived from other roots by means of the prefix e-:

Source	Conjunction
ano - direction	eno - in order to
chu - to leave, from	echu - so
ata - time	eta - when
iwe - state, condition	ewe - still, even then

Syntax

Main article: Kah/Syntax

A short description of the syntax is represented below:

Feature	Description	Example
SVO	Subject precedes verb precedes object	Huan nenju shuki Juan like candy Juan likes candy
Topicalization	Constituents which are the topic of the phrase are moved to the front	shuki Huan nenju candy Juan like it's candy Juan likes
Possd na Possr	Possessed items precede the possessor and are linked by a marker na	shuki na Huan candy of Huan Juan's candy
Pro-drop	Pronouns functioning as subject or object are omitted when the context is clear	nenju shuki like candy He likes candy
N Mod	Nouns are followed by their modifiers	shuki yam sun ye candy red two that those two red pieces of candy
No inflection	Words have one form and take no morphemes	kaiko - book, books kaiko wi - many books kaiko yem - three books
Serial verbs	Verbs can have more than one subject and a different object each	Huan paza shuki pau mea Juan buy candy give sister Juan bought his sister candy

Nouns

There is no inflectional morphology involved with nouns anywhere. Nouns have one form only and don't inflect for case, gender or number. There are no definite of indefinite articles.

Case

Grammatical case is expressed by word order, logic and a topic marker when necessary. In unmarked word order, the subject precedes the verb:

uma janzu

mother cook

mother is cooking

Direct objects follow the verb:

uma janzu lanki

mother cook rice

mother is cooking rice

Indirect objects can either follow or precede the direct object:

uma janzu lanki wa

mother cook rice i

mother is cooking rice for me

uma janzu wa lanki

mother cook i rice

mother is cooking rice for me

There is no separate marking for indirect objects. The difference between direct en indirect objects is left to logic and context:

yu pau wa apa

he give i money

he gave me money

• he gave me to the money

When one of the constituents is topicalized and moved to the front of the sentence thus breaking the basic unmarked SVO-order, there is the option to mark this constituent with the marker be which is placed directly after it:

lanki be uma janzu

rice top mother cook

it is rice mother cooked

• the rice cooked mother

apa be yu pau wa

money top he give i

it was money he gave to me

• the money gave him to me

Gender

There is no overt distinction between nouns with an intrinsic masculine or feminine load:

uba - father

uma - mother

wana - woman

bua - brother

The roots bu for "man" and wana for "woman" are used to make new words with this load in order to indicate the sex of a being when necessary:

ume - sheep

bume - ram

waname - ewe

These roots usually are prefixed, but sometimes they occur at the end of words too:

uva - spouse

vabu - husband

vawana - wife

Number

Number and definiteness is derived from the context or expressed with quantifiers or deictic markers:

nia

car

the/a car/cars

nia wi

car many

many cars

nia sun

car two

two cars

nia ye

car that

that car

Collective

Collective nouns express and usually are characterized by the ending in the root nyo meaning "collection, many of". Please keep in mind this is a closed class and not a suffix which can actively be applied to nouns in order to pluralize them. Examples of words containing this root are:

unyo - people, ethnic grouping

Majaranyo - the Hungarian people

penyo - forest

jinyo - band

Some words without this root nyo have an intrinsic collective meaning and are a mass noun on their own:

aso - water

shum - grains

apa - money

Also note substances like elements in general have no separate collective form altough in many instances they do express mass nouns:

vungu - gold

ninia - helium

kwengu - silk

fangu - iron

Mass nouns too can be modified by quantifiers or other nouns in order to denote a more specific amount:

binso yem - three (glasses of) beer

seo na aso - a cup of water

simbe chu vungu - a piece of gold

Pronouns

Kah has several sets of pronouns that can function as an subject or object of oblique utterance in a nominal way. Besides the set of personal pronouns, there is an impersonal pronoun, reciprocity is expressed by a pronoun, there is a set of reflexive pronouns, as well as deictic and interrogative pronouns.

Personal pronouns

There are eight personal pronouns in Kah. As you can see, the plural forms are simply a combination of the singular forms with the collective marker -nyo.

Singular	Plural
wa - I	wanyo - we
li - you	linyo - you
yu - he, she, it	yunyo - they
ya - it	yanyo - they, the things

The difference between yu and ya is a matter of animacy. Animate objects are referred to with yu and inanimate objects with ya. All living beings such as human beings and animals, insect are referred to with yu, and anything else with ya.

There is no gender marking in pronouns. Yu can either mean he or she. When it is absolutely necessary to express gender, the pronoun can be swapped for a specific common noun or noun phrase such as ubu the man or wana the woman.

Indefinite pronoun

The pronoun al expresses the subject in impersonal utterances like:

al minza sunda

IMP steal bike

They stole my bike

al nong tengi yun kochi jesa kaiko

IMP not can look cover judge book

You can't judge a book by it's cover

To understand the difference between an personal "they" and an impersonal one, compare:

yunyo ka en rupunto la bandola

they say riot be at town

They (i.e. a specified group of people) say there are riots in the center

al ka en rupunto la bandola

imp say riot be at town

They (i.e. rumours, unspecified people) say there are riots in the center

Reflexive pronouns

In order to form reflexive pronouns, the focus marker lo is suffixed to the basic personal pronouns:

Singular	Plural
walo - myself	walonyo - ourselves
linyo - yourself	lilonyo - yourselves
yulo - himself, herself	yulonyo - themselves
yalo - itself	yalonyo - themselves

Examples of the use of these pronouns are:

shim walonyo

wash self:1pl

we washed ourselves

yun yulo la shefan

look self:3sg LOC mirror

she looked at herself in the mirror

yun lilo!

look self:2sg

look at yourself!

They also function as logophoric pronouns. Please note the difference between:

Reflexive	Logophoric
Susan ka yu jam susan say she do Susan said she'll do it ("she" referring to someone else)	Susan ka yulo jam susan say herself do Susan said she'll do it ("she" referring to Susan herself)
uba zenka yu fon wa father warn he punish me father warned me he'll punish me ("he" referring to someone else)	uba zenka yulo fon wa father warn himself punish me father warned me he'll punish me ("he" referring to father himself)

Reciprocal pronoun

Reciprocal pronouns express an anaphoric relation between the complements of a verbal clause which is expressed by means of the word each other or one another in English. In Kah, this relation is expressed by the pronoun noyom:

meo ai bau janja nong nenju noyom

cat and dog usually not like RECIP

cats and dogs don't like each other

uyu maika noyom

person greet RECIP

the people greeted one another

Pro-drop

A pro-drop language basically means that pronouns such as the subject and/or object of a verb can be omitted ("dropped") when it is obvious from the context who the agents are in a sentence. In Kah, this context-dependance is embraced:

Full version	Pro-drop version
ya wepi it burn it is burning	wepi burn it is burning
yunyo kwan Nihonka they learn japanese they are studying Japanese	kwan Nihonka learn japanese they are studying Japanese
wa nong jo ya i not know it I don't know	nong jo not know I don't know

Pronouns involved in possessive constructions as possessor are dropped easily also, along with the possessive marker na:

Full version	Pro-drop version
titi na wa yai head of I hurt my head aches	titi yai head hurt my head aches
uma na wa denu chipola mother of i go market my mother went to the market	uma denu chipola mother go market my mother went to the market

In this manner, depending on the conversation preceding a simple phrase, it gets to mean different things. Take for instance the following phrase:

weyun tanu

see movie

When accompanied by the following preceding questions, it gets to mean:

"Have you seen this movie?"

-Weyun tanu.

I saw the movie

"How does he know this already? Has he read this book before?"

-Weyun tanu.

He saw the movie

"What have they been doing?"

-Weyun tanu.

Watching a movie

This principle of terseness also extends to things like plurality or aspect:

paza binki

buy bread

"Have you bought anything?"

-Paza binki.

I bought a bread

"Did you bring the five loafs I asked for?"

-Paza binki.

I bought the bread

"Have you bought enough bread for the entire orphanage?"

-Paza binki.

I bought the bread

Also, note how none of the verbs in the example below are not marked for aspect, yet how this is obvious from the temporal expressions already. This shows aspect markers are dropped frequently as well.

ninye kwan

yesterday study

yesterday I studied

zemanta kwan

tomorrow study

tomorrow I will study

tau kwan

now study

now I'm studying

Demonstratives

Deictic marking in Kah has two gradations, one expressing objects close to the speaker, and one for objects further away:

wau - this, these

ye - that, those

These words are put after the nouns they modify like adjectival stative verbs:

nia wau - this car

yudo ye - that house

There is no marking of number when referring to plural objects:

nia jom wau - these five cars

wonyo wau - this group

ukwan ye - those students / that student

Their unbound nominal forms are:

awau - this (inanimate): awau kope - this is a pen

uwau - this (animate): uwau uma - this is my mother

aye - that (inanimate): aye nia - that is a car

uye - that (animate): uye bau - that is a dog

Quantifiers

In Kah quantifiers determiners indicating quantity such as three, all and many. They are stative verbs and behave as such, which means that in their most common attributive form they resemble common adjectives:

Numerals

Kah numerals are a subclass of stative verbs. They are designed to be easily distinguishable from one another:

Kah	English
meng	zero, nill
kwa	one
sun	two
yem	three
pan	four
jom	five
vai	six
teo	seven
dia	eight
sasta	nine
nini	ten

They are placed after the noun they modify:

nia vai

car six

six cars

bukim yem

king three

three kings

Tens

Tens are created by simply combining the words for a numeral with the word nini for "ten".

Numeral + nini	Ten	Translation
sun + nini	sunini	20
yem + nini	yenini	30
pan + nini	panini	40
jom + nini	jonini	50
vai + nini	vainini	60
teo + nini	teonini	70
dia + nini	dianini	80
sasta + nini	sastanini	90

When tens and basic numbers are combined, they are simply placed after one another:

nini pan fourteen

sunini teo twenty seven

sastanini yem ninety three

It is allowed to add the word ai "and" in between as well:

nini ai pan fourteen

sunini ai teo twenty seven

sastanini ai yem ninety three

Hundred and up

The powers of ten up til one billion are listed below:

Kah	English
mel	hundred
pol	thousand
dua	ten thousand
wisti	hundred thousand
bena	million
nungu	ten million
goa	hundred million
kas	billion

Please note that this approach is different from the classic English decimal system, as it is dealing with powers of thousand instead. Powers of ten are treated the same way as ten and form compounds with basic numerals:

Tens	Hundreds	Thousands	Millions
sunini - twenty	sumel - two hundred	sumpol - two thousand	sumbena - two million
yenini - thirty	yemel - three hundred	yempol - three thousand	yembena - three million
panini - forty	pamel - four hundred	pampol - four thousand	pambena - four million
jonini - fifty	jomel - five hundred	jompol - five thousand	jombena - five million
vainini - sixty	vaimel - six hundred	vaipol - six thousand	vaibena - six million
teonini - seventy	teomel - seven hundred	teopol - seven thousand	teobena - seven million
dianini - eighty	diamel - eight hundred	diapol - eight thousand	diabena - eight million
sastanini - ninety	sastamel - nine hundred	sastapol - nine thousand	sastabena - nine million

In a way, the division of powers of ten is a decimal system just like the basic numbers:

Ten - nini

Hundred - mel

Thousand - pol

Ten thousand - dua

Hundred thousand - wisti

Million - bena

Ten million - nungu

Hundred million - goa

Billion - kas

Ten billion - ninya

Hundred billion - nikwanya

Trillion - nisunya

Ten trillion - niyenya

Hundred trillion - nipanya

Quadrillion - nijonya

Ten quadrillion - nivainya

Hundred quadrillion - niteonya

Quintillion - nidianya

Ten quintillion - nisastanya

Hundred quintillion - suninya

Sextillion - sunikwanya

Ten sextillion - sunisunya

Hundred sextillion - suniyenya

Septillion - sunipanya

Ten septillion - sunijonya

10¹⁰⁰ - melenya

These numbers combined look like the following:

11 - nini kwa

12 - nini sun

13 - nini yem

14 - nini pan

15 - nini jom

16 - nini vai

17 - nini teo

18 - nini dia

19 - nini sasta

20 - sunini

21 - sunini kwa

22 - sunini sun

23 - sunini yem

28 - sunini dia

36 - yenini vai

89 - dianini sasta

147 - mel panini teo

565 - jomel vainini jom ("fivehundred sixty five")

705 - teomel jom

50,824 - jondua diamel sunini pan

2,500,444 - sumbena jomwisti pamel panini pan

Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers are expressed by adding the possessive marker na before the number in question:

nia na vai

car of six

the sixth car

bukim na yem

king na three

the third king

kwanya na teo

lesson of seven

the seventh lesson, lesson seven

Unbound forms

Numerals can be marked with the nominal prefixes u- and a- in order to derive unbound forms of numerals:

Bound	Unbound
uyu sun person two the two persons	usun two:animate the two persons
aya sun two:inanimate the two things	asun two:inanimate the two things, the pair
simbu pan boy four the four boys	upan four:animate the four (persons)
win sun ye horse two those nine horses	usun ye two:animate that those two (horses)
raya pesan yem chair green three the three green chairs	ayem pesan three:inanimate green the three green ones

Decimal fractions

Decimal fractions are characterized by a bastan "comma" like in most non-anglophone languages:

0.25 - 0,25 (meng bastan sunini jom)

0.347 - 0,347 (meng bastan yemel panini teo)

3.14 - 3,14 (yem bastan nini pan)

When the numbers get to complicated, they can be simply put after one another as well in speech instead of breaking them down in hundreds, tenths and such:

3.14159 - yem bastan kwa pan kwa jom sasta

Vulgar fractions

Vulgar fractions are built by adding the root -mbe "part, share" to a numeral:

Roots	Fraction
sum + mbe	sumbe - half
yem + mbe	yembe - one third
pan + mbe	pambe - one quarter, fourth
jom + mbe	jombe - one fifth
vai + mbe	vaimbe - one sixth
teo + mbe	teombe - one seventh
dia + mbe	diambe - one eighth
sasta + mbe	sastambe - one ninth
nini + mbe	sumbe - one tenth
mel + mbe	melembe - one hundredth, percent
pol + mbe	polombe - one thousandth, promille

These fractions can be modified by cardinal numerals in order to express more complicated quantities:

yembe sun -two thirds

pambe yem - three quarters

sunini-sastambe teo - 7/29

Common quantifiers

Common quantifiers behave like just numerals in respect to their place in noun phrases:

uyu wi

person much

many people

moso wi

milk much

much milk

wana yo

woman all

all women, every woman

wana sun yo

woman two all

both women

A list of common quantifiers in Kah is:

wi – much, many

wi tunti – more, more than

wi tio – most, most of all

vivi - too, too much

si – little, few

si tunti – less, less than

si tio – least, least of all

yo – all, every

meng – none, no

siwi – some, several

yin – other

kakwa – any

yosa – enough

wishi – various

sun yo – both, each

kwambe – whole

fafau - almost

Interrogatives

Interrogatives have in common they all start with ha-. The complete list of interrogatives is:

haya - what?

hayu - who?

hala - where?

hana - which?

hashi - how?

hasa - what kind of?

hata - when?

hamun - why?

hano - where to?

hachu - where from?

hawi - how much/many?

Examples of the use of each of these are:

haya jam?

what do

what did you do?

hayu weyun?

who see

whom did you see?

hala ya?

where it?

where is it?

hana san nenju?

which color like

which color do you like?

hashi jo?

how know

how did you know that?

hasa nia aye?

what kind car that?

what kind of car is that?

hata de?

when come

when will they come?

hamun nong haka?

why not ask?

why didn't you ask?

hano denu?

where go?

where are you going?

hachu umukwan?

where from teacher

where does the teacher come from?

raimos hawi tengi kiza?

how much chocolate can eat

how much chocolate can you eat?

Note how the adjectival forms hana and hasa tend to precede the noun they modify rather than to occur in the position following their head like modifiers usually do. This is due to topicalization again. This is very common for all question words. These rarely are marked by the topic marker be. Again, context is everything:

hayu be weyun?

who top see?

whom did you see?

hayu weyun?

who see?

Whom did you see?

(Or: Who saw it?)

Babel text

Tau yula kwambe le yuka kwa

now world whole have language one

Now the whole world had one language

ai aka nyoshi.

and speech common

and a common speech.

Eta uyu nudora tinuno,

when people migrate east

As men moved eastward,

henyun huan la Shinaran ai nudora lai.

find plain be at Shanar and migrate there

they found a plain in Shinar and settled there

Yunyo ka noyom:

they say each other

They said to each other:

"Lo, om jam duzu ai shanzu tuntu."

foc, adh make brick and bake thorough

"Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly,"

Za duzu yompo adu, ai toisau yompo doshum.

take brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar

They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

Tai ka: "Lo, om jando walonyo dola

then say: foc, adh build ourselves city

Then they said: 'Come, let us build ourselves a city

ya le wendo ya deche tilan,

it have tower it reach heaven

with a tower that reaches to the heavens,

eno jam walonyo senka

in order to make ourselves name

so that we make a name for ourselves

ai eno al nong membe wanyo

and in order imps not scatter us

and not be scattered

tunu kuchi na yula kwambe,"

across surface of world whole

over the face of the whole earth,"

Esto Tifa vunu

"but lord descend

But the Lord came down

eno yun dola ai wendo be uyu jando ya.

in order to look city and tower top people build it

to see the city and the tower that the men were building.

Tifa ka: "Tonto shi unyo kwa

"lord say: if like people one

The Lord said: "If as one people

la kaza yuka kwashi,

be at speak language same

speaking the same language

yunyo nuku jam awau,

they start do this

they have begun to do this,

tontoye yayang be yunyo jankuren jam ya teneng tos yunyo.

in that case nothing top they plan do it be impossible considering them

then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

Lo, om vunu ai moren yuka na yunyo.

foc, adh descend and confuse language of them

Come, let us go down and confuse their language

eno nong ke jebo noyom,"

in order that not opt understand each other

so they will not understand each other,"

Echu Tifa membe yunyo chu lai tunu yula kwambe,

so lord scatter them from there across world whole

So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth,

ai yunyo bas jando dola.

and they stop build city

and they stopped building the city.

Amun chumunye en al kaka Babal --

reason because of that that imps call Babel

That is why it was called Babel --

chumun lai Tifa moren yuka na yula kwambe.

because there lord confuse language of world whole

because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world.

Chu lai Tifa membe yunyo tunu kuchi na yula kwambe.

from there lord scatter them across surface of world whole.

From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

External links

• Kah homepage: [1]