Kola: Difference between revisions

'''Kola''' (Native: ጅቆለ /d͡ʒɨkʼolə/, Ethiopianist Latin script: ''Jïqolä'', Bantuist Latin script: ''Jïkolä'') is a Bantu language spoken by the Kola people (ወቆለ ''wäqolä'')<!-- in Eritrea and the Tigray Region of Ethiopia.-->.

<!-- What sounds does your language use? -->

!IPA!!{{IPA|ə}}!!{{IPA|u}}!!{{IPA|i}}!!{{IPA|a}}!!{{IPA|e}}!!{{IPA|ɨ/-}}!!{{IPA|o}}!!{{IPA|ʷə}}!!{{IPA|ʷi}}!!{{IPA|ʷa}}!!{{IPA|ʷe}}!!{{IPA|ʷɨ}}

|አ (ኧ)||ኡ||ኢ||ኣ||ኤ||እ||ኦ||colspan="6" style="background:#cccccc"|&nbsp;

^{<small>1</small>} 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 and, in the case of uvulars, loanwords. When the base forms do appear for pharyngeals or glottals, they are pronounced with /a/. In ideophones, /(ʔ)ə/ is written as ኧ; the rest simply use their base forms (despite the ambiguity for /h/, /ħ/, and /ʕ/).

^{<small>2</small>} 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 a dot (or two) above the letter, and /ɨ/ with an apostrophe or underdot.

There are two Latin alphabets: a more common one based on the Semitic and Cushitic languages of Ethiopia ("Ethiopianist"), and a less common one based on other Bantu languages ("Bantuist"). The biggest difference is in the treatment of voiceless stops and affricates. In the Ethiopianist alphabet, the aspirated versions are treated as the unmarked forms and the ejective versions are treated as marked (as they are in Semitic and Cushitic languages). In the Bantuist alphabet, however, the ejectives are treated as unmarked and the aspirates as marked (as they are in Bantu languages). Since Kola is Bantu, the Bantuist alphabet more accurately represents the phonemes' status in the language; however, this article uses the more common Ethiopianist alphabet.

! Ethiopianist !! Bantuist

! Ethiopianist !! Bantuist

|Y y || Y y || y

|(Zh zh) || (Zh zh) || ʒ

! rowspan="2" | Pharyngeal

<small>¹</small> 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.

<small>³</small> 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).-->

! Mid

^{<small>1</small>} 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.

^{<small>2</small>} 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 are somewhat interchangeable with the corresponding front/rounded strong vowels; in this article, the underlying forms are used.

^{<small>3</small>} 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).

In nouns, stress is on the last "long" syllable in the word (taking any suffixes into account). A long syllable is one that is followed by two or more consonants, or that contains an underlying strong vowel/polyphthong and is followed by one consonant. If the word does not have a long syllable, the antepenultimate syllable is stressed (or initial if the word has less than 3 syllables).

Any other word-final cluster is broken with /ɨ/. Alternatively, a word-final /i/ may be added, especially in loanwords - e.g. ዓቅሊ ''qhaqli'' /ʕakʼli/ "reason, common sense" (from Arabic عقل /ʕaql/). Many loanwords ending in two consonants add an ''-i'' even when not the cluster does not violate phonotactics - e.g. ከልቢ ''kälbi'' (from Arabic كلب /kalb/).

Within a word, most two-consonant clusters are allowed (in theory). Some clusters do not occur due to coalescence (e.g. ''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 ''maqh'had'' /maʕhad/ "institute" (also ማሓድ ''mahhad'' /maħad/).

*The first two can cluster in word-final position and the last two can cluster in word-initial position  - e.g. ጅንግሊዝ ''Jïn'gliz'' /d͡ʒɨŋɡliz/ "English (language)"

*u > w / K_V (i.e. labializes gutturals)

*All consonants are labialized before the vowels ''o'' and ''u''. The distinction between plain and labial velars is lost in this circumstance.

*The vowels ''ä'' or ''ï'' can be replaced with ''e'' or ''i'' respectively after palatal consonants and vice versa.

*Word-initial vowels are preceded with a glottal stop.

(d͡ʒ > ʒ)

k’, kʰ, g > χ, ħ, ʕ

ŋ > ʁ

g, ʁ, ʕ > d͡ʒ, (ʒ, ʒ)

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

k, g > k͡x, g͡ɣ / _i, _u

[-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

χ(ʷ), ʁ  > ħ(ʷ), ʕ

ʁʷ > w

ʒ > d͡ʒ (not in all dialects)

wɨ, jɨ > u, i / C_C

wə, jə > o, e / C_C

*Distinction between /ʒ/ and /d͡ʒ/.

*Distinction between dental and alveolar stops, and between sibilant and non-sibilant alveolar fricatives. The alveolar stops/affricates (/t͇’ ~ t͡ɬ’, t͇ʰ ~ t͡ɬʰ, d͇ ~ d͡ɮ/) and non-sibilant alveolar fricatives (/θ͇ ~ ɬ, ð͇ ~ ɮ/) correspond to Proto-Bantu palatals before non-front vowels, which in the standard language merged with other palatals.

*Labialization of non-velar consonants.

! rowspan="2" | Class !! rowspan="2" | Noun prefix !! colspan="5" | Concord prefixes<small>¹</small> || rowspan="2" | Typical meaning(s)<small>²</small>

! pronominal !! extended <br /> pronominal !! subject !! object !! adjective

| mï-; - || yï- || ye- || ya- || mï- || mï- || Humans*, kinship terms, personification*, animate*

| wä- || wä- || wo- || colspan="2" | wa- || wä- || Plural of class 1

| mï- || wï- || wo- || colspan="2" | wu- || mï- || Plants (and derivatives)*, natural phenomena, <!--elongated objects, active things, motion, -->non-paired body parts, various

| mï- || jï- || jo- || colspan="2" | ji- || mï- || Plural of class 3

| zï-; - || lï- || lo- || colspan="2" | li- || zï- || Augmentatives*, amelioratives*, paired body parts, natural phenomena, expanses, individual things found in groups, various*

| mä- || yä- || yo- || colspan="2" | ya- || mä- || Plural of class 5, mass nouns, collectives, collective actions

| jï- || shï- || sho- || colspan="2" | shi- || jï- || Tools/artefacts, diminutives*, languages*, resemblance, amelioratives*, derogatives*, disabilities/diseases, various*

| vï- || vï- || vo- || colspan="2" | vi- || vï- || Plural of class 7

| ⁿ-; -<small>³</small> || yï- || yo- || colspan="2" | yi- || ⁿ- || Animals, inanimate, loanwords*, various*

| ⁿ-; - || ĵï- || ĵo- || colspan="2" | ĵi- || ⁿ- || Plural of classes 9 & 11

| lï- || lï- || lo- || colspan="2" | lu- || lï- || Abstract, manner/way/culture*, localized mass nouns, long or broad objects

| gä- || gä- || go- || colspan="2" | ga- || gä- || Diminutives*, derogatives*, amelioratives*

| dï- || dï- || do- || colspan="2" | du- || dï- || Plural of class 12

| wï- || wï- || wo- || colspan="2" | wu- || wï- || Abstract*, countries/lands*, location terms*

| g(w/ï)-<small>⁴</small> || g(w/ï)- || go- || colspan="2" | gu- || g(w/ï)- || Infinitives

| bä- || bä- || bo- || colspan="2" | ba- || bä- || Specific/definite/internal location*, "at/on/in"*, "against"*, "to the detriment of"*

| g(w/ï)- || g(w/ï)- || go- || colspan="2" | gu- || g(w/ï)- || Nonspecific/approximate location*, direction*, "for/to"*, "to the benefit of"*

| mï- || mï- || mo- || colspan="2" | mu- || mï- || Internal location*, "in"*

<small>¹</small> Subject and object concords are used for the subject and object of a verb respectively, and adjective concords are used with adjectives. Most other words use pronominal concords. The extended pronominal concords are used to form pronouns (see [[Kola#Pronouns|pronouns]]).

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, 9/10 (used by this article), or some combination (most commonly 9/6). When a modifier is used with a noun, the concord prefix can optionally be omitted. With verbs, class 16 and 17 prefixes are used even in informal language; others are replaced with animacy concords.

The locative classes (classes 16 and 17) most often behave as prepositions. Their concord prefixes are used with verbs; otherwise, the prefix appears at the beginning of the noun phrase. However, there are some nouns inherently in these classes; these behave as nouns in any other class - e.g. በት ''bätt'' "place", ግት ''gïtt'' "area".

<small>³</small> ⁿ- = initial fortition

<small>⁴</small> (w/ï) = -w- added before vowels

<small>⁵</small> 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"

<small>⁶</small> 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"

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.

Possessive pronouns/adjectives are formed by attaching the relativizing particle to the independent pronouns. When a prefix is added, the non-reduplicated forms are used.

! rowspan="2" | Person !! colspan="2"|  Independent !! colspan="4"| Concord prefixes

! absolute !! with prefix !! extended <br /> pronominal !! pronominal !! subject !! object  

| ሚሚ mimi || -ሚ -mi || ኜ- nye- || colspan="3" | ኝ- nyï-  

| ዌዌ wewe || -ዌ -we || ዌ- we- || colspan="2" | ው- wï- || ግ/ጕ- g(ï/w)-  

| ዬዬ yeye || -ዬ -ye || ዬ- ye- || ይ- yï- || ያ- ya- || ም- mï-  

| ዮዮ yoyo || -ዮ -yo || ዮ- yo- || ይ- yï- || colspan="2" | ዪ- yi-  

| ሲሲ sisi || -ሲ -si || ሶ- so- || colspan="3" | ሲ- si

| ኒኒ nini || -ኒ -ni || ኖ- no- || colspan="3" | ኒ- ni-  

| ዎዎ wowo || -ዎ -wo || ዎ- wo- || ወ- wä- || colspan="2" | ዋ- wa-  

| ጆጆ ĵoĵo || -ጆ -ĵo || ጆ- ĵo- || ጅ- ĵï- || colspan="2" | ጂ- ĵi-  

#'''Proximal:''' -ኖ ''-no'' (pronominal concord)

#'''Referential:''' equivalent to corresponding personal pronoun

#'''Distal:''' -ላ ''-la'' (pronominal concord)

The proximal and distal demonstratives can either take regular or extended pronominal concord prefixes.

Adjectives agree with the noun they modify, taking the appropriate adjective concord prefixes (see [[Kola#Noun_classes|noun classes]]). However, except in very formal language, the full set of prefixes is not used and is replaced with animacy concords. Adjectives modifying animate nouns use class 1/2 prefixes (for the singular/plural repectively), and those modifying inanimate nouns use class 9/10 or 5/6 or 9/6 prefixes. In very informal language, the concord prefixes can be dropped entirely.

In the below table, like the rest of this article, animacy concord is used (with 9/10 for inanimate). Class 7/8 forms are also given in order to demonstrate the effects of sandhi, particularly in the forms for "two".

Ordinal numbers are formed with the relativizing particle ''a-'' and therefore are actually possessives. For example, ''amu'' "first" literally means "of one".

| መሲ mäsi || ሙ mu || ምሙ mïmu || ሙ mu || ሽሙ shïmu || አሙ amu || የሙ yämu || ዋሙ wamu

| ውሊ wïli || ውሊ wïli || ዎሊ/ወውሊ woli/wäwli || ብሊ bïli || ቩሊ vuli || አውሊ awli || ዮሊ/የውሊ yoli/yäwli || ዋውሊ wawli

| ጣጥ thath || ጣጥ thath || ወጣጥ wäthath || ታጥ tath || ቭጣጥ vïthath || አጣጥ athath || የጣጥ yäthath || ዋጣጥ wathath

| ኔ ne || ኔ ne || ወኔ wäne || ኔ ne || ቭኔ vïne || አኔ ane || የኔ yäne || ዋኔ wane

| ጫን chan || ጫን chan || ወጫን wächan || ቻን can || ቭጫን vïchan || አጫን achan || የጫን yächan || ዋጫን wachan

| ቃጘ qangä || ቃጘ qangä || ወቃጘ wäqangä || ካጘ kangä || ቭቃጘ vïqangä || አቃጘ aqangä || የቃጘ yäqangä || ዋቃጘ waqangä

| ጦሎ tholo || ጦሎ tholo || ወጦሎ wätholo || ቶሎ tolo || ቭጦሎ vïtholo || አጦሎ atholo || የጦሎ yätholo || ዋጦሎ watholo

| ናኔ nane || ናኔ nane || ወናኔ wänane || ናኔ nane || ቭናኔ vïnane || አናኔ anane || የናኔ yänane || ዋናኔ wanane

| ሰጛን sängan || ሰጛን sängan || ወሰጛን wäsängan || ሰጛን sängan || ቭሰጛን vïsängan || አሰጛን asängan || የሰጛን yäsängan || ዋሰጛን wasängan

| ቁም qum || ቁም qum || ወቁም wäqum || ኩም kum || ቭቁም vïqum || አቁም aqum || የቁም yäqum || ዋቁም waqum

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

'''Agent''' nouns are class 1/2 - e.g. <!--ሜደ ''medä'' "person who walks" (pl: ዌደ ''wedä'');--> ሜዝ ''mezz'' "person who walks; companion" (pl: ዌዝ ''wezz'').

'''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).