Kola

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

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes

		Labial		Coronal		Palatal/ Postalveolar	Velar		Pharyngeal	Glottal
		plain	labialized	laminal1	apical1		plain	labialized
Nasal		m	mʷ	n		ɲ	ŋ	ŋʷ
Stop	ejective	pʼ		tʼ	(ʈʼ)		kʼ	kʷʼ
	aspirated	pʰ		tʰ	(ʈʰ)		kʰ	kʷʰ		ʔ
	voiced	b		d	(ɖ)		ɡ	ɡʷ
Affricate	ejective			t͡sʼ		t͡ʃʼ
	aspirated					t͡ʃʰ
	voiced					d͡ʒ
Fricative	voiceless	f		s	(ʂ)	ʃ	χ	χʷ	ħ	h
	voiced	v		z	(ʐ)	(ʒ)3	ʁ	ʁʷ	ʕ
Approximant				l		j		w
Tap/Trill				r

Notes:

¹ The consonants /tʼ, tʰ, d, s, z/ may be either apical or laminal in the standard language. The stops /ʈʼ, ʈʰ, d/ may be dental or alveolar.

² The consonants /ʈʼ, ʈʰ, ɖ, ʂ, ʐ/ are apical alveolar or post-alveolar. They occur dialectally and correspond to standard /t͡ʃʼ, t͡ʃʰ, d͡ʒ, ʃ, d͡ʒ/ respectively. In these dialects,/tʼ, tʰ, d/ are laminal and/or dental.

³ 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.

Vowels

Vowel phonemes

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

Phonotactics

The maximum allowed syllable structure is CVCC word-finally and CVC otherwise. 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.

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
• ï > w / C_V sometimes in grammatical morphemes - will be indicated with (ï/w)
• u > w / C_V (not always)
• ä/a + ä, a, e, i, o, u > a, a, e, e, o, o
• ä/a + ï > e OR o (depending on origin of ï - indicated in stems as ĭ and ŭ respectively)
• ï + ï > i OR u (ditto)
• 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.

Consonant mutations

Spirantization:

p’, pʰ > f

b, w . v

t’, tʰ, t͡s’ > s

d, l, r > z

t͡ʃ’, t͡ʃʰ > ʃ

(d͡ʒ > ʒ)

(t͇’, t͇ʰ, d͇ > θ͇, θ͇, ð͇)

k’, kʰ, g > χ, ħ, ʕ

ŋ, ʔ > ʁ

Nasalization:

p’, t’, (t͇’), t͡s’, t͡ʃ’, k(ʷ)’ > pʰ, tʰ, (t͇ʰ), s, t͡ʃʰ, k(ʷ)ʰ

w, j > b, d͡ʒ

l, r > d

ŋ(ʷ), ʔ > 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

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

c, ɟ > t͡s, d͡z / _a(:)

c, ɟ > t͡ɬ, d͡ɮ / _o(:), _u(:)

c, ɟ > t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ / _e(:), _i(:)

[-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

t͡sʰ, d͡z > s, z

t͡ɬ’, t͡ɬʰ, d͡ɮ > t͡ʃ’, t͡ʃʰ, d͡ʒ (dialectal t͇’, t͇ʰ, d͇, with t’, tʰ, d being dental)

ɬ, ɮ > ʃ, ʒ (dialectal θ͇, ð͇)

ɰ > ŋ / always / ɰV_ + sporadic

qʰ, ɢ > χ, ʁ

Kw > Kʷ (where K = kʼ, kʰ, ɡ, ŋ, χ, ʁ, x, ɣ)

Kʷ > K / _VKʷ, _VP (where P = labial consonant)

β̞ w, ɰw> w / always / _VKʷ, _VP

β̞ w, ɰw> β̞ , ɰ / otherwise

mw > mʷ / in grammatical prefixes

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, e, o > ə

a:, e:, o: > a, e, o

i, u > ɨ

i:, u: > i, u

wɨ, jɨ > u, i / _C

ɨ > Ø / _#, VC_C (starting from beginning of word) / disallowed by phonotactics

j > Ø / C_V

ɰ > ʔ

l > r / sporadic

χ, ħ > h / sporadic

Morphology

Nouns

Noun classes

Kola preserves most of the Proto-Bantu noun classes.

Noun classes

Class	Noun prefix	Concord prefixes1			Typical meaning(s)
		Subject	Object	Adjective
1	m(ï/w)-; -	a(y)-2	m(ï/w)-	m(ï/w)-	Humans, animate
2	wä-	wa		wä-	Plural of class 1
3	m(ï/w)-	ŋu-		m(ï/w)-	Inanimate
4	mï-	ji-		mï-	Plural of class 3
5	yï-	li-		yï-	Augmentatives, various
6	mä-	ŋa-		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-	wï-		wï-	Abstract, countries/lands
15	g(ï/w)-	gu-		g(ï/w)-	Infinitives
16	bä-	ba-		bä-	Location
17	g(ï/w)-	gu-		g(ï/w)-	Approximate location

Notes:

¹ These concord prefixes are 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 mïthi "tree" (stem: -thi) → class 4 mïthi or class 6 mämthi "trees"

class 5 yichä "eye" (stem: -ichä) → class 6 mechä or mämechä/mäyichä "eyes"

class 5 yïtt "giant, great person" (stem: -tt) → class 6 mätt or class 2 wämätt/wäyïtt "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- + yichä "eye" → gechä or gäyichä "little eye"

bä- + yichä → bäyichä "in a little eye" (NOT *bechä)