AN INDEPTH GRAMMAR OF THE KANASA LANGUAGE:

AN INDEPTH GRAMMAR OF THE KANASA LANGUAGE:

By Damien Ponech

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INTRODUCTION

Kanasa is a very unique language in the world yet very simplistic. The vocabulary for this language was derived partly by a program called LangMaker which is available at The LangMaker website. The vocabulary was also partly derived from Kanasan phonetic transcriptions of English and French loan words that were not available at the time of the vocabulary generation. As a result, approximately 50-70% of the vocabulary in the language are derived from loan words in English or French. Due to the limited phonemic inventory of Kanasa, most of these loan words appear unrecognizable by the speakers of the language from which they are loaned. This borrowing from English and French adds greatly to Kanasa's rich vocabulary and ability of expressing things in unique and novel ways.

WRITING SYSTEM:

See alphabet page

PHONOLOGY:

As stated previously, Kanasa has a short phonemic inventory. There are only 10 recognized phonemes which can be represented by the IPA symbols /æ/, /i/, /u/, /k/, /l/, /n/, /v/, /p/, /s/, /t/. Note that the /p/, /t/, /k/ sounds have no aspiration as is often the case in English at the beginning of the word. These sounds would be more akin to the English words (spit, stick and skit). The stress of Kanasa words is always on the first syllable except in foreign loan words where it is on the double vowel in the word. (Note that all foreign loan words contain a double vowel sound somewhere in the word to distinguish them from native Kanasa words.). Also, the diphthongization of vowels which is often found in English is actually quite small and the Kanasa vowels are closer to pure vowels. In words which have two vowel sounds side by side, each vowel is pronounced separately. For example (ba = eeya) which in Kanasa is the pronoun 'I'. Kanasa is a intonation language and not a tonal language like Chinese, Vietnamese etc. Focus on different words in the sentence can be accomplished in one of two ways: either changing the word order to make the focus word of the sentence come first, or emphasizing that word with a rising intonation in the sentence. Questions are indicated both by a rising intonation at the end of a sentence as well as use of the grammatical particle l'(kaa) at the end of the sentence simultaneously.

GRAMMAR:

Kanasa grammar is quite simple compared to most natural languages. Word order is quite flexible which makes nuances in meaning easier to convey and makes it easier to write good poetry. However traditionally Kanasa is an SOV language (Subject-Object-Verb) but that rule doesn't necessarily have to be followed at all times depending on how you wish to convey certain ideas. I will now delve into more specific subgroups of Kanasa grammar:

VERBS:

The Kanasa verb is free from any kind of inflection as is found in other languages. There is no conjugation of verbs as in French or Spanish, there is also no tense or aspect of the verb. To indicate that actions have taken place in the future one can optionally put various adverbials before the verb to give a more specific meaning although it is not necessary. Below is a table of commonly used adverbials to indicate the various tenses and aspects that one would use in English:

Present - ()

Past - ih (vatu) (i.e. before)

Future - i (va) (i.e. after)

Conditional - kis (vuvali) (i.e. if)

Past Perfect - ih ih (vatu vatu) (i.e. before before)

Past Future - ih i (vatu va) (i.e. before after)

Recent Past - ih ck (vatu pavu) (i.e. before now)

Present Continuous - o (sa) (i.e. during)

Past Continuous - ih o (vatu sa) (i.e. before during)

Future Continuous - i s (va sa) (i.e. after during)

NOUNS:

The Kanasa noun is also free from any kind of inflection. Plurals are not indicated on the noun in Kanasa and are usually understood in a sentence from context or from other words around the noun such as 'many' or some numerical quantity placed before the noun. As stated earlier, the word order in Kanasa is relatively free to move around. This is possible do a system of case particles which are placed after the noun in question. Case particles can be used for regular nouns, pronouns, numbers and demonstrative pronouns.

The four case particles are listed below:

Nominative = ()

Accusative = a' (aa)

Dative = b' (ii)

Genitive = x' (uu)

The use of these particles is relatively straightforward. A Nominative particle is used when something is the subject of the sentence. An accusative particle is when something is the direct object of the sentence. A Dative particle is used when something is the indirect object in a sentence. In Kanasa, one uses this case particle after a noun with a preposition before it such as (to, at, in, on etc.). The Genitive case particle is used when one wants to show a relationship between one thing and another (i.e. John's book or Radio Program.). In using it in posessive terms, the thing that is posessed always comes before the posessor (i.e. John's Book would be Book (gen. particle) John). The Genitive case particle is often used in Kanasa when one wouldn't normally think of using it in English to show the relationship between one noun and another. Sometimes where one would turn a noun into an adjective in English to describe something, one uses the genitive case particle in Kanasa. These cases are what allow the relatively free word order in Kanasa and yet still be understood in writing or in speech. Also, Kanasa does not use the indefinite or definite articles (a, the). They are omitted and it is understood by context which nouns one wants to emphasize or make the subject of the sentence by word order and intonation.

CHANGING FROM ONE WORD CLASS TO ANOTHER:

One can change a word normally from one word class to the next by adding a particle after the word. For example let’s take the verb ‘to know’ which in Kanasa is ntv (kuluni). This word on its own means the verb to know, but if you wanted to change it to a noun, you’d add the particle r' (laa), if you wanted to change it into an adverb, you’d add the particle u' (naa) or to an adjective you’d add the particle o' (saa). For nouns that you wish to change into verbs, you’d add the particle i'(vaa). Usually each word has its starting word class (which could be noun, adjective, adverb or verb.) You don’t need to add the word class particle to the normal root word because it is understood which is its natural word class. You only add them if you want to change the function of the root word from what it normally is (i.e. from a noun to a verb etc.) to something else. Under usual circumstances, root words that are adjectives come before the nouns they modify and root words that are adverbs come before the verb. Below are the following word class particles:

Noun Ending = r'

Verb Ending = i'

Adjectival Ending = o'

Adverbial Ending = u'

NUMBERS:

Numbers follow the decimal system and can be used with case particles like normal nouns. Here are the numbers from 1-10

One = neu (kupuna)

Two = udm (napiki)

Three = wce (nupapu)

Four = tl (luka)

Five = eve (punipu)

Six = rl (laka)

Seven = rtk (laluvu)

Eight = qho (sutusa)

Nine = vwj (ninuvi)

Ten = tss (lulili)

Numbers 11-19 are made by putting ten+a number from one to nine after it (ie. 15 = tss eve - lulili punipu). To make numbers like 20,30,40 etc. you put a number from one to nine+ten after it. (i.e. 40 = tl tss - luka lulili). For numbers like one hundred, one thousand and one million, there are different names for those in Kanasa.

Hundred = qq (susu)

Thousand = lmt (kakilu)

Million = fsw (talinu)

Well, that's about all for Kanasa grammar at this point. It's a fairly simplistic language isn't it? simple yet fairly precise. At least in my opinion. If you have any questions about anything concerning Kanasa, please don't hesitate to e-mail me

Damien Ponech