HC56:
Language as a Window to the
Mind
Welcome to the
Kampotak
Page!
This page will
be updated as more
information about Kampotak is discovered.
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This page is maintained by Sameer ud Dowla Khan. Last updated
4 March 2006.
Morphology
All content morphemes in Kampotak
are
underlyingly composed of EITHER:
(a) more than
one syllable, OR,
(b) at least
one heavy syllable.
All grammatical morphemes in
Kampotak are
underlyingly composed of one syllable.
Nouns
Number
Nouns in Kampotak are
inflected for number:
Singular nouns
do
not take any special marking.
Plural nouns must be marked with the plural suffix /-ɛʃ/.
/pa̤npok/
--> [pã̤mbo]
‘book’
/pa̤npok-ɛʃ/
--> [pã̤mbogɛ] ‘books’
Case
Nouns in Kampotak are
inflected for case:
Subjects do not take any special marking.
Objects of verbs must be marked with
the accusative suffix /-zu/.
Objects of prepositions must be marked with
the locative suffix /-he/.
Possessors must be marked with the genitive suffix /-ink/ (after
consonants) or /-nk/ (after
vowels).
/kwanrok/
--> [kwãnro]
‘boy’ (subject)
/kwanrok-zu/
--> [kwãnrokzu] ‘boy’
(object of a verb)
/kwanrok-he/ --> [kwãnrokhe] ‘boy’ (object of a preposition)
/kwanrok-ink/ --> [kwãnrogĩŋ]
‘boy’s’ (possessor)
Pronouns
Pronouns in Kampotak reflect
person, number, and case.
The underlying forms of the six pronouns are shown below. The plural
pronouns include the plural suffix /-ɛʃ/.
The surface forms represent the pronouns in nominative case.
For the object or possessor forms, the accusative, locative, or
genitive case endings must be added.
/tsu/ --> [tsu] ‘I’ (first person singular
subject)
/tsi/
--> [tsi] ‘you’ (second
person singular subject)
/ra/
--> [ra] ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’ (third person singular subject)
/tsu-ɛʃ/ --> [tsuɛ] ‘we’ (first person plural subject)
/tsi-ɛʃ/ --> [tsiɛ] ‘you guys’ (second person plural subject)
/ra-ɛʃ/ --> [raɛ] ‘they’ (third person plural subject)
Determiners
Nouns in Kampotak can be
definite, indefinite, or specified by a demonstrative.
Indefinite nouns must
be followed by the indefinite article
/kwa/, which is a separate word.
Both
singular and plural nouns can be followed by this indefinite article.
/qorm/ --> [qorm] ‘egg’
/qorm-ɛʃ/ --> [qormɛ] ‘eggs’
/qorm kwa/ --> [qorm kwa] ‘an egg’
/qorm-ɛʃ kwa/ --> [qormɛ kwa] ‘some
eggs’
Definite nouns
must be marked with the definite
article suffix /-i/ when after consonants.
Both
singular and plural nouns can be followed by this definite article.
/kaf/
--> [ka] ‘desk’
/kaf-ɛʃ/
--> [kafɛ] ‘desks’
/kaf-i/
--> [kafi] ‘the desk’
/kaf-ɛʃ-i/
--> [kafɛʃi] ‘the desks’
The suffix /-i/ takes the allophone /-wi/ only when after vowels.
/qapa̤/
--> [qaba̤] ‘bread’
/qapa̤-ɛʃ/
--> [qaba̤ɛ] ‘breads’
/qapa̤-wi/
--> [qaba̤wi] ‘the bread’
/qapa̤-ɛʃ-i/
--> [qaba̤ɛʃi] ‘the breads’
Demonstrative suffixes /-ta/ ‘this’ and /-sɛ/
‘that’ can be attached to nouns.
Both
singular
and plural nouns can be followed by demonstrative suffixes.
/atsakari/
--> [adzagari] ‘dress’
/atsakari-ɛʃ/
--> [adzagariɛ] ‘dresses’
/atsakari-ta/
--> [adzagarida] ‘this dress’
/atsakari-sɛ/
--> [adzagarisɛ] ‘that dress’
/atsakari-ɛʃ-ta/
--> [adzagariɛʃta] ‘these dresses’
/atsakari-ɛʃ-sɛ/
--> [adzagariɛʃsɛ] ‘those dresses’
Verbs
Infinitives
Infinitive forms of verbs in Kampotak are followed by the infinitive particle /zi/, which is a
separate word.
/ksiqfu/
‘walk’
/ksiqfu
zi/ --> [ksiqfu zi] ‘to walk’
Tense
Verbs are inflected for one
of three tenses:
Past Tense
is denoted by adding a past tense
prefix /ka-/ to verb roots that start with a consonant, and /kaw-/ to verb roots that start with
a vowel.
/ka-stenpta/ ‘studied’
/kaw-inve̤r/ ‘ran’
Present Tense
is denoted by adding a present tense
prefix /u-/ to verb roots that start with a consonant, and /ow-/ to verb roots that start with
a vowel.
/u-stenpta/ ‘studies’
/ow-inve̤r/ ‘runs’
Future Tense
is denoted by reduplicating
the onset and nucleus of the first syllable of the verb root. If the
verb root’s first
syllable has no onset, only the nucleus is reduplicated, and the
alveolar click /ŋ!/
appears after that vowel.
/ste-stenpta/ ‘will study’
/ĩŋ!-inve̤r/ ‘will run’
Subject-Verb
Agreement
Verbs are inflected to show agreement with the subject by infixing the
subject infixes after the onset and
nucleus of the first syllable of
the verb root. The subject infixes are /-tsu-/
for ‘I’, /-tsi-/
for ‘you’, and /-ra-/
for ‘he/she/it’ (just like the pronouns):
/u-nwafsir/ --> ‘sleep’ (present tense)
/u-nwa-tsu-fsir/ -->
[ũnwadzufsir] ‘I am sleeping’
/u-nwa-tsi-fsir/ --> [ũnwadzifsir]
‘you are sleeping’
/u-nwa-ra-fsir/ -->
[ũnwarafsir]
‘he/she/it is sleeping’
For plural subjects, the plural suffix /-ɛʃ/ must be added to the end
of the
verb. The subject infixes for plural subjects are the same as those for
singular subjects.
/u-nwafsir/ --> ‘sleep’ (present tense)
/u-nwa-tsu-fsir-ɛʃ/ -->
[ũnwadzufsirɛ] ‘we are sleeping’
/u-nwa-tsi-fsir-ɛʃ/ --> [ũnwadzifsirɛ]
‘you guys are sleeping’
/u-nwa-ra-fsir-ɛʃ/ -->
[ũnwarafsirɛ]
‘they are sleeping’
Negation
Verbs can be negated by adding the negative
prefix /vɛtʃ-/
to the very front of the verb,
before all other prefixes.
/ka-peʃŋ!uma/ ‘cried’ (past tense)
/ka-pe-ra-ʃŋ!uma/ -->
[kaberaʃŋ!ũma]
‘she cried’
/vɛtʃ-ka-pe-ra-ʃŋ!uma/
-->
[vɛtʃkaberaʃŋ!ũma]
‘she didn’t cry’
The
Copula (the verb 'to be')
VP --> V'
V' --> V
The verb /kowm/ ‘to be’ is used to introduce nouns or
prepositional phrases as
predicates of a sentence (like the "a cat" in "This animal is a cat." or like "on the floor" in
"This animal is on the floor.").
-It acts like a normal
verb, with morphemes for person/number agreement, tense, and negation
attached if necessary.
-Like other verbs, its direct object must take the accusative case
suffix /-zu/.
-If its object is a prepositional phrase, then the object of the
preposition will take the locative case suffix /-he/.
/kaweha-ta u-ko-ra-wm tsraw kwa-zu/ --> [kawehada ugorawm tsraw kwazu] ‘This animal is a cat.’
/vɛtʃ-ko-ko-tsu-wm
tsi-nk qoŋ!oki-zu/! --> [vɛtʃkogodzuwm
tsĩŋ qõŋ!ogizu]! ‘I will
not be your calculator!’
Note that the verb /kowm/ ‘to be’ is NOT used
for adjective complements such as "This animal is brown." See the
section on adjectives to find out how to construct such a structure.
Adjectives
Adjectives can either appear in the
noun phrase (as in "this sharp basket") or as a predicate (as
in "this basket is sharp").
The structures of these two kinds of adjectives are of course very
different.
Adjectives as Part
of the Noun Phrase ("this sharp basket")
NP --> N'
N' --> N (AP)
AP --> A'
A' --> A
When part of the noun phrase, adjectives follow the noun, to adhere to
strict head-initial structure. Adjectives must agree in number with the
noun for which it is the complement. If there is a suffix meaning
'the', 'this', 'that', 'these', or 'those', the adjective must also
have that same suffix attached to it.
/tsɛʃ hawan
kwa/ --> [tsɛ hawãn
kwa] ‘a cold
cherry’
/ʒa̤mkɔ-ta qe̤tras-ta/ --> [ʒã̤ŋgɔda qe̤trasta] ‘this sharp basket’
/vrom-ɛʃ-sɛ ŋ!orse-ɛʃ-sɛ/ --> [vrõmɛʃsɛ ŋ!orseɛʃsɛ] ‘those ridiculous
games’
Adjectives as
Predicates ("this basket is sharp")
VP --> V'
V' --> V
When acting as the predicate of a sentence, adjectives behave exactly like
verbs. In fact, they will be drawn into the tree structure as if
they were actually verbs, right down to the syntactic
label of V instead of A. They
will be conjugated with morphemes for tense, person/number agreement,
and negation (if applicable).
/u-ha-tsu-wan/ --> [uhadzuwãn]
‘I am cold.’
/ʒa̤mkɔ-ta qe̤-qe̤-ra-tras/
--> [ʒã̤ŋgɔda qe̤ɢe̤ratra]
‘This basket will
be sharp.’
/vrom-ɛʃ-sɛ ka-ŋ!o-ra-rse-ɛʃ/ --> [vrõmɛʃsɛ kãŋ!orarseɛ]
‘Those games were
ridiculous.’
Of course one could have both types of adjectives in the same sentence.
/ʒa̤mkɔ-ta qe̤tras-ta
qe̤-qe̤-ra-tras/
--> [ʒã̤ŋgɔda qe̤trasta
qe̤ɢe̤ratra]
‘This sharp
basket will be sharp.’
Prepositions
PP --> P'
P' --> P NP
Prepositional phrases are composed of the preposition (the head) and
the noun object (the complement). The object of the preposition must be
inflected for locative case, which is represented by the locative suffix -/he/.
/ro wumats-i-he/ --> [ro wũmadzihe] ‘on
the grass’
Prepositional phrases can serve as the complement of the verb /kowm zi/
‘to be’.
/har u-ko-tsi-wm ko
hamsok-i-he/ --> [har
ugodziwm ko hãnsogihe]? ‘Are you in the kitchen?’
Question
Words
Questions will all involve
placing some material in the CP. All questions include the question particle /har/, which sits
in the C node (the head of CP). Certain question types also require movement to the specifier of CP.
Yes/No
Questions
Yes/no questions are formed by simply adding the question
particle /har/ in C. The rest
of the sentence remains the same.
/ropsip-sɛ u-ki-ra-ferenu/ --> [ropsipsɛ ugiraferẽnu] ‘That necktie is clean.’
/har ropsip-sɛ
u-ki-ra-ferenu/? --> [har
ropsipsɛ ugiraferẽnu]? ‘Is that necktie clean?’
See the syntax page for images of CP
structure.
Wh-Questions
Wh-questions are formed by replacing the questioned constituent
with the appropriate wh-element, and then moving the wh-element (with
all of its morphology and structure) to the Specifier of CP, leaving
only a trace (which is not actually pronounced). This is called
wh-movement.
/enert-ta ka-kʃu-ra-ro zorinpo-wi-zu/ --> [ẽnertta kakʃuraro zorĩmbowizu] ‘This shredder tore the paper.’
/som har
ka-kʃu-ra-ro zorinpo-wi-zu/ --> [sõm har
kakʃuraro zorĩmbowizu] ‘What
tore the paper?’
/som-zu
har enert-ta
ka-kʃu-ra-ro/? --> [sõnzu har
ẽnertta kakʃuraro]? ‘What
did this shredder tear?’
See the syntax page for images of CP
structure.
Possession
Possessor phrases involve two noun
phrases.
The possessed noun is the head noun, while the possessor acts like a
determiner, in that it sits in the specifier of the possessed noun’s NP.
The possessor (pro-)noun must take the genitive case marker /-ink/ (after consonants) or /-nk/
(after vowels).
/Elizabeth-ink santʃi vɛtʃ-u-mwa-ra-ht/ --> [Elizabethĩŋ
sãndʒi vɛdʒũmwarah] ‘Elizabeth’s
phone isn’t loud.’
/har rṳtʃεmt-i-nk
manwura̤ kaw-o-ra-nzetʃ/? --> [har rṳdʒɛ̃ndĩŋ
mãmwura̤ kaworãnze]? ‘Was the
pimp’s ring shiny?’
/tsu-nk tsɔwsa
u-ʒno-ra-kŋ!o/ --> [tsũŋ
tsɔwsa uʒnorakŋ!o] ‘My headache is strong.’
Click
on the following links for more
information:
Phonology
Lexicon
Morphology
Syntax