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Design Goals

I've often wondered what it would be like to evolve a conlang, either as an individual conlanger, or collaboratively on line with a group of conlangers (or interested language users for that matter).

To that end I decided to create a proto-conlang, (hereinafter referred to interchangeably as "Kalau", "Ancient Kalau", or simply "AK") that could be used as a starting point for such a project. I want the simplest language I can imagine which will still be able to express the kind of thoughts that might come up in day-to-day conversation among casual acquaintances in social setting or a market square in some ancient society.

Before such a protolang could be evolved through actual or simulated usage, it must be possible to write short descriptive narratives and scripts of brief typical conversations that might take place between two native speakers of the protolang. In order for that to happen anyone wishing to participate would need to be fluent in the protolang before attempting to extend or modify it. For this reason the grammar must be something that can be mastered in a matter of minutes so that, with a dictionary in hand, anyone could read and write sentences in the protolang almost immediately after first encountering it.

The other advantage of having such a simple grammar is that at a later date, after the language has evolved into something more "sophisticated" it would still be possible for a newcomer to master the initial proto-grammar in a few minutes and then read the corpus in chronological order so as to learn the more advanced features of the language in the same way, and in the same order as they appeared in the first place.

The Grammar of AK

The grammar I've chosen for Ancient Kalau is positional in the extreme. Not only is word order significant, but there is only one sentence pattern, and each word of the sentence must appear in a single fixed place within the sentence. There are seven elements possible, which must appear in the order shown below. Each of the elements is optional so that a sentence may consist of as few as one word, and as many as seven. The [preposition] element may appear more than once, but no more than three times, so that in extreme cases a sentence could have as many as eight or nine words.

Notes:

1. The optional adverb can appear in either of two places, but there may only ever be one adverb.
2. The sequence ([subj] [adv] [verb]) may appear at most two times.
3. There may be as many as two prepositional phrases.

In written Kalau the words of each element are fused together into a single word. (In spoken Kalau I imagine there might be discernible breaks between these compounded elements.) For example, many verbs are made of of the base verb and a modifier that modifies the meaning of the verb, usually making it more specific. The simple verb di (to make or cause) with the modifier tela (down, downward) forms the complete verb ditela to express the meaning "to knock down" (to make or cause something to be down).

In the glosses below compound words are shown connected by hyphens to make it clear how they are formed. Such hyphens are not used in normal written Kalau.

Verbs have no tense because the [time] element can establish the temporal context. For example olokai = olo-kai = "past-day", "yesterday". The [time] element can also be used to express things hoped for (or hoped against) in the future as a sort of subjunctive.

Further Grammar Rules

There are no further grammar rules. If you have a question as to how something might be done that is not covered in the above grammar, the simple answer is: I don't know. If you would like to propose a way in which it might be done, and if there is any interest in it, I could set up a forum or a wiki as a contributor's sandbox. The idea is that the language should evolve without central control from any ruling authority.

If, by some miracle, others become interested in the project, and if disagreements result in splinter groups, such as so often happens in collaborative projects, that is perfectly acceptable. It's normal that a given proto-language would have multiple related, but different, daughter languages.

The Lexicon

Words in Kalau will be simple, geared to daily conversation in a village setting some thousands of years ago. The lexicon should represent the kind of lexicon that might have been typical of an ancient ancestor of any modern language. Morphology is predominantly (V)CV(CV)* with some diphthongs ("au" and "ai", for example) but few if any consonant clusters. I can't be more specific than that because, like many ancient languages, "we" (in the context of the conworld where this happens) cannot be sure how Ancient Kalau was spoken. Besides, the final phonology of any daughter languages will be up to whomsoever evolves that particular modern daughter language.

Since the norm is to compound words for more specific meanings, words should be "factored" into their components, and new words coined for those components rather than for the compound meaning. For example, it would be unlikely that Ancient Kalau had a separate word for "tomorrow" when the compound "next-day" would suffice. My goal is to have no more than 1000 words in canonical Ancient Kalau. After that additional coinages will no longer be canonical AK, and would no longer have any need to follow the rules of AK coinages.

As for pronunciation, although it's not certain how the vowels were pronounced, it is known that the stress in a word fell on the last vowel in single words, and on the last vowel of the next to last word of compounds words. Thus we would have DI-te-la and o-LO-kai for di-tela and olo-kai respectively.

The parts of speech are:

• [A] - An adjective or adverb; No distinction is made.
• [L] - A location word such as "here", "over there", etc.
• [M] - A verb modifier
• [N] - A noun or pronoun; No distinction is made.
• [P] - A preposition
• [T] - A time word such as "now", "later", "soon", etc.
• [V] - A verb

For each sentence element, the following parts of speech may be used:

• [time] - T A N P
• [place] - L A N P
• [subj] - A N
• [adv] - A
• [verb] - V + M
• [object] - A N
• [prep] - (P M) + (A N)

Notice that a verb modifier may also appear in a prepositional element. Thus "go+in" as a verb and "in+lake" as a prepositional element. As a general rule, part of speech distinctions are pretty blurry in AK, and the above typology is a rough rule of thumb at best. On occasion a verb might even be used as if it were a preposition.

The Corpus

Below is the beginnings of a corpus in the purest proto-conlang, adhering to the letter of the grammar. Only later, after an adequate foundational corpus has been written, will the language be cut loose from its moorings and be allowed to drift.

Grammar recap:

Notes:

1. The optional adverb can appear in either of two places, but there may only ever be one adverb.
2. The sequence ([subj] [adv] [verb]) may appear at most two times.
3. There may be as many as two prepositional phrases.

Sentences with two [subj]..[verb] clauses are used in constructions like these English glosses: "I see John leave." "Man say go-away."

Kinayabo (A good thing)

Kinayabo

Olokai djuwala sasha ditela mudji. Dju kaukau mudji patai. Di rakumadjau. Dju kaukau mudji surakumadjau patai. Asa dju dima raku baisubakai. Kinayabo. Wakinayabo.

The sentence Asa dju dima raku baisubakai. could also be written: Baisubakai dju dima raku. using the prepositional element bai-suba-kai as the [time] element: "When-cold-day I have fire."

Kalau to English Dictionary ---------- English to Kalau Dictionary

Hibe tutunya (Trade for a pig)

Hibe tutunya

Djuwala haukwambani shatoka. Djuposa masetwana dju. Olokuda djambo tungalo. Asa pilu shoma kambasau. Kasa djambo yunai tuhibe. Son hibe tun tuwapakuyunai radja. Son tun panda wadjali.

Kalau to English Dictionary ---------- English to Kalau Dictionary

Kupu Tama Nisati (The Chicken Tells a Lie)

Kupu Tama Nisati

Asakai dju wida hibekio anikupu.

Kupupiro tama dju. --Asakai nidima kupu.

Dju zigi kupu biodengo niupiro.

Dju tama piro. --Dau dima kupu. Dju zigi kupu biozadengo.

Kupupiro tama dju. --Dau koshisati dju. Dju tama satiyabo. Dau nikoshisati kupu. Panakai uma tama nisatiyabo. Asakia dju tama nikupu. Kupu nitama sati. Asa wipala.

Kalau to English Dictionary ---------- English to Kalau Dictionary

Djuposa Waduala (My wife is very sick)

Djuposa Waduala (My wife is very sick)

Olosubakuda eyosasha di wanipau. Djuposa waduala. Dju ledo djelopasa dawala.

Uma baro wadjelo twanasha wasafo. Djomo kanraku sufuzi wasafo. Sa djelopasa rumba duayaraku. Payo odja. Sa Pahuna soya biuma. Uma hautela dashoma matafayu

Sa yakai soyaredjo biolisa. Djelopasa nibani. Uma haupala da'Pahuna.

Posa bua goba. Paua mandia odja. Asa uma niduala. Wakinayabo.

Dju kwan djelopasa baniumawala. Uma haudima pakuwateta kandju.

Kalau to English Dictionary ---------- English to Kalau Dictionary

Eyosasha Tama Dayakai (The North Wind Speaks to the Sun)

This next story is presented without detailed glosses.

Kalau to English Dictionary ---------- English to Kalau Dictionary

Babel

Presented without translation as an exercise for the reader.

Zasafo dorawanyo dima matayauma.

Wapiro sapa mari. Sa byo'Shinar wapiro kwan telashoma. Lugamase zabadi.

Piro tama dare. --Di kinarakularu.
Kano laru anibako. Kano gumi anibagamo.

Piro tama dare. --Di mauni aniadjau. Adjau di mirano. Mirano dalisa. Sa di kinahaurakili adjaulano. Adjau nihauapana duayadorawanyo.

Pahuna soya dawanyo. Yona mauni. Yona piro di mirano odja.

Pahuna tama. --Piro dima matayauma. Sa adjau luga dendo. Asa dalidi dorayabo.

Pahuna tama. --Adjau soya dawanyo. Baro piroyauma. Sa piro nidalitama dare.

Sa Pahuna diapana dora raubani dadorawanyo. Piro zolodi mauni.

Sa mauni haulano Babel. Bani Pahuna baro dorayauma dorawanyo. Diapana dora raubani dadorawanyo.

Kalau to English Dictionary ---------- English to Kalau Dictionary

To Be Continued...

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