The bulk of Kah lexicon consists of compound words, made up from two of more roots. This means it is a vital process to understand truly how the language works. Compounding basically means that two or more words are combined in order to create a new lexeme with a new, unique meaning.
The advantage of this technique of word formation is, that the meaning of the new word can be derived from the individual elements it consists of. For example the English word bedroom means "a room containing a bed". This kind of logic can also be used on a much more basic level: the Kah word for "argue" is ruka which consists of a combination of the roots ru "conflict" and ka "speak".
Kah was designed an oligosynthetic language, meaning a language with a very limited number of roots, which put together form the lexicon from wich statements are made. Kah has a couple of hundred basic roots from which all of the lexicon was derived.
Some roots turn up quite frequently, like do for "house" or "building":
yudo - house
talado - factory
angado - stable
fondo - prison
kwando - school
The following roots occur in compounds frequently:
do - house, building
ta - time
pa - money
pu - moral
ka - say, word
bu - man
wana - woman
sa - shape
shi - manner, way, like
so - water, fluid, secretion
shum - powder, grains
ki - food, mouth
za - take
ze - back, behind
ku - front, before
no - direction
nu - go
ro - round, cycle, ball
ru - conflict
yo - all
wi - many, much
ni - motorized vehicle
kwa - one
Not all compounds are entirely logical but merely a collection of basic ideas describing something:
zedodi - snail
ze + do + di
back + house + bug
raju - to be patient
ra + ju
sit + feel
sempe - bone
sen + pe
body + stick
Situations may occur that contradict the phonotactical rules of Kah as explained in the chapter on phonology. In these situations the following adjustments are made for the words to fit Kah phonology:
When a root ending in a nasal stop (either -m, -n or -ng) is put in front of another root, the nasal stop is made homorganic with the initial consonant of the root following it:
chen + pe = chempe
kom + ka = konka
rum + so = runso
When a root ending in a nasal stop (either -m, -n , -s, -l or -ng) is put in front of f, v, h, l, or r, the final vowel of this root is reduplicated:
lam + vun = lamavun
When a root ending with -s is put in front of another root starting with anything other than p, t, k, w or y, the -s is followed by a reduplication of the vowel preceding it:
bas + no = basano
yus + do = yusudo
When a root ending with -s is put in front of a root starting with y, the combination of s and y results in sh:
mas + yun = mashun
papas + yun = papashun
bos + ya = bosha
When a root ending with -s is put in front of a root starting with p, t or k, the -s is left untouched and directly precedes the second root:
tus + ka = tuska
bas + tan = bastan
tus + pu = tuspu
When a root ending with -l is put in front of a root starting with anything other than p, t or k, the -l is followed by a reduplication of the vowel preceding it:
mel + mbe = melembe
When a root ending with -l is put in front of a root starting with p, t, or k, the -l is left untouched and directly precedes the second root:
mul + ka = mulka
bal + ka = balka
When a root ending in a -i is put in front of a root starting with a y the i is absorbed into the y:
wai + yun = wayun
nai + ya = naya
But when the result is a combination iya or iyo this is denoted as ia and io respectively:
fi + ya = fia
ti + yo = tio
When a root ending in a -i is put in front of a root starting with a i the two merge into a y:
nai + io = nayo
When a root ending in a -i is put in front of a root starting with a vowel, the final i changes into a y:
vai + an = vayan
poi + an = poyan
When a root ending in a -u is put in front of a root starting with a w the u is absorbed into the w:
sau + wal = sawal
gau + win = gawin
The suffix -ng- is used to change the meaning of a word to something opposite in meaning:
Source | Stative verbs |
lule - partial, subjective yosa - enough daito - regular | luleng - impartial, objective yosang - insufficient daitong - irregular |
When it is suffixed to a word ending in a consonant, the preceding vowel is inserted before it:
Source | Stative verbs |
koten - literate tehim - audible tus - permitted | koteneng - illiterate tehiming - inaudible tusung - forbidden |
When it's added to a monosyllabic root, this root is reduplicated:
Source | Stative verbs |
ta - time yu - person je - think | tatang - never yuyung - nobody jejeng - stupid |
Only a very small number of roots inherently end in -ng, such as:
meng – none, zero
nong – not, no
mong – to reverse, undo
Most of the compound roots do not occur on their own but need an affix in order to become a word. This is done in order to be able to distinguish between words and roots. For instance the root nu"go" does not mean anything on it's own. It needs to be combined with the root de "come" in order to produce an actual verb meaning "to go": denu. Likewise the word for water is aso, which consists of the basic root so "water, fluid" plus the inanimate nominal prefix a-.
All of the current compound roots in use can be found below:
an - country, land ba - father bai - (to be) broken bal - nonsense ban - center, core bas - stop, end bau - dog be - topic marker bea - room beli - fennel ben - child bena - million beo - box, container bes - gray bi - organ bia - to beep bin - grain, cereal bo - in, inside boi - dirt bol - apple bon - fall bos - bag bu - man, male bua - brother bul - B bum - explode buna - maize bus - mash, squash cha - hole chai - tea chal - scoop cham - carbon chau - exact, precise che - hit, touch chen - shoot chi - out, outside chil - thin, chip chin - chirp chis - C cho - broadcast, let out choi - sour chom - tomato chos - brassica, sinapis, mustard chu - leave, from chul - mite chum - suck da - wheel, turn dai - rhythm, thump dal - computer, digital device dan -program, application dau - number, count de - come den - quake, shake, rock deo - pot, crock di - insect dia - eight dil - jingle din - light do - house, build doa - D doi - problem, issue don - force, power, strong du - stone dua - 10.000 dun - tooth ea - interest ebe - E en - that, whether fa - parent fai - ghost, spirit fan - iron fau - short fe - opposite fen - pepper feo - F fi - play fim - salty fo - flower foi - pejorative, no good fon - punish fu - smell fua - garlic fum - blow ga - G gai - thick gan - fish gau - donkey, ass ge - fast, quick gem - chickpea gin - mountain goi - frog gon - wave gos - hundred million gua - gulp gun - fruit ha - question hai - live ham - rough, coarse hana - which, which one hau - laugh he - disgust hea - hey hen - new hi - tense, tight him - hear, ear ho - true hoi - surprise hos - H hu - low, flat hua - cough hum - breath, air ia - element ini – I, i io - unit, measurement ja - do, make jai - sex jam - do, make jau - carry, load je - think, mind, brain jem - smoke ji - music jin - yellow jo - know joi - cool, great jom - five ju - feel jum - heavy jus - J ka - speak, say kai - close, shut kal - crow kan - work kas - billion kau - coffee ke - intend, would, want ken - neck kes - X ki - food, mouth kil - gnaw kim - royal ko - write koi - control, power kom - fake, false kona - K kos - lump, knot ku - front, before kum - pull kus - citrus kwa - one kwai - click kwan - study, learn kwau - duck kwe - net, web kwen - Q kwi - already kwil - thistle kwin - crunch kwis - twitter, tweet kwo - chicken kwoi - juniper la - at lai - there lal - L lam - white lau - here le - have leng - without leo - help li - you lia - worm lim - light, not heavy lio - liter lo - focus loi - taste, tongue lon - dense, rich, intense lu - with, at lua - tail lum - edge, tip, verge ma - mother mai - hi, greet mam - moon mas - balance mau - add, also mbe - part me - sheep mea - sister mel - hundred mem - M meng - nothing meo - cat mi - ill, sick mia - dead mil - open ming - bad mo - undo, reverse moa - bear moi - tilted mong - undo, reverse mos - secretion mu - cause mul - cow mun - cause mus - gas mwa - rot mwe - soft, gentle mweng - mean, cruel mwi - squeak na - of nai - long nain - N nam - god nana - line, stripe | nas - cosmetic product nau - this way, direction ne - bird, fly nen - good ni - vehicle nia - car nin - sun nini - ten nis - fortune, chance no - direction noi - that way nong - not, no nos - pipe, duct nu - go num - wall, board, screen nungu - 10 million nga - animal ngi - level ngo - cloth ngu - precious, gem, glitter nya - exponent nyai - monkey nyam - act, pretend nyau - blocked, stuck nye - happy nyem - silver nyo - collective, group nyom - rub nyu - orange nyum - flop, floppy oho - O pa - money, worth pai - grateful, thank pan - four pas - magic pau - give pe - stick, tree pea - plant pel - oak pem - potato pena - chestnut peo - nut pi - fire, electricity pil - angle pili - banana pim - hang pina - P pis - alcohol po - trade, sell poi - grass pol - thousand pon - push pos - cucurbita pu - moral pun - govern pya - jump, hop pyai - deer pye - shiver pyen - honk pyo - dot pyoi - stain pyu - needle ra - sit rai - brown ram - pinch, clip ras - R, rho rau - scratch, nail re - solid ren - order, system reo - egg ri - on, active ria - switch rim - ripe, fullgrown rio - hour ris - rattle ro - circle roa - growl roi - weasle ron - combine ru - conflict rum - boil sa - shape sai - cultivate, grow san - color sana - paste sau - fat, grease se - meat sen - limb seo - cup ses - S si - few. little sin - little, small sina - light, subtle sis - hide, secret so - water, fluid soi - please, request sol - black su - grape sun - two sus - quiet sha - card shai - like that sham - warm shau - like this she - glass shem - fold shi - like, as shim - clean shina - cloud shis - hiss sho - sheet, paper shoi - slide, slip shon - shower shu - sweet shum - sand ska - blue ski - frame sko - mix sku - knot sta - nine sto - but, however stu - friend swi - shrill ta - time tai - then tais - T tal - machine, device tan - picture tau - now te - able, can ten - able, can teo - seven ti - above, up tia - cap, lid til - small portable device tim - must tio - best, worst, most to - happen, time toi - stick, sticky tol - swathe tom - to become tos - about tu - cut tua - crackle tum - through, beyond tus - permit usu - U va - link, related vai - six van - shield, protect vau - elastic ve - peace, calm ven - cold vi - too vo- substance voi - V von - bitter vos - legume vu - down, under vun - gold wa - I, me wai - again wal - synthetic material wali - camelid wan - big wana - woman was - pear wau - this we - state wen - high, tall wi - much, many wil - pig win - horse wisti - 100,000 wiwa - W woi - mistake wong - anger wu - how very wua - howl ya - it, thing yai - pain yam - red yau - excuse ye - that yem - three yi - fear yil- Y yin - other yo - all, every yoi - woe yol - finger yom - swap, exchange yu - he, she, it, person yun - see, eye yus - art za - take, use zai - dear zam - magnet zau - itch, irritate zawa ze - back zen- danger zeo - hump, swelling zi - hair zia - care zim - buzz zo - fly, bug zoi - grain zon - sleep zu - cook zua - serve zun - honey |