Henka lilo  -  Introducing yourself

One of the most vital elements of greeting rituals, is the act of introducing yourself to one another. This chapter revolves around the manner of doing so in Kah.

Paragraph 2.1  -  Your name in Kah

Just like in most languages using the Roman script, names always start with a capital. Other than that, there are a few things about the representation of names in Kah.

You may have noticed how the names Juan and Fatime are transliterated as Huan and Fatimeh in the Kah text samples. This is because the preferred method of representing foreign names is to adapt them to the Kah phonology.

For example, Kah does not have the sound j as pronounced in Spanish, but it does have an h which is the closest sound to it. Therefore, the Kah equivalent of "Juan " is Huan.

Examples of transliterated names in Kah are:

 Muhamad - Muhammad

 Filis - Phyllis

 Jan - John

 Estel - Estelle

 Savinder - Savinder

 Yosh - Yoshi

Another feature characterizing names is the fact they must end in a consonant (which means: anything but a e i o or u ). In case the original name ends in a vowel or a vowel-like sound, the letter -his added to the end of the word:

 Kofih - Kofi

 Lih - Lee

 Mariah - Maria

 Pitah - Peter

 Kaikoh - Keiko

This -h is not or barely pronounced. The most audible effect of the addition is that the stress on the word shifts to the ultimate syllable:

Family names are transliterated according to the same system used for first names:

 Wang - Wang

 Ferenandez - Fernandez

 Bederoshan - Bedrosian

 Kazalovah - Koslova

 Musawih - Moussaoui

According to the customs regarding names in one's native language, the family name is placed in front of or after the first name. Note how the hyphen is used to link certain parts of names:

 Jan Doh - John Doe

 Kim Lih-Yeong - Kim Lee-Yeung

 Samir al-Nasarih - Samir al-Nasri

Besides this preferred method, there is the option to use the spelling in Roman script as it was: Juan and Fatime. In this case, the use of italics is strongly encouraged. Transliterations to Kah are preferred since many languages do not use the Roman script and therefore must be converted from various foreign scripts anyway and some sense of coherence is recommendable in my opinion.

Paragraph 2.2  -  Haya senka?

With all this in the back of our minds, we can start introducing ourselves!

In case it is necessary to spell your name, here is the spelling alphabet in Kah:

 Of these, Kah does not use the Q and X, but in order to spell foreign names they come in handy.

Paragraph 2.3  -  Hala wechu ?

Besides your name, a very relevant aspect of your identity is where you come from. In order to obtain this information, the words hala wechu are used. In order to answer the question of one's native country, please consult the following list containing all the states and some of the largest cities in the world.

Please make yourself acquainted with the vocabulary presented in this lesson and try to apply it by making the following exercise: