[Palato] [Grammar] [Dictionary] [Babel Text] [Return to JBH's WebPage]

Palato Phonology

The relationship of phoneme (spoken sound) to grapheme (written character) is very consistent in Palato.

Vowels

a as in cat

e as in get

i as in machine

o as in note (but no diphthong; rather, as a Scotsman might say it)

u as in dude

Sequential vowels are pronounced as diphthongs (i.e., sliding vowels).

cafein is pronounced /cafein/ (IPA: /kafɛin/) and not /cafe-in/.

Consonants

b, d, f, l, m, n, p, s, t, v,  and w are pronounced pretty much as in English.

c is pronounced hard, as in cat, never as in city.

g is pronounced hard, as in got, never as in gel.

r is pronounced with a single flap of the tip of the tongue against the hard palate.

l is pronounced with a flap of the tip of the tongue against the back of the front teeth.

Spoken stress

Palato has spoken stress.  The first syllable of any multi-syllable word is the one accented.    

Papila volu ara ain siala. (A butterfly flew up into the sky.)

Palato Grammar

Sentences are formed according to a fixed word order: Subject, Verb, Object.

Subjects

The subject of a sentence performs an action, or else is described or equated with something. It is followed by the subject-marker particle ga . Ga can be used as a pause to break up a long sentence, or simply to give yourself a chance to think and the listener to comprehend.

Oma garan ga curu. (The big man ran.) [The man performs an action]

Oma ga garan. (The man is big.) [The man is described.]

Note that the subject is omitted in commands and can be omitted in familiar speech.

Vi apa! (Go away!) [subject implied]

Us gustu? (Did [you] like it?) [subject implied]

The ga particle may be omitted whenever the subject is simple or obvious. But it is never incorrect to include it.

Oma curu. (The man ran.) [Could as well be: Oma ga curu.)

Ga is omitted in dependent clauses used as subject or object.    

  Us te memi o cuan du se [ga omitted] vinu? (Do you remember when he arrived?)

Da ga casa cedu amasa mea [ga omitted] facinu. (That is the house my friend built.)

Objects

The object of a sentence is directly effected by the action. It is always preceded by the particle o.

Me neti iai o casa. (I’m going to clean the house.)

For emphasis, it can precede the subject (similar to the ‘topic’ part-of-sentence of Chinese/Japanese/Korean).

Us o filuma gustu? (Did you like the movie?)

Note that by using the passive construction, an object may be turned into the subject.

Me ne perumiti o vi a locompura. (I won’t permit you to go to the store/your going to the store.)

Vi a locompura ga ne ii perumiti. (Going to the store is not permitted/won’t be permitted.)

Pronouns

A pronoun takes the place of a noun .  For example, the pronoun "she" might take the place of the name "Betty" in a sentence.

Singular                        

me = I, me, my

te = you, your

se = he, she, him, her, his, her

idi = it

di = this

da = that

do = that over there

Plural                            

men = we, us, our

ten = all of you, your

sen = they, them, their

idin = they (impersonal)

din = these

dan = those

don = those over there

Me vu con sen.   (I went with them.)

In conversation, pronouns aren’t necessarily expressed if they may be clearly understood from the context.

Us tenu o manga? = (Have you tried the food?) [subject omitted]

Ui. Ne gustu. = (Yes. I don’t like it.) [subject and object omitted]

Possessive pronouns

Add the suffix -a to the personal pronouns to create possessive pronouns.

Casa tea ga bela mas dumea. (Your house is prettier than mine.)

Plural nouns

To indicate more than one, attach the suffix is -n for words ending in a vowel and -en for words ending in a consonant.

Se vendu o liburan sea. (He sold his books.)

With pronouns, the -n of plurality is added before the -a of possessiveness.

Casa ga sena iu. (The house was theirs.)

Note: If quantity is specified by a number or by a word indicating amount (three dogs, many books), then the -n of plurality is omitted.

Me compuru o libura oto. (I bought eight books.)

Make a verb into a noun

Instead ofi,eoru, use the vowela.

ciri= cries >cira= a cry

The verbal participle/infinitive as noun

The participle/infinitive form of the verb may be used as a noun, functioning as the ‘name’ of an action.

Aruge ga fari o nebon po neseun. (Arguing does nobody any good.)

‘Abstract’ nouns

Use the suffix -e with nouns to indicate generality or an abstract concept (this is an extension of the e vowel used in forming the participle/infinitive verb form).

amasae =  friendship

coretae= correctness

turise = sadness

Compound noun-noun expressions

The modifying/specifying noun is placedafterthe noun being modified, with no space. This mechanism of word creation allows for the formation of closely-bound noun pairs which may in turn become new vocabulary items. The only syllable accented in a compound expression is the first one.

Sacaliburamea ga pulena topa. (Mybook bagis too full.)

Omacinacafeto nua me ga compuri iai po te. (I will buy you a brand newcoffee maker.)

Osesonpalain monta nua me ga resivu! (I got aspeaking-partin the new show!)

Forming questions

All questions must begin with the word us (even non-yes/no questions), which is a spoken question mark.

Us sabi o se? (Do you know her?)

Us como garan? (How big is it?)

Short exclamations of surprise do not take us.

Ce?! Casa?! (What?! The house?!)

Yes/No questions may be answered with a simple ‘yes’ ( ui ) or ‘no’ ( ne ), or with a positive or negative repetition of the verb.

Indefinite pronouns (‘question words’)

ce what? (subject or object)

cel which? (subject or object)

ci who? [= sean ce ] (subject or object)

como how? [=ad via ce] (adverb)

cu where? [=ad lo ce] (adverb)

cuan when? [=ad tempa ce] (adverb)

cuanta how much?, how many? (subject, object, or adjective)

poce why? (adverb)

    Us ci ga palu?   (Who said that?)

    Us cuan te ga vi?   (When are you leaving?)

    Us poce te ga faru? (Why did you do that?)

Relative pronouns

Relative pronouns attach phrase-type information to an antecedent. Note that they are the same as the question words above, except with the addition of the particle du.

ce du = what, the thing that...

cel du = which, the one that...

ci du , sun = who, the person that...

como du , via = how, the manner in which, the way in that...

cu du , lo = where, the place that...

cuan du , tempe = when, the time that...

cuanta du = how much, how many, the amount that...

poce du = why, the reason for...

Me sabi o ci du te pali de. (I know who you are talking about.)

Us te memi o cuandu se vinu? (Do you remember when he arrived?)

Da ga casa cedu amasa mea facinu. (That is the house [ that ] my friend built.)

Adjectives

An adjective is a description attached to a noun. Adjectives follow the item they modify. They do not change for number, tense, etc.

O canin bona tala te ga abi! (You’ve got a good dog there!/What a good dog you have!)

An adjective modifying another adjective follows it. This includes adjectives indicating degree (‘very,’ ‘a lot,’ ‘many’).

O canin garan tala te ga abi! (What a big dog you have!)

Da ga bona mas . (That one is better.)

Adjectives indicating quantity (number or amount) also follow the items they modify.

Me mem abi o gata turi . (I myself have three cats.)

Se abi gata miuta. (She has lots of cats.)

Verbs as adjectives

Verbs can be used as adjectives, mainly in the participle/infinitive form ( -e ) and in the completed aspect ( -u ) (the ‘past participle’ of English).

Ecipa peruduga vu. (The losing team departed.) [-u not -e since loss is completed]

Infan nasucu nua ga bela iu. (The newly born child was beautiful.)

Curedi neunca o sunvenda sorise. (Never trust a smiling salesman.)

Verbs

The verb comments upon the subject, adding description or action.

Schema of the Palato verb 

Position of verb in sentence:

[object] [subject] ne ii verb ne aux-verb ii [object] [benefactor]

Explanation of modifiers:

(ne negate verb) (ii passive)verb (ne negate aux-verb) (aux-verb) (ii tense)

Verbs of description

Some verbs describe their subject. The simplest way of accomplishing this is to place an adjective after the subject marker ga. The adjective then becomes the predicate. Although no copula (equational verb) is needed, past and future tenses can be formed using the auxiliary verb ii. When adjectives function as predicates, they remain an adjective in form and do not show aspect through vowel change.

Se ga intelegenta. (She is intelligent!)

Auta ga rapida. (The car is fast.)

The tense markers iai (will be...) and iu (was...) may be used with an adjectival predicate.

Muran di ga asula iu. (These walls were blue.)

Di ga enoruma iai! (This is going to be huge!)

As elsewhere in Palato, the subject may be omitted if it is obvious from the context.

Enoruma iai! (It’ll be huge!) [subject omitted]

Verbs of Action

Other verbs describe an action related to the subject.

Se curi esa. (She's out running.)

Se casaneti. (He's housecleaning.)

Auta ga rapidi. (The car is speeding.)

Negating a sentence ("does not...")

A verb can be negated by placing the word ne immediately before it (ne precedes the passive ii verb, if it is present).

Me ne vi iai. (I will not be going.)

Ne iesi. (It does not exist/It isn’t here/There is none.)

Ne ii estupida. (Don’t be stupid.)

If an auxiliary verb is to be negated, the negative particle precedes it.

Me mangi ne desi na. (I don't want to eat just now.)    

Tense and aspect

The Palato verb changes to indicate “aspect” (whether an action is completed, not finished, or potential). In fact, aspect is more prominant in Palato than tense, since tense is indicated by a separate modifier.

To change the aspect of a verb, replace the last vowel with the appropriate new one. (Note that the dictionary form of a Palato verb is always the incomplete aspect (-i).

i - incomplete, ongoing

O idi me ga visi. (I’m looking at it/I’m watching it.)

u - completed, finished

Se ga palu foruta. (He spoke loudly.)

ai - potential or cohortative

O te me ga aidai. (I can/couldhelp you.)

Men ga mangai ! (Let’s eat!)

Tense (placing action in the past, present, or future) can be specified when necessary by using the verb ii as an auxiliary (‘helper’) verb. It follows the main verb, and its final vowel changes to indicate past or future according to the chart below. Note that no helper verb is needed for present tense, since it is the default tense.

u - past

Se neti iu o casa. (He was cleaning the house.)

Se netu iu o casa. (He had cleaned the house.)

ai - future

Se neti iai o casa. (He will be cleaning the house.)

Sei netu iai o casa. (He will have cleaned the house.)

future:

estudai iai = will be able to study/might study (in the future)

estudi iai = will be studying

estudu iai = will have studied/will have finished studying

past:

estudai iu = could have studied/been studyinng

estudi iu = was studying/used to study

estudu iu = was done studying/had finished studying

Note that the tense marker iu/iai follows any other auxiliary verb.

O bisca me ga fari desi iai. (I will want to make cookies.)

Auxiliary Verbs

These secondary verbs, which usually indicate volition or necessity, follow the verb they modify.

Me ga vi dovi na. (I should go now.)

Me ga visi desu. (I wanted to see it.)

O libura da me ga legu nesi iai. (I will need to have read that book.)

Commands

Use the present tense, with the subject omitted.

Ferumi o poruta! (Shut the door!)

Passive verbs

Use the auxiliary verb ii before the main verb to make it “passive” instead of active. This means the subject becomes the beneficiary of the action or change of state.

Important note: If the passive ii marker is present, it assumes the job of indicating tense and the tense-marking ii following the verb is no longer necessary.

Casa ga iu netu. (The house was cleaned.)

Oma ga iaimorafari. (The man will be killed.)

Te ga ii esami. (You are being tested.)

Me ga ii robu! (I’ve been robbed.)

Compound noun-verb expressions

Words can be combined without a space to form new verbal expressions.

Me neti iai o casa. (I will clean the house.) >

Me casaneti iai. (I will do the housecleaning.)

Adverbs/adverbial compounds

Adverbs specify how, why, when, or where an action occurs. They are formed in one of two ways: an adjective following a verb becomes an adverb, or else a position particle (such as con, in, po) is used.

Pali len mas, pia. (Speak more slowly, please.)

Se ciru esa in turise. (She cried out in sadness.)

Se vu para bus. (He went by bus.)

Palato is a ZAP ( Zeit-Art-Platz ) language

Generally, adverbial expressions of time start off the sentence, adverbial expressions of manner immediately follow the verb, and adverbial expressions of place end the sentence.

Na, curi rapida a casa. (Now, run home quickly!)

Useful words and prefixes:

iesi: like English "there is/are...," but follows its subject (closer to Japanese arimas’ than French il y a).

Miuta ga iesi. (There are many.)

Iesi lodi. (Here it is!)

Ne iesi. (It’s not here/There isn’t one.)

ne-: a noun may be negated, or generally given its opposite meaning, by placing the prefix ne- before it.

Necos ga iesi. (It's nothing.)

lo-: names of places can be formed by placing the prefix lo- before a term descriptive of the place.

loautacompura = car dealership

lofiluma = movie theater

sun-: groups of people or occupations are formed by adding the prefix sun- to a word which is descriptive of the person or occupation.

suncuca = cook

suncuara = doctor

cos-: a thing possessing a certain attribute may be named using the prefix cos- plus that attribute.

cosvera = a fact

costurisa = a tragedy

Note that for lo-, sun-, and cos-, when verbs are added to form nominal expressions, the final vowel tends to become -a.

Numbers

un = one

du = two

turi = three

ca = four

cin = five

ses = six

sete = seven

oto = eight

nov = nine

dis = ten

cente = hundred

mil = thousand

Cardinal numbers (how many) follow the noun.

libura turi = three books

Ordinal numbers (indicating order) are preceded by the expression ce du.

libura ce du turi = the third book

Dates

The year 1953 = an 1953 ("an un nov cin turi")

March = luna turi du an

September 26 = du dis ses, luna nov du an

Days of the week

Monday = lundai

Tuesday = marudai

Wednesday = mecuredai

Thursday = iusdai

Friday = vendai

Saturday = saturudai

Sunday = soludai

Telling time

Ca ora ga iesi. (It’s four o’clock.)

Ca ora dis ga iesi. (It’s five ten / ten after five.)

Ca ora men dis ga iesi. (It’s ten till five.)

Spatial indicators

lodi = here

loda = there

lodo = way over there

Prepositions: Spatial

across = atava

around = atora

at = ada

back(ward) = (a) dosa

before (in front of) = devan

behind = deta

beneath = suba

beside = adalata

between = ena

below = suba

by = adalata (beside)

by = para (author)

down = basa

downward = a basa

foreward = avana

from = apa

in = in

in front of = davan

inside = in

into = ain

left = sinista

near = purosa

off = fu

on = su

out of = esa

outside = esa

over = sopa

right = reta

through = transa

to/toward = a

under = suba

up = ara

with (comitative and instrumental) = con (together with, by means of, having...)