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A Grammar of Kolak

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Kolak language (the 225th one produced by the Language Creator), outlining its sound system, word formation and syntactic structure, with the aim of presenting a coherent account of the language as an integrated whole. Attention has been paid to both regular patterns and minor irregularities, as these together define the internal balance of the language.

The grammar is accompanied by a bilingual dictionary and a collection of illustrative texts, offering material for further study and comparison. The examples have been selected to demonstrate typical constructions and to give a sense of the language in extended use. The description is intended as a reference work for linguists and language enthusiasts alike, and as a foundation for any future research, teaching or creative adaptation of Kolak.

Typological Profile

It has a total lack of nasal consonants, not just singular and plural, but also dual, as well as the typologically rare OSV basic word order and four genders.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Kolak has 9 consonant phonemes, forming a relatively small inventory.

It has a total lack of nasal consonants, a complete absence of affricates, a complete absence of palatal consonants, something which is a rare occurrence indeed, as well as a strongly reduced sibilant system and a complete absence of phonemic voicing contrasts.

The table below presents the full inventory of consonant phonemes in Kolak. The chart lists all places and manners of articulation attested in the language.

labialalveolarlateralvelarglottal
stopp t k
fricativef s h
approximantw l

Vowels

Kolak has 5 vowel qualities. This places it within the broadly common range of mid-sized vowel inventories. The vowel chart shows the full set of contrasts employed in the language’s phonology.

It has a full range of vowel qualities even in reduced syllables.

The table below presents the full inventory of vowel phonemes in Kolak. The system comprises the distinct vowel qualities listed in the chart.

frontcentralback
closei u
mide o
opena

Stress and Tones

Kolak has neither phonemic stress nor lexical tone. Prosodic prominence and pitch variation are determined by pragmatic and discourse factors rather than by lexical contrasts.

Phonological Processes

Vowel Harmony

The language employs vowel harmony. To be specific, the following vowels change to match the first vowel of the root: /i/ becomes /u/, /e/ becomes /o/.

Writing System

Introduction

Kolak is normally written using the Latin alphabet, whose familiarity makes it straightforward for most readers. For clarity and precision, phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) are also provided throughout this grammar.

Orthography

Here are the various components of the orthography:

Simple letters

a /a/e /e/f /f/h /h/
i /i/k /k/l /l/o /o/
p /p/s /s/t /t/u /u/
w /w/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Kolak distinguishes singular, dual and plural.

Gender

Kolak has the following genders:

Gender cl.1 – for instance: fas ‘mother’, hafuwap ‘umbrella’, hakofaf ‘belly’, hiwetat ‘stick’, hul ‘daughter’, kot ‘woman’, lalakes ‘plain’, lop ‘mouth’, sat ‘wife’, sip ‘nose’, sipawiw ‘forest’, tal ‘fire’, talosek ‘river’, tefelef ‘lake’, tik ‘hand’, tip ‘foot’, tisukek ‘bottle’, tiwopef ‘box’, wal ‘rain’, wek ‘land’.

Gender cl.2 – for instance: fip ‘day’, kak ‘left’, kat ‘son’, kef ‘good’, kew ‘time’, kikitip ‘neighbour’, kiw ‘far’, kowet ‘round’, pefewit ‘wing’, pefif ‘different’, sapak ‘blind’, sekif ‘school’, til ‘big’, tiw ‘long’, wafaw ‘dry’, wap ‘bad’, wilip ‘wet’, witaf ‘green’, wos ‘city’, wotaf ‘thin’.

Gender cl.3 – for instance: falopip ‘slime’, fef ‘top’, fefolef ‘guts’, hahotis ‘fingernail’, hekapep ‘dust’, kikitak ‘bark’, kituwah ‘binoculars’, lakifef ‘horn’, las ‘little’, latukat ‘flower’, laweset ‘apple’, pahopap ‘knee’, pak ‘tongue’, puk ‘book’, sifewaf ‘tower’, suw ‘sky’, taw ‘head’, tof ‘tooth’, wep ‘fruit’, wes ‘star’.

Gender cl.4 – for instance: fapiles ‘dialect’, hat ‘name’, hesafiw ‘lamb’, lal ‘ear’, law ‘animal’, let ‘child’, liwawaf ‘urine’, los ‘east’, pip ‘back’, pop ‘bird’, sas ‘cat’, sesiwif ‘tiger’, sif ‘fight’, sipowas ‘machine’, tak ‘colour’, tew ‘human being’, tifiwak ‘wild boar’, tolif ‘manner’, was ‘road’, wifotef ‘snake’.

The Nominal Phrase

Nominal phrases in Kolak can be exemplified by the following example:

Sapakaha wahi tufutakuli kahe kotowa lawiha salewewa wafihapa.

[sapakaha wahi tufutakuli kahe kotowa lawiha salewewa wafihapa]

sapak
blind -ah
GEN -a
sing wa
three -hi
ACC tufutak
mouse -ul
ACC -i
plur ka
yon -he
cl.4 kot
woman -ow
NOM -a
sing lawiha
COMIT salew
knife -ew
NOM -a
sing waf
catch -i
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q

“The woman with the knife caught those three blind mice.”

 (1)

In the following, we shall look at the various components in more details.

There are no clitics in the nominal phrase.

The Noun

The noun in Kolak consists of first, the root; second, an obligatory suffix expressing case, comprising -ew /-ew/ ‘NOM’, -il /-il/ ‘ACC’, -ah /-ah/ ‘GEN’, -is /-is/ ‘DAT’, -el /-el/ ‘INS’, -iw /-iw/ ‘VOC’, -ef /-ef/ ‘ALL’, -es /-es/ ‘LOC’, -ak /-ak/ ‘ABL’ and -as /-as/ ‘PART’; and finally, third, an obligatory suffix expressing number, comprising -a /-a/ ‘sing’, -e /-e/ ‘dual’ and -i /-i/ ‘plur’.

The noun displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -itis /-itis/ ‘little’ and -afip /-afip/ ‘big’

The Adjective

In Kolak, the adjective has the following structure: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing case, comprising -ta /-ta/ ‘NOM’, -la /-la/ ‘ACC’, -ha /-ha/ ‘GEN’, -fa /-fa/ ‘DAT’, -se /-se/ ‘INS’, -ki /-ki/ ‘VOC’, -sa /-sa/ ‘ALL’, -we /-we/ ‘LOC’, -ti /-ti/ ‘ABL’ and -wa /-wa/ ‘PART’.

Numerals

The morphology of the numerals is as follows: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing case, comprising -ki /-ki/ ‘NOM’, -hi /-hi/ ‘ACC’, -si /-si/ ‘GEN’, -we /-we/ ‘DAT’, -le /-le/ ‘INS’, -sa /-sa/ ‘VOC’, -ke /-ke/ ‘ALL’, -te /-te/ ‘LOC’, -wa /-wa/ ‘ABL’ and -pe /-pe/ ‘PART’.

Determiners

In Kolak, the determiner has the following structure: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing gender, comprising -ti /-ti/ ‘cl.1’, -li /-li/ ‘cl.2’, -la /-la/ ‘cl.3’ and -he /-he/ ‘cl.4’.

Pronouns

The pronoun in Kolak has the following structure: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing number, comprising -e /-e/ ‘sing’, -ike /-ike/ ‘dual’ and -ika /-ika/ ‘plur’.

Kolak always includes the personal pronouns, even if they are not stressed. This is similar to English, where the only way to distinguish "he loves her" from "he loves her" and "he loves her" is the stress. So the following corresponds exactly to English in this regard:

Hese koho hiwehapa la.

[hese koho hiwehapa la]

hes
3.sing.cl.1 -e
sing koh
3.sing.cl.2 -o
sing hiw
love -e
PRES -h
active -apa
not.Q la
3.sing.cl.2.SUBJ

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

Proper Nouns

Pakekilila Wafufapowa pawafehapa la.

[pakekilila wafufapowa pawafehapa la]

pakekil
Pakekil -il
ACC -a
sing wafufap
Wafufap -ow
NOM -a
sing pawaf
hate -e
PRES -h
active -apa
not.Q la
3.sing.cl.2.SUBJ

“Wafufap hates Pakekil.”

 (3)

Possession

lehaha lawesetewa

[lehaha lawesetewa]

leh
boy -ah
GEN -a
sing laweset
apple -ew
NOM -a
sing

“the boy’s apple”

 (4)
koho lawesetewa

[koho lawesetewa]

koh
3.sing.cl.2 -o
sing laweset
apple -ew
NOM -a
sing

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (5)
fite lawesetewa

[fite lawesetewa]

fit
1excl.sing -e
sing laweset
apple -ew
NOM -a
sing

“my apple”

 (6)
Koso kikitipaha katila wafofutaha hulowa wakisihapa.

[koso kikitipaha katila wafofutaha hulowa wakisihapa]

kos
2.sing -o
sing kikitip
neighbour -ah
GEN -a
sing kat
son -il
ACC -a
sing wafofut
hunter -ah
GEN -a
sing hul
daughter -ow
NOM -a
sing wakis
kiss -i
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q

“The hunter’s daughter kissed your neighbour’s son.”

 (7)

Derivation

Kolak has a few derivational processes. To illustrate this, let us start with a simple noun phrase:

hesafiwewa suho

[hesafiwewa suho]

hesafiw
lamb -ew
NOM -a
sing su
a -ho
cl.4

“a lamb”

 (8)

In the following, the word for little becomes an affix attached to lamb:

hesafiwitisewa suho

[hesafiwitisewa suho]

hesafiw
lamb -itis
little -ew
NOM -a
sing su
a -ho
cl.4

“a little lamb”

 (9)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

All verbal phrase clitics in Kolak are enclitics (placed finally), and there are four types: first, a clitic expressing mode, comprising ki /ki/ ‘imperative’, li /li/ ‘conditional’ and he /he/ ‘optative’; second, a clitic expressing negation, comprising ka /ka/ ‘NEG’; third, a clitic expressing subj, comprising ha /ha/ ‘1incl.sing’, we /we/ ‘1excl.sing’, li /li/ ‘2.sing’, la /la/ ‘3.sing.cl.2’, se /se/ ‘3.sing.cl.3’, ti /ti/ ‘3.sing.cl.4’, ta /ta/ ‘1incl.dual’, pi /pi/ ‘1excl.dual’, pa /pa/ ‘2.dual’, te /te/ ‘3.dual.cl.1’, si /si/ ‘3.dual.cl.2’, fe /fe/ ‘3.dual.cl.3’, fe /fe/ ‘3.dual.cl.4’, fi /fi/ ‘1incl.plur’, fa /fa/ ‘1excl.plur’, wi /wi/ ‘2.plur’, wiwi /wiwi/ ‘3.plur.cl.1’, leli /leli/ ‘3.plur.cl.2’, pipi /pipi/ ‘3.plur.cl.3’ and wefi /wefi/ ‘3.plur.cl.4’; and finally, fourth, a clitic expressing comp, comprising la /la/ ‘COMP’.

In addition, the verb is structured like this: first, the root; second, an obligatory suffix expressing ta, comprising -e /-e/ ‘PRES’ and -i /-i/ ‘PAST’; third, an obligatory suffix expressing voice, comprising -h /-h/ ‘active’ and -l /-l/ ‘passive’; and finally, fourth, an obligatory suffix expressing question, comprising -a /-a/ ‘Q’ and -apa /-apa/ ‘not.Q’.

The verb displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -epiw /-epiw/ ‘begin’ and -ipak /-ipak/ ‘stop’

Koso fite hiwehapa we.

[koso fite hiwehapa we]

kos
2.sing -o
sing fit
1excl.sing -e
sing hiw
love -e
PRES -h
active -apa
not.Q we
1excl.sing.SUBJ

“I love you.”

 (10)

Adverbs Minor Classes

Adpositions

There is one type of clitic in the adpositional phrase, namely an enclitic (placed finally), expressing root.

tapa kelewewa

[tapa kelewewa]

tapa
in_surface kelew
table -ew
NOM -a
sing

“on the table”

 (11)
woko tuwopofowa

[woko tuwopofowa]

woko
to_inside tuwopof
box -ow
NOM -a
sing

“into the box”

 (12)
lawiha fite

[lawiha fite]

lawiha
COMIT fit
1excl.sing -e
sing

“with me”

 (13)

Syntax

Basic Clause Structure

Constituent Order

Constituent order describes the typical arrangement of the subject (S), verb (V) and object (O) in simple declarative clauses. It is a fundamental parameter in grammatical description and forms one of the clearest ways of characterising the overall structure of a language’s clause system.

Kolak adopts Object–Subject–Verb (OSV) as its unmarked word order. The object precedes the subject, and the verb appears clause-finally. OSV is a rare ordering pattern but is attested in a small number of languages.

The following examples illustrate the basic, unmarked, constituent order in Kolak.

Wafofutula palufosowa hipihapa ti.

[wafofutula palufosowa hipihapa ti]

wafofut
hunter -ul
ACC -a
sing palufos
jaguar -ow
NOM -a
sing hip
kill -i
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q ti
3.sing.cl.4.SUBJ

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (14)
Wafofutaha hulaha pohula kalupowowa kuluhapa ti.

[wafofutaha hulaha pohula kalupowowa kuluhapa ti]

wafofut
hunter -ah
GEN -a
sing hul
daughter -ah
GEN -a
sing poh
dog -ul
ACC -a
sing kalupow
lion -ow
NOM -a
sing kul
eat -u
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q ti
3.sing.cl.4.SUBJ

“The lion ate the hunter’s daughter’s dog.”

 (15)

The language has a fixed constituent order, and major phrases normally appear in a predictable position in the clause. Movement for discourse reasons is highly restricted: topics and foci are expressed not by rearranging elements, but through dedicated constructions such as clefts, focus clauses or topic–comment frames. Constituents remain continuous, and both the relative order of phrases and the internal structure of each phrase are stable. As a result, significant deviations from the basic word order are ungrammatical, and discourse structure is managed through these specialised constructions rather than through word-order variation.

Noun Phrases

Structure and Order

The internal structure of noun phrases in Kolak reveals typologically significant preferences in the ordering of nominal constituents. This includes the position of adjectives, numerals, and possessors relative to the noun, each of which can offer clues to the overall headedness of the language.

Possessive constructions are head-final: the possessor precedes the possessed noun. For example, Kolak expresses “the child’s toy” with the equivalent of “child toy”. This ordering is found in many SOV and postpositional languages and aligns with a broader tendency towards modifier-first structures.

koso kataha husaha pukowa

[koso kataha husaha pukowa]

kos
2.sing -o
sing kat
son -ah
GEN -a
sing hus
friend -ah
GEN -a
sing puk
book -ow
NOM -a
sing

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (16)

Case Marking

Kolak uses nominative–accusative case marking. The subject of an intransitive verb and the subject of a transitive verb are treated alike and take the nominative case, while the object of a transitive verb is marked with the accusative case. This is the familiar pattern from many European languages: the grammar groups together the participants that function as subjects and marks the participant affected by a transitive action separately.

Sasewa witehapa ti.

[sasewa witehapa ti]

sas
cat -ew
NOM -a
sing wit
sleep -e
PRES -h
active -apa
not.Q ti
3.sing.cl.4.SUBJ

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (17)
Sasewa pufohapa ti.

[sasewa pufohapa ti]

sas
cat -ew
NOM -a
sing puf
run -o
PRES -h
active -apa
not.Q ti
3.sing.cl.4.SUBJ

“The cat is running.”

 (18)
Tufutakula sasewa kasowohapa ti.

[tufutakula sasewa kasowohapa ti]

tufutak
mouse -ul
ACC -a
sing sas
cat -ew
NOM -a
sing kasow
chase -o
PRES -h
active -apa
not.Q ti
3.sing.cl.4.SUBJ

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (19)
Tufutakula sasewa wafihapa ti.

[tufutakula sasewa wafihapa ti]

tufutak
mouse -ul
ACC -a
sing sas
cat -ew
NOM -a
sing waf
catch -i
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q ti
3.sing.cl.4.SUBJ

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (20)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

Palufosuli ha sesiwifili ha kalupowuli wafofutowa hipihapa la.

[palufosuli ha sesiwifili ha kalupowuli wafofutowa hipihapa la]

palufos
jaguar -ul
ACC -i
plur ha
and sesiwif
tiger -il
ACC -i
plur ha
and kalupow
lion -ul
ACC -i
plur wafofut
hunter -ow
NOM -a
sing hip
kill -i
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q la
3.sing.cl.2.SUBJ

“The hunter killed the jaguars, the tigers and the lions.”

 (21)

Modifiers and Determiners

The ordering of demonstratives, articles (if present), and other modifiers in Kolak provides further insight into the structure of the noun phrase. These elements frequently exhibit fixed positions and may reveal whether the language favours head-initial or head-final patterns.

Complex Sentences

Relative Clauses

Kolak forms relative clauses by placing the relative clause after the noun it modifies. The clause follows the internal word order of ordinary finite clauses. A dedicated relativising marker introduces the clause and identifies the relationship between the head noun and its role inside the relative clause.

To illustrate how relative clauses work, let us begin with a simple sentence:

Sasila fite kalowuhapa we.

[sasila fite kalowuhapa we]

sas
cat -il
ACC -a
sing fit
1excl.sing -e
sing kalow
pat -u
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q we
1excl.sing.SUBJ

“I patted the cat.”

 (22)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

Fite kalowuhapa we sasewa, file wafihapa ti tufutakula.

[fite kalowuhapa we sasewa, file wafihapa ti tufutakula]

fit
1excl.sing -e
sing kalow
pat -u
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q we
1excl.sing.SUBJ sas
cat -ew
NOM -a,
sing fil
RELPRON -e
sing waf
catch -i
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q ti
3.sing.cl.4.SUBJ tufutak
mouse -ul
ACC -a
sing

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (23)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

Fite kalowuhapa we sasewa, file wafihapa ti tufutakowa, file kuluhapa ti sulotowula.

[fite kalowuhapa we sasewa, file wafihapa ti tufutakowa, file kuluhapa ti sulotowula]

fit
1excl.sing -e
sing kalow
pat -u
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q we
1excl.sing.SUBJ sas
cat -ew
NOM -a,
sing fil
RELPRON -e
sing waf
catch -i
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q ti
3.sing.cl.4.SUBJ tufutak
mouse -ow
NOM -a,
sing fil
RELPRON -e
sing kul
eat -u
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q ti
3.sing.cl.4.SUBJ sulotow
cheese -ul
ACC -a
sing

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse that ate the cheese.”

 (24)

Finally, here is an example containing several layers of embedding:

Fite kalowuhapa we sasewa, file wafihapa ti tufutakowa, file kuluhapa ti sulotowowa, file ketihapa we fite.

[fite kalowuhapa we sasewa, file wafihapa ti tufutakowa, file kuluhapa ti sulotowowa, file ketihapa we fite]

fit
1excl.sing -e
sing kalow
pat -u
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q we
1excl.sing.SUBJ sas
cat -ew
NOM -a,
sing fil
RELPRON -e
sing waf
catch -i
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q ti
3.sing.cl.4.SUBJ tufutak
mouse -ow
NOM -a,
sing fil
RELPRON -e
sing kul
eat -u
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q ti
3.sing.cl.4.SUBJ sulotow
cheese -ow
NOM -a,
sing fil
RELPRON -e
sing ket
buy -i
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q we
1excl.sing.SUBJ fit
1excl.sing -e
sing

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse that ate the cheese that I bought.”

 (25)

Complementation Strategies

Kolak marks complement clauses with subordinating verbal morphology. The embedded verb is fully finite and carries a subordinating suffix that identifies the clause as a complement. No structural changes occur within the clause apart from this verbal marking.

The following example illustrate how complement clauses function:

Tefiselisa lawesetila sula totusa lehewa latihapa la la lisafihapa ti.

[tefiselisa lawesetila sula totusa lehewa latihapa la la lisafihapa ti]

tefisel
teacher -is
DAT -a
sing laweset
apple -il
ACC -a
sing su
a -la
cl.3 tot
girl -us
DAT -a
sing leh
boy -ew
NOM -a
sing lat
give -i
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q la
3.sing.cl.2.SUBJ la
COMP lisaf
surprise -i
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q ti
3.sing.cl.4.SUBJ

“It surprised the teacher that the boy had given the girl an apple.”

 (26)

Quotes

Kolak expresses quoted or reported speech without a dedicated quotative particle. Quotations appear as ordinary clauses, distinguished only by the surrounding syntactic context or by the use of verbs of speaking.

Here is an example of how quotations are expressed:

Koso fite hiwehapa we la totusa lehewa pokuhapa la.

[koso fite hiwehapa we la totusa lehewa pokuhapa la]

kos
2.sing -o
sing fit
1excl.sing -e
sing hiw
love -e
PRES -h
active -apa
not.Q we
1excl.sing.SUBJ la
COMP tot
girl -us
DAT -a
sing leh
boy -ew
NOM -a
sing pok
tell -u
PAST -h
active -apa
not.Q la
3.sing.cl.2.SUBJ

“The boy told the girl that he loved her.”

 (27)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Kolak. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.91, on 2 June 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/3TD8W

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-3TD8W,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Kolak}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/3TD8W}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.91, on 2 June 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Kolak / Kolak–English) accompany this grammar. The complete work – comprising the grammar, dictionary and texts – may also be downloaded in ODT or DOCX format.

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