Loanwords

The main problem with loanwords in every language is the tension between the original phonology, and translating this to the sound inventory of the receiving language without violating the phonotactic rules of the latter and this all while retaining the recognizability of the word from the source language.

This is impossible. Somewhere along the line, something has got to give. In the case of loanwords in Kah, this means the phonology of Kah comes first mostly. The only adaptation Kah allows is in line of phonotactics as it allows a final consonant other than -m n ng l or s.

True loanwords
True loanwords are an open class in Kah which includes all proper names, brandnames and culturally specific items such as dishes and religious terminology. This class of loanwords is characterized by the fact all words in it end in a consonant. This automatically means the stress in loanwords is always located on the last syllable. When the word in the source language ends in a vowel, the consonant -h is added in order to force the stress to the final syllable. This -h was chosen since it is barely audible or not audible at all in spoken language. Note loanwords expresssing proper names and brandnames begin with a capital letter.

Examples of loanwords and their source are: Speakers are free to add a vowel in the middle or to the end of a word in spoken language when they are incapable of pronouncing a final consonant or consonant cluster. The stress of the word however is to remain on the final syllable in written state: Note that there is no standard form for different versions of the same name. Compare the French and English version of the name Robert: Besides this method, there also is the option of retaining the original native spelling. In this case, the use of italic script is strongly encouraged:

Yu muno Peugeot  -  He drove a Peugeot

Kanka la Shell  -  He works at Shell

Edinburgh dola nenyun  -  Edinburgh is a beautiful city

Incorporated loanwords
The most important group of loanwords are words designating nationality and ethnicity. All of these have been incorporated into the Kah phonology to an extent they can not be regarded true loanwords anymore but rather as Kah words with external inspiration, since they were derived from the native term people use in order to designate themselves.

The following pattern is used in order to derive the basic Kah form from which all words in this class are derived:

First of all, the native root is stripped from all affixes such as the ones denoting plurality or the idea of "people" (unless the word used literally means people).

Then, this root is adapted to Kah phonology in order to form the basic stative adjectival form: From these forms the word denoting a person of the ethnicity described is derived by adding the animate nominal prefix u-: When the original word begins with a vowel, then the u- is changed to w-: The mass noun expressing the complete ethnic grouping is formed by adding the collective root nyo as a suffix to the root form: When adding the root ka for "speech", the noun denoting a language is formed:

States
The names of states and regions are constructed from the basic local form minus locative suffixes such as "-ia" or "-stan". Then the Kah root an "land" is suffixed to this root. The names of many states are derived from the name of the local dominant ethnic grouping. In this case, the basic form from which the state name is derived is the Kah root minus the final vowel if present and with the -an suffix added: Kah makes an active distinction between people of a certain ethnicity and citizens of a state happening to bear a name derived from an ethnicity: This distinction is made to be able to express the abundance of ethnicities in the world without having to link them to a specific region.