[1]: 3 Kokota uses little affixation and instead relies heavily on cliticization, full and partial reduplication, and compounding.

Phonologically, Kokota has a diverse array of vowels and consonants and makes interesting use of stress assignment.

For instance, glottal stops are not phonemic in Kokota but are often written with an apostrophe (as in Cheke Holo) when they occur in certain nondistinctive environments, such as to mark morpheme boundaries between neighboring vowels.

Most consonants distinguish voiceless and voiced versions (left and right respectively in each cell in the table).

[1]: 20  Final consonant codas usually occur only in words borrowed from another language.

[1]: 20  The CCVV structure is extremely rare as Kokota does not use phonemic 'diphthongs' and the term simply refers to two vowels occurring in sequence in a single syllable.

Kokota uses trochaic stress patterns (stressed-unstressed in sequence, counting from the left edge of a word).

Three main factors contribute to this variability: the limited morphology of Kokota, the fact some words are irregular by nature, and finally because of the present transition in stress assignment.

An important restriction on foot formation in Kokota is that their construction cannot split moras of the same syllable.

[1]: 33 In contrast, a younger speaker of Kokota would assign stress based on bisyllabic feet.

[2] do~dou-n̄hauREDUP~be.big-eatdo~dou-n̄hauREDUP~be.big-eat'be a glutton'lehe-n̄haudie-eatlehe-n̄haudie-eat'be hungry'gato-ḡonuthink-be.insensiblegato-ḡonuthink-be.insensible'forget'foḡra-doube.sick-be.bigfoḡra-doube.sick-be.big'be very sick'dia-tinibe.bad-bodydia-tinibe.bad-body'be unwell'turi-tovenarrate-old[2] turi-tovenarrate-old'tell custom stories'Kokota shows full and partial reduplication of disyllabic roots.

'}/tahi/'sea'→ /ta~tahi/'stingray'/tahi/ → /ta~tahi/'sea' {} 'stingray'/ŋau/'eat'→ /ŋa~ŋau/'be biting (of fish)'/ŋau/ → /ŋa~ŋau/'eat' {} {'be biting (of fish)'}/pɾosa/'slap self w. flipper (turtles)'→ /po~pɾosa/'wash clothes'/pɾosa/ → /po~pɾosa/{'slap self w. flipper (turtles)'} {} {'wash clothes'}/maɾ̥i/'be in pain'→ /ma~maɾ̥a/'be in labor'/maɾ̥i/ → /ma~maɾ̥a/{'be in pain'} {} {'be in labor'}/m̥aɣu/'be afraid'→ /m̥a~m̥aɣu/'be habitually fearful'/m̥aɣu/ → /m̥a~m̥aɣu/{'be afraid'} {} {'be habitually fearful'}/safɾa/'miss'→ /sa~safɾa/'always miss'/safɾa/ → /sa~safɾa/'miss' {} {'always miss'}/seha/'climb'→ /se~seha/'climb all about'[2] /seha/ → /se~seha/'climb' {} {'climb all about'}There is only a small number of full reduplication of disyllabic roots in the Kokota language.

Below are examples of full reduplication where the relationship is idiosyncratic: /seku/'tail'→ /seku~seku/'black trevally'/seku/ → /seku~seku/'tail' {} {'black trevally'}/ɣano/'smell/taste good'→ /fa ɣano~ɣano/'be very good'/ɣano/ → {/fa ɣano~ɣano/}{'smell/taste good'} {} {'be very good'}/mane/'man, male'→ /fa mane~mane/'be dressed up (man or woman)'/mane/ → {/fa mane~mane/}{'man, male'} {} {'be dressed up (man or woman)'}/ɣase/'girl, female'→ /fa ɣase~ɣase/'be dressed up to show off (woman only)'[2] /ɣase/ → {/fa ɣase~ɣase/}{'girl, female'} {} {'be dressed up to show off (woman only)'}One example shows full reduplication deriving verbs from transitive roots, and nouns from verbs: /izu/'read something'→ /izu~izu/'be reading; a reading'[2] /izu/ → /izu~izu/{'read something'} {} {'be reading; a reading'}Syntax in Kokota follows the basic sequential order: subject → verb → object.

'Below is a table of the breakdown position occurrence of the first 100 verbal clauses in a normal text: By adding two clitics on to the root noun /dadara/, Kokota specifies who possesses it as well as its proximity, as shown in the gloss below.

[1]: 85 The gloss of /dadaraḡuine/ is: dadarablood=ḡu=1SGP=ine/ide=this.R/these.Rdadara =ḡu =ine/ideblood =1SGP =this.R/these.R'this blood of mine'/dadara/ is the root meaning 'blood'; /gu/ indicates first-person singular possessive ('my').

[1]: 85 A more complex form of cliticization occurs in the example sentence below:[1]: 68 gurenut.pasteforococonut.pasteḡ-e=u=guNT-3S=be.thus=CONTadeheretitili=otitili=thatNVgure foro ḡ-e=u=gu ade titili=onut.paste coconut.paste NT-3S=be.thus=CONT here titili=thatNV'They made nut and coconut paste here at those standing stones.

'(Notes: the standing stones (titili) have spiritual significance; NT is the indicator of neutral modality; CNT is continuous; NV refers to something that is not visible.

/siko/'steal'active verb+  /ḡia/'lime'noun=  /sikogia/'bird' (specific species)proper noun[1]: 64   /siko/ + /ḡia/ = /sikogia/'steal' {} 'lime' {} {'bird' (specific species)}{active verb} {} noun {} {proper noun}/ika/'wash'active verb+  /blahi/'be sacred'stative verb=  /ikablahi/'baptism'noun[1]: 64   /ika/ + /blahi/ = /ikablahi/'wash' {} {'be sacred'} {} 'baptism'{active verb} {} {stative verb} {} nounThere exist four sets of pronominal forms: preverbal subject indexed auxiliaries, post verbal object indexing, possessor indexing and independent pronouns (Palmer 1999:65).

The independent pronouns, however, go one step further and differentiate between singular, dual, trial and plural numbers (Palmer 1999:65).

ka=iaLOC=the.SGtiNEGmai=na=o=n̵̄acome=3SGP=that.NV=IMMvelepuhiright.waykokotaPNLOCn-e-keREAL-3S-PFVau=reexist=those.Nkeha=re…NSP=those.Nka=ia ti mai=na=o=n̵̄a velepuhi kokota n-e-ke au=re keha=re…LOC=the.SG NEG come=3SGP=that.NV=IMM right.way PNLOC REAL-3S-PFV exist=those.N NSP=those.N'At that non-coming of Christianity [ig.

When Christianity had not yet come] some lived in Kokota'In this example, the particle ti is not suffixed onto an auxiliary.

n-e-tiREAL-3S-NEGḡazuwoodhogo=nabe.true=3SGPn-e-ti ḡazu hogo=naREAL-3S-NEG wood be.true=3SGP'They're not true sticks'Negation in imperative clauses can be expressed by the negative particle ti or the subordinating construction.

'Negation is expressed through the subordinating construction involves the negative existential verb teo.

[9] Below are examples of negation using the negative existential verb teo: teonot.existnamharifishteo namharinot.exist fish'There are no fish'teonot.existiheiwhoever.SGmanemantaSBRDtoraidefinitelymaicomereregi=ni=nalook.after=3SGO=that.Niathe.SGvetula=narule=3SGPḡavana…governmentteo ihei mane ta torai mai reregi=ni=na ia vetula=na ḡavana…not.exist whoever.SG man SBRD definitely come look.after=3SGO=that.N the.SG rule=3SGP government'There isn't anyone who actually looks after the government's law…'In the example above, there is a locative adjunct present.

[9] The negative existential verb teo is unlike au as it does not have a locative function.

[10] Below are phrases spoken in Kokota by a native speaker named Nathaniel Boiliana as he reminisced about World War II:[2] n-e-geREAL-3SGS-PRStor-iopen-TRb=anaALT=that.Nmaneis/hegoiVOCn-e-ge tor-i b=ana manei goiREAL-3SGS-PRS open-TR ALT=that.N s/he VOC'Has he opened it [i.e., started the tape recorder]?

'ḡ-e-laNT-3S-goara-hiI-EMPHkaLOCvakashipkabani-nacompany-3SGPamerikaPNLOCḡ-e-la ara-hi ka vaka kabani-na amerikaNT-3S-go I-EMPH LOC ship company-3SGP PNLOC'So I was on an American company ship'aḡegohod-i=autake-TR=1SGObanesokeoPNLOCaḡe hod-i=au banesokeogo take-TR=1SGO PNLOC'that took me from Banesokeo,'raurugo.seawardraasalo,PNLOCkepmasiPNLOCrauru raasalo, kepmasigo.seaward PNLOC PNLOC'[we] went seaward to Russell, to Cape Masi.

'The numeral system of Kokota has many typologically odd features and shows significant lexical replacement.

The higher numerals also alternate between multiples of ten (e.g. tulufulu 'thirty' from POc *tolu-puluq 'three times ten') and 'twenty' (tilotutu 'sixty' or 'three times tutu'), including two distinct morphemes with the meanings, 'ten' (-fulu from Proto-Oceanic and -salai, used only on numbers above sixty and likely from a substrate) and 'twenty' (varedake 'twenty' and -tutu, also likely from a substrate).

Ross describes it as one of the most bizarre numeral systems attested for an Oceanic language.