Part 4 · grammar — Chapter 9 · particle system

The three slots explained

Particles in Phi occupy three distinct slots, each with a specific grammatical scope. Understanding these slots is essential for reading and constructing sentences.

Slot 0: Sentence frame

Slot 0 particles appear at the very beginning of a sentence. They frame the entire utterance and announce the speaker's communicative intention before any content arrives.

When you hear a Slot 0 particle, you immediately know what kind of speech act is coming: - wa signals a yes/no question - no signals a request or command - lu signals a conditional ("if...") - su signals a wish or hope - pi signals politeness

These particles prepare the listener. A sentence beginning with wa will be a question; one beginning with pi no will be a polite request.

Slot 0 particles are optional. A sentence without any Slot 0 particle is a simple declarative statement.

Slot 1: Verb phrase

Slot 1 particles appear before the verb and modify the entire action. They carry the bulk of grammatical information: when the action occurs, how it unfolds, who knows about it, and whether it's real or possible.

Slot 1 includes: - Tense: past (to), future (so); present is unmarked - Aspect: perfective (ki), imperfective (si), inchoative (pa), cessative (te), habitual (ro) - Voice: passive (se), causative (ka); the two combine only as se ka - Evidentiality: direct (hi), inferential (ke), reportative (ti), assumptive (ho) - Modality: possibility (po), necessity (na) - Negation: ma

When multiple Slot 1 particles appear, they follow a strict order:

Tense → Aspect → Voice → Evidentiality → Modality → Negation

Each rank admits at most one particle per clause: one tense, one aspect, one source, one modal; the single ruled pairing is voice's se ka (canon, One per rank). Complexity goes into more clauses, not thicker stacks.

This ordering isn't arbitrary. It moves from the most objective information (when something happened) through increasing levels of speaker interpretation (how they know, what they think is possible) to negation at the end.

Slot 2: Word-level

Slot 2 particles appear immediately before the specific word they modify, whether noun, verb, or adjective. They announce word-specific information:

Unlike Slot 1 particles which cluster before the verb, Slot 2 particles attach to individual words wherever they appear in the sentence.

How the slots work together

A complete sentence might draw from all three slots:

pi wa thia lo melu so nila. POL Q 2SG PL friend FUT see "Could you please see the friends?"

Breaking this down: - Slot 0: pi (politeness) + wa (question) - Subject: thia (you) - Slot 1: so (future) - Slot 2 + noun: lo melu (plural friend) - Verb: nila (see)

The Slot 0 particles frame the sentence as a polite question. The Slot 1 particle places the action in the future. The Slot 2 particle marks the noun as plural. Each piece of information arrives before what it modifies.

The unmarked default

Many particles are optional. When absent, the sentence carries a default meaning:

This means the simplest sentences need no particles at all:

mia thia nila. 1SG 2SG see "I see you." (present tense, direct knowledge, positive)

Particles add specificity to this baseline: they make explicit what would otherwise remain implicit.

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