Part 4 · grammar — Chapter 11 · nouns
The words of the heart
Color, place, and the body each got their words; this section gives you the inner ones. The grammar is already yours from the words of the body: states are worn with nai, sensations are felt with phaelo. What remains is the vocabulary, its carves, and the rule that keeps it honest.
The felt basics
The noun feelings, objects of phaelo:
| Phi | Gloss |
|---|---|
| shea | peace |
| nuhe | sadness |
| sukima | fear |
| nupira | shame |
| thomari | courage |
The adjective states, worn with nai:
| Phi | Gloss |
|---|---|
| siora | joy |
| loshi | joyful |
| shena | calm |
| phaelu | peaceful |
| noalu | tranquil |
| thiro | serene |
| nuloe | content |
| nemo | grateful |
| kuelo | curious |
| phaeli | tender |
| hurao | patient |
| shaelo | brave |
| phena | kind |
| thoru | proud |
mia siora nai. 1SG joy be. (I am joyful.)
mia nuhe phaelo. 1SG sadness feel. (I feel sadness.)
And because a feeling is felt rather than been, it can also be set down:
shia nupira to leiro. 3SG shame PST release. (They released the shame.)
The carved calm
Phi has six words in peace's neighborhood, and each holds its own ground. shea is peace itself, the noun you feel and wish. phaelu is the abiding disposition, peacefulness as character. shena is the stillness of this moment. noalu is the deeper settled form, the tranquility of a lake that has been calm a long time. thiro is serene, composure with some height in it. nuloe is content, satisfaction with what is. Choosing among them is not a vocabulary test; it is a moment of noticing what, exactly, is true.
The joy pair carves the same way: siora is felt joy, the upwelling in the one who feels it, and loshi is the joy-giving character of things, a festival day, good news, a bright morning.
The composed heart
The felt basics are the whole coined emotion lexicon, and this is settled canon: complex emotions are never given roots. They compose from their mechanisms, and the compound registry keeps the results. Anger is korua thero, heart-fire, and hatred is the same fire spoken of the same way. Contempt is thiku nila, seeing-as-small, an act rather than a verdict. Envy is phelu pula, the holding-wish, the wish aimed at what another holds. Loneliness is sonu plus nuhe, the sadness of being alone. Each compound shows its working, and showing the working is the point: a person who says phelu pula has already begun to see what the feeling is made of.
Wonder needs no compound at all, because wonder is a question held as a feeling, and Phi can put a whole question inside phaelo:
mia wela lopia nulae welo phaelo. 1SG INT.COMP child sleep INT.COMP.CLOSE feel. (I wonder whether the child sleeps.)
The verbs of the heart
Some of the heart's work is verbs, and they take ordinary objects: lothea (love), soliru (hope), pula (wish), theomi (trust), nuhemi (grieve, from the turning of a life), nelu (revere, the inward awe). One pair is worth keeping straight: woraka is felt appreciation and whaline is its expression, so gratitude runs from the nemo heart through woraka to the spoken whaline:
mia thia lothea. 1SG 2SG love. (I love you.)
mia thia whaline. 1SG 2SG thank. (I thank you.)
The primer's very first conversation ends on mia thia lothea, and every carve in this section stands behind that sentence. The heart's vocabulary is small, its grammar is two patterns, and its compounds show their working. What Phi will not do is hand you a label that thinks for you; it hands you the pieces, and the noticing is yours.