Part 5 · complex — Chapter 17 · coordination

Alternative: sola

The third conjunction, sola, presents alternatives. It is Phi's "or": it offers a choice between possibilities without forcing a decision.

mia theo sola sheluo.
1SG read DISJ listen.
(I read or listen.)

thia shea sola maeli pula.
2SG peace DISJ quiet wish.
(You wish for peace or quiet.)

Open versus closed alternatives

In English, "or" can be either inclusive (you can have both) or exclusive (pick one). Context usually resolves the ambiguity, but sometimes it doesn't. Phi's sola works the same way: the context determines whether both options are available or only one.

You may notice that sola in a plain statement sounds slightly odd: "you read or listen" is grammatically valid (it describes someone's alternatives or habits) but less natural than what you get with nela or thona. In practice, sola appears most often in questions and conditionals, where presenting alternatives feels intuitive.

When combined with the question particle wa, sola naturally creates choice questions:

wa thia theo sola sheluo.
Q 2SG read DISJ listen.
(Do you read or listen?)

wa sorae sulae nai sola howeli pelui nai.
Q sun warm be DISJ wind cold be.
(Is the sun warm or the wind cold?)

Alternatives between clauses

Like the other conjunctions, sola scales to full clauses:

mia so theo sola mia so thalo.
1SG FUT read DISJ 1SG FUT walk.
(I will read, or I will walk.)

thia po mia naphe sola mia po miso naphe.
2SG POT 1SG help DISJ 1SG POT REFL help.
(You can help me, or I can help myself.)

Note the second example: miso (reflexive pronoun) appears in the second clause because the subject and object are the same person. Coordination naturally creates opportunities for these more complex constructions.