Part 5 · complex — Chapter 19 · subordinate clauses

Direct and indirect speech

Reporting what someone said is one of the most common uses of subordination. Phi distinguishes two approaches: direct speech (quoting exact words) and indirect speech (reporting the content).

Direct speech: shola...sholo

The quotative pair shola...sholo frames exact words. shola opens the quote; sholo closes it. Together they are spoken quotation marks: they give the listener unambiguous boundaries around the quoted material.

shia shola mia so wepu sholo to shemui.
3SG QUOT.COMP 1SG FUT go QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST utter.
(They said "I will go.")

ne sa sulae shola lo peloru thuroa sholo to shemui.
NAME HON.RESPECT sulae QUOT.COMP PL flower grow QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST utter.
(Honored sulae said "the flowers grow.")

mia shola mia thia lothea sholo to shemui.
1SG QUOT.COMP 1SG 2SG love QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST utter.
(I said "I love you.")

Inside the quote, everything is preserved exactly as the original speaker said it. The pronouns don't shift: when the speaker quotes themselves saying "i will go," mia remains mia because those were her words.

Indirect speech: mena...meno

Indirect speech reports the content of what was said without preserving the exact words. This uses the declarative complementizer pair mena...meno, the same one used for all embedded statements:

shia mena shia so wepu meno to shemui.
3SG DECL.COMP 3SG FUT go DECL.COMP.CLOSE PST utter.
(They said that they would go.)

ne sa sulae mena lo peloru thuroa meno to shemui.
NAME HON.RESPECT sulae DECL.COMP PL flower grow DECL.COMP.CLOSE PST utter.
(Honored sulae said that the flowers grow.)

Notice the difference: in indirect speech, the pronouns adjust to the current speaker's perspective. sulae's own "I" becomes shia (third person) because the current speaker is reporting, not quoting.

When to use which

The choice between shola...sholo and mena...meno isn't just grammatical; it reflects a philosophical stance toward someone's words.

Direct speech with shola...sholo says: "these are the exact words. I'm carrying them faithfully." It preserves the original speaker's voice, perspective, and phrasing. Use it when precision matters, when you want to honor exactly what was said.

Indirect speech with mena...meno says: "this is the gist." It filters through the reporter's perspective; it adjusts pronouns and may condense the content. Use it when the content matters more than the exact formulation.

Phi's evidential system adds another layer. Combining reported evidence (ti) with indirect speech signals that the speaker is passing along information at a further remove:

mia ti mena shia so wepu meno shemui.
1SG REP DECL.COMP 3SG FUT go DECL.COMP.CLOSE utter.
(I'm told that they said they would go.)

Each layer of reporting is transparent. The listener knows exactly how many steps removed the information is from its source.