Part 7: Slot 2: the nesting phrase

Slot 2 particles touch one word each, and when several touch the same word, their order is ruled at last: modifier-first inside the phrase, wider relations first. The cline is canon:

we / li > ha / ra > lo / numerals > ko > ru / mo > word

Discourse relation, then which set, then how many, then the singled-out word, then the graded property. Each particle stands before everything in its scope, so the order was never new information: it is announce-then-deliver, one level down.

ha lo melu — these friends
ra nu wi shiro — that second tree
ha mo ko phelora peloru — this most beautiful flower
we ha melu — this friend too
li ha lo melu — only these friends

One discourse relation per phrase (we and li never stack with each other), and the pair micro-orders stand as ruled: mo ko, ne before any honorific (the naming pamphlet's whole machinery lives at this rank), nu before its numeral.

li, working at last

The fence gets its first real workout in this pamphlet. li restricts identity (who, which, when), and canon bars it from quantities: li is a fence, not a sigh.

li shia sano.
RESTR 3SG know.
(Only they know.)

li ne sulae ruela sano.
RESTR NAME sulae path know.
(Only sulae knows the path.)

The refused use is worth one look, because English offers it hourly: "only three eggs." That sentence is a count plus a feeling, and Phi says the count (ta shao lipha powea) or the honest shortfall (henoi ma nai), never a number taught to sigh. If your li stands before a quantity, you wanted a feeling-word or an exact count; the fence goes around which, never around how few.

Bare ko, the pointing finger

ko has spent its corpus life inside the superlative; alone, it is contrastive focus. It answers which one? without excluding the way li does:

mia ko lothea sano.
1SG FOC love know.
(It is love that I know — that, specifically.)

ko mia thia nila.
FOC 1SG 2SG see.
(*I* see you — I, not another.)

The ko/li border is the drillable one: ko highlights, li excludes. ko mia naphe volunteers: I will help, pointing at yourself. li mia po naphe testifies: only I can, everyone else fenced out. One raises a hand; the other clears the room. Both are one syllable, and they are not interchangeable.

Drill: build to spec

Say each phrase, letting the cline do the ordering:

1. these trees
2. that first day
3. only this child
4. the dog too
5. these very large trees
6. only sulae, twice: once fenced, once merely pointed at.

Answers: 1 ha lo shiro. 2 ra nu ta philo. 3 li ha lopia. 4 we lohau. 5 ha lo ru whalo shiro. 6 li ne sulae, and ko ne sulae. The difference between them is the difference between no one else and her, is who: a fence and a finger. If you paused before any ordering, say the cline once and rebuild: wider first, always.