Chapter 2 Your first words in Phi
Ten essential words to start
These ten words are a first handful, and a warm one on purpose: with them you can greet a friend, ask after their wellbeing, answer honestly, and tell someone you love them. Ordinary conversation soon asks for more, but few languages hand you this much heart in ten words.
People
mia (I, me), /ˈmi.ä/, mi-a with stress on the first syllable. The speaker as subject, object, or possessor. Position supplies the role.
thia (you), /ˈθi.ä/, thi-a with stress on the first syllable. One person being addressed. It carries no gender or social rank.
Clause tools
wa (yes or no question), /ˈwä/, wa. Put it at the beginning of a complete proposition. The rest of the clause keeps its ordinary order.
nai (be), /ˈn̪ä.i/, na-i with stress on the first syllable. It links a subject to a description, identity, or place. The predicate comes before nai.
Relation and condition
lothea (love), /lo̞.ˈθe̞.ä/, lo-the-a with stress on the middle syllable. Deep affection or active care towards a person, place, living thing, or way of life.
towe (well), /ˈt̪o̞.we̞/, to-we with stress on the first syllable. An overall good state in the frame that matters. It can answer an ordinary question about how someone is doing now.
shea (peace), /ˈʃe̞.ä/, she-a with stress on the first syllable. Inward peace may be felt; social peace is freedom from violence and workable accord. Peace does not require the absence of disagreement.
melu (friend), /ˈme̞.lu/, me-lu with stress on the first syllable. A person joined to another by a chosen relation of affection or trust. Calling someone melu states your side of the relation; their answer is their own.
Meeting and parting
kia (hello), /ˈki.ä/, ki-a with stress on the first syllable. A complete greeting that acknowledges another person's presence. Voice and gesture supply its social tone.
pao (goodbye), /ˈpä.o̞/, pa-o with stress on the first syllable. A complete farewell that closes a visit or conversation without predicting how long the parting will last.
Using them
With these words, you can already form useful utterances:
kia.
Hello.
wa thia towe nai.
Are you well?
mia towe nai.
I am well.
mia thia lothea.
I love you.
mia shea lothea.
I love peace.
thia melu nai.
You are a friend.
That last sentence states your side plainly, without ceremony and without waiting for permission. What the other person says back is the conversation.
In the next section, these words meet on an ordinary road and manage not to make a ceremony of it.