Chapter 13 Pronouns and reference
Deixis: here and there
Deictic reference depends on a centre: usually the speaker's position, the current time, or the matter under discussion. Phi divides that field into proximal ha and distal ra.
ha: proximal
Before a noun, ha selects what the speaker treats as near or current:
ha melu — this friend
ha philo — this day
With nai, it supplies the location predicate here:
mia ha nai. — I am here.
ha shiro mioru nai. — This tree is beautiful.
wa thia ha womu sano. — Do you know this home?
The open breath and vowel arrive almost together in ha. That immediacy can be a modest whole-word mnemonic for the nearer form.
ra: distal
ra points beyond the immediate frame:
ra melu — that friend
ra tomora — that mountain
With nai, it supplies there:
shia ra nai. — They are there.
ra shiro ru whalo nai. — That tree is very large.
wa thia ra womu sano. — Do you know that home?
The tap or trill at the beginning gives ra a distinct physical gesture. A learner may hear distance in that movement, but the association belongs to the whole-word mnemonic; r itself has no distance.
Inside a noun phrase
ha and ra precede plurality, numerals, focus, and degree:
ha lo melu — these friends
ra nu wi shiro — that second tree
They do not change for number. The surrounding noun phrase supplies singular or plural reference.
Standing alone, with no noun after them, the deictics take lo the way the pronouns do: lo ha (these), lo ra (those), a plural pointing that names no class. Babel's builders use it for their own bricks:
su lo mia lo ha ru thape. — Let us burn these thoroughly.
The two orders divide the work. Before a noun the deictic leads, ha lo thena; alone, lo leads, as it does in lo mia.
Space, time, and discourse
The same pair can locate a day, year, or topic:
ha philo — this day, today
ra philo — that day
ha torua — this year
ra torua — that year
The deictic system stops at a two-way contrast rather than adding a separate form for something near the listener. A locational phrase names finer distinctions when ha and ra are insufficient. They draw the first line; the room itself may need a better map.