Phi pamphlets — Part 1: Four sources, one stack

Rain may reach a speaker through the open door, wet ground, a neighbour's message, or a familiar season. The working set names those four routes.

Particle	Gloss	Claimed source
`hi`	DIR	direct sensory perception of the event or state
`ke`	INFER	a conclusion from evidence specific to this case
`ti`	REP	information received from another source
`ho`	ASSUM	background expectation without case-specific evidence

All four are optional. A marked clause identifies the source a speaker puts forward. An unmarked clause is a plain assertion and names no source at all.

01The founding pair

Two lines differ by one syllable:

pheralu to hi lepa.

rain PST DIR fall.

(Rain fell; I perceived it directly.)

pheralu to ti lepa.

rain PST REP fall.

(Rain fell; I received a report of it.)

The rain does not change. The first line presents the falling as directly perceived; the second presents it as reported.

02Where the source stands

Evidentiality occupies one rank in Slot 1. The complete order is Tense > Aspect > Voice > Evidentiality > Modality > Negation. A source particle therefore follows tense, aspect, and voice, and precedes modality and negation.

shia to hi wepu.

3SG PST DIR go.

(They left; I witnessed it.)

pheralu so ho lepa.

rain FUT ASSUM fall.

(I assume rain will fall.)

shia to ke ma wepu.

3SG PST INFER NEG go.

(I infer that they did not leave.)

The order never bends. The interpretation can still be difficult, but the particles do not move to settle it. If both a report and an inference matter, one clause cannot contain ti ke; the report and the inference need separate clauses.

03The unmarked assertion

A Phi clause may carry no source particle. mia thia sano. asserts that I know you and says nothing about how that knowledge arose. For a present event open to ordinary perception, listeners may naturally assume direct access, but the grammar does not supply that source for them.

The particles become useful when provenance belongs in the message: a witness account, a conclusion from a trail, news passed through another person, or an expectation that might need correction. The primer gathers all four around one snake because the story is about those different routes.

suliwa mua phitura nai. mia suliwa hi nila.

snake LOC well be. 1SG snake DIR see.

(A snake is at the well. I see the snake directly.)

04Drill: hear the stack

For each line, name every Slot 1 rank before the verb.

1. mia to hi nila.
2. lo mia so ho kamo.
3. shia to si ke thalo.
4. thia to ti ma wepu.

The answers are: 1, past and direct; 2, future and assumptive; 3, past, imperfective, and inferential; 4, past, reportative, and negative. Read the lines again until the order is audible without making the source particles mean more than they say.