Phi pamphlets — Part 4: Report (ti)

ti marks information received from another source, whether heard or read. It reports provenance without preserving exact wording or rating the source.

01The plain relay

suliwa ti nai. ne siora mia shane.

snake REP be. NAME siora 1SG tell.

(There is a snake, according to a report. siora told me.)

The first clause marks the proposition as received information. The second names the source. Naming a source is not required by grammar, but it may matter when the listener needs to trace the report.

02Three ways to carry speech

Phi keeps a reportative particle, an indirect-speech frame, and a quotation frame distinct.

shia to ti wepu.

3SG PST REP go.

(They left, according to a report.)

ne sulae tha shia to wepu tho to haolu.

NAME sulae DECL.COMP 3SG PST go DECL.COMP.CLOSE PST speak.

(sulae said that they left.)

ne sulae sha shia to wepu sho to haolu.

NAME sulae QUOT.COMP 3SG PST go QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST speak.

(sulae said, "They left.")

The first is the present speaker's assertion about the departure, with a report as its source. The second asserts that sulae spoke and reports the proposition. The third purports to preserve sulae's exact Phi words. Source wording in another language remains outside the Phi passage rather than becoming exact through sha ... sho.

03Reportative marking on speech

An indirect-speech frame comes before the matrix predicate, and ti takes its ordinary Slot 1 place immediately before that predicate:

shia tha ne sulae so wepu tho to ti shemui.

3SG DECL.COMP NAME sulae FUT go DECL.COMP.CLOSE PST REP utter.

(They reportedly said that sulae would go.)

The speaker gives a report as the source for the saying. The particle does not count every person through whom the account passed. Another clause or an adjacent source record can identify the chain when that identity matters.

04A report moving through the household

mia suliwa hi nila.

1SG snake DIR see.

(I see the snake directly.)

suliwa ti nai. lopia mia shane.

snake REP be. child 1SG tell.

(There is a snake, according to a report. The child told me.)

ne sulae tha suliwa mua phitura nai tho to ti haolu.

NAME sulae DECL.COMP snake LOC well be DECL.COMP.CLOSE PST REP speak.

(sulae reportedly said that a snake was at the well.)

The child can state direct perception. The next speaker marks a report and names the child. The last speaker presents sulae's saying itself as reported. Nobody inherits another person's hi, though someone who later sees the snake may make a new direct statement of their own.

05When provenance is not the message

General knowledge need not carry ti merely because it was once learned from a book or teacher. sileta ru whalo nai. is an ordinary assertion that the sun is very large. Adding ti would make the received source salient, which suits a discussion of a particular account but not every mention of the sun.

06Drill: event, saying, or report of a saying

Suppose the elder told you that a storm felled the old tree. These clauses place the report at different levels:

serao shiro to ti lepa.

old tree PST REP fall.

(The old tree fell, according to a report.)

wheo tha kurisha serao shiro to ka lepa tho to hi haolu.

elder DECL.COMP storm old tree PST CAUS fall DECL.COMP.CLOSE PST DIR speak.

(I directly heard the elder say that the storm felled the old tree.)

wheo tha kurisha serao shiro to ka lepa tho to ti haolu.

elder DECL.COMP storm old tree PST CAUS fall DECL.COMP.CLOSE PST REP speak.

(The elder reportedly said that the storm felled the old tree.)

The first carries the event as reported information. The second marks direct perception of the elder's speech. The third receives even that speech event through a report. The tree has not moved between the sentences; only the source named by the present speaker has.