Part 3
Counting and quantifying
The storeroom is being taken in hand, and every phrase in it makes a claim. Phi offers a ladder of them, from silence about number to a count a granary keeper could audit:
| Expression | Claim |
|---|---|
melu | friend or friends; number unstated |
lo melu | more than one; no count |
ta melu | exactly one |
wi melu | exactly two |
ta shao melu | exactly three |
shao melu | approximately a three-group |
soli melu | some; an indefinite nonzero number |
sheloi melu | contextually many |
Two rows deserve a careful ear. ta shao melu counts exactly three; bare shao melu claims only the scale of a three-group, a handful rather than a tally. The exact form and the approximate form are both honest, about different states of knowledge, and choosing between them is the whole skill: say what you counted, estimate what you gauged, and let the phrase show which you did.
01The quantifiers
Where numerals count, quantifiers judge. The set is ten strong:
| Phi | Gloss | Range |
|---|---|---|
theula | UNIV | the whole relevant set |
sheloi | MANY | contextually large |
shelami | MOST | the larger part |
soli | SOME | indefinite, nonzero |
phina | FEW | contextually small |
theli | EACH | one by one |
wheli | ANY | free choice within the set |
mawha | NONE | no member or amount |
henoi | ENOUGH | sufficient for the purpose |
wia | how many | the question |
Each stands directly before its noun: shelami wiru, most baskets; theli lopia, each child, taken one at a time. henoi is the quietly remarkable one: it measures against a purpose instead of a scale, so henoi sulopa for one bowl and henoi sulopa for a full table are different amounts and the same true claim. And wia turns any of these phrases into the question that a numeral will answer.
02Zero and none
Even absence offers two claims. mu melu counts zero friends, a numeral's exactness; mawha melu quantifies none at all. The count belongs in an audit, the quantifier in an ordinary sentence about an empty bench.
Practiceclaim what you know
Choose the phrase each situation supports.
- You counted the baskets one by one: three.
- You glanced at the woodpile: something like a three-group of stones.
- Soup for the table tonight, and there is sufficient.
- Ask how many stories the elder holds.
Answers: 1 ta shao wiru. The tally happened; say the exact count. 2 shao kerou. The glance supports the scale, and the phrase claims no more. 3 henoi sulopa. Sufficiency, measured against the meal it serves. 4 wia nophi. The question stands where its answer will, and any row of the ladder may answer it honestly.