Phi pamphlets — Part 2: The direct question: wa

wa is a Slot 0 particle. It comes before the subject and asks whether the complete proposition is true:

wa thia towe nai.

Q 2SG well be.

(Are you well?)

wa thia theo sola sheluo.

Q 2SG read DISJ listen.

(Do you read or listen?)

The second question places an alternative inside the proposition with sola. In both cases, word order stays otherwise declarative, and the opening particle establishes the question before the proposition arrives.

01Content questions use the gap

A content question asks for one missing part. Its gap-word stands exactly where the answer would stand:

thia hina nila.

2SG what see.

(What do you see?)

thia nomei hina nai.

2SG name what be.

(What is your name?)

Phi has seven gap-words:

Phi	Meaning	Typical answer
`sua`	who	a person or other participant
`hina`	what; which kind or selection	a thing, kind, or selected noun
`weno`	when	a time
`kua`	where	a place
`misa`	why	a reason
`thela`	how	a manner or means
`wia`	how many	a quantity before a noun or classifier

The gap-word alone marks the question. It never shares its clause with wa, because wa asks about the whole proposition while the gap-word identifies the missing part. Each content-question clause contains one gap-word. Two missing parts take two coordinated clauses or two sentences.

After an explicit subject, misa comes before every other adjunct or argument, any complement frame, the Slot 1 stack, and the predicate. Topic-drop can leave it first when the subject is already understood.

02Questions inside statements

Every embedded question uses pha ... pho, not wa:

mia pha sileta sulae nai pho phaelo.

1SG INT.COMP sun warm be INT.COMP.CLOSE feel.

(I wonder whether the sun is warm.)

mia pha ne sulae kua nai pho ma sano.

1SG INT.COMP NAME sulae where be INT.COMP.CLOSE NEG know.

(I do not know where sulae is.)

The first sentence asks whether a proposition holds. In the second, kua occupies the unknown place inside the frame. The gap-word tells us what is missing, while pha and pho keep the whole inner question apart from the final ma sano. The complementizers pamphlet drills both forms at full depth.

03The stacked marks

English sometimes writes ?! when a question arrives with feeling attached. Phi keeps the two jobs in two utterances: the interjection reacts, then wa asks.

wao. wa thia ha nila.

wow. Q 2SG PROX see.

(Wow. Are you seeing this?)

Neither word borrows work from the other. The reaction is complete at its period, and the question announces itself the ordinary way.

Practicechoose the question form

Turn each statement into a direct yes-or-no question by adding wa in its canonical position:

1. thia shalu nuola.
2. lo shia kau silawo so thalo.
3. shia loami kolua.

Then decide whether each English sentence needs direct wa, a gap-word, or embedded pha ... pho before you render it.

"Is the water warm?"
"Where is the dog?"
"I wonder whether the child is asleep."

Answers: 1 wa thia shalu nuola. 2 wa lo shia kau silawo so thalo. 3 wa shia loami kolua. 4 wa phialu sulae nai. 5 lohau kua nai. The gap-word sits where the place answer would stand. 6 mia pha lopia nulae pho phaelo. The embedded question is bounded by its own pair, and the feeling predicate remains outside it.