Part 1
One system, three scopes
Put wa at the front and the whole utterance becomes a yes/no question. Put to before the verb and only the event moves into the past. Phi sorts particles by that difference in reach: how much of the utterance does this small word affect? A Slot 0 particle fills the whole room, a Slot 1 particle shapes one deed, and a Slot 2 particle rests a finger on one thing.
| Slot | Scope | Position | Inventory |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | the utterance | at the beginning | wa no lu he su pi |
| 1 | the verb phrase | before the verb, in ranked order | tense, aspect, voice, evidentiality, modality, negation |
| 2 | one constituent | directly before the word or phrase it modifies | lo nu ko we li ru mo ha ra ne sa ni le |
A useful working template is:
[Slot 0] [Subject] [Adjuncts] [Slot 2 + Object] [Slot 1] [Manner] [Verb]
Most sentences leave several positions empty. An intransitive verb has no object, an ordinary assertion may need no particle, and a manner word appears only when manner matters. The remaining elements keep their relative order. Every modifier still precedes what it modifies, without exception.
01What an unmarked clause leaves unmarked
Absence has a narrow grammatical reading. It should not be asked to confess more than it knows.
- No Slot 0 particle gives an ordinary declarative assertion.
- No tense particle gives present time.
- No aspect particle selects completion, ongoing flow, beginning, ending, or habit.
- No evidential names a source for the assertion.
- No modal marks possibility, ability, necessity, or obligation.
- No
maleaves the predicate affirmative rather than negated.
Unmarked grammar says no more than this list gives it. Certainty and responsibility belong to the claim and its use, not to an empty particle position.
02One choice per Slot 1 rank
Each Slot 1 rank permits at most one particle in a clause. A clause may have one tense, one aspect, one evidential, and one modal. The voice rank alone permits the fixed pair se ka. If a thought genuinely needs two sources or two views of an event, Phi gives each one its own clause.
03All three scopes at work
pi wa mia ha lo melu so po nila.
POL Q 1SG PROX PL friend FUT POT see.
pi wa frames the whole utterance. ha lo belongs to the object melu. so po belongs to the verb nila. Each group finds its place by scope, not by the order in which the speaker happened to think of it.
Practicesort by scope
Assign each particle to Slot 0, 1, or 2, then state what its scope is: ma, wa, lo, so, ne, pi, ki, ru, lu, se, nu, ho, we, na, ha.
Answers: 1, 0, 2, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2. When a particle is unfamiliar, return to scope: utterance, verb phrase, or constituent.