Phi practice The three slots

Reading 5 of 13

Part 4

Slot 1: voice

mia nophi kealo. begins with the creator. nophi se kealo. begins with the story and leaves its creator unstated. Voice is the third Slot 1 rank, where se and ka rearrange the participants in an event.

01se: passive voice

mia nophi kealo.

1SG story create.

(I create the story.)

nophi se kealo.

story PASS create.

(The story is created.)

The passive omits the actor. This is useful when the actor cannot be identified, when the context has already established that person, or when the present point lies elsewhere. It can also omit information a listener needs. The surrounding question and context decide which situation holds.

Phi also uses passive voice inside relative clauses. [whu se nila] means the one who is seen, while [whu se ma nila] means the one who is not seen.

02ka: causative voice

lopia nulae.

child sleep.

(The child sleeps.)

mia lopia ka nulae.

1SG child CAUS sleep.

(I cause the child to sleep.)

The causative states that the subject caused the event. It does not state how. A lullaby and a locked door may both cause sleep while creating very different relations. If the manner matters, the sentence or its context must say more.

03Voice with other ranks

lopia se ka nulae.

child PASS CAUS sleep.

(The child is caused to sleep.)

mia lopia ka na nulae.

1SG child CAUS NEC sleep.

(I must cause the child to sleep.)

mia lopia to ka ma nulae.

1SG child PST CAUS NEG sleep.

(I did not cause the child to sleep.)

se ka is the only permitted same-rank pair, and it occurs in that order. A following modal applies to the caused event as a whole. In ka ma, negation denies the causation. It neither asserts nor denies that the child slept for another reason.

Aspect in a causative clause describes the causing event. When the caused action needs a separate aspect, Phi gives that action another clause rather than making one particle cover both events.

Practicethe voice set

Use mia, lopia, and wile.

  1. The child plays.
  2. I cause the child to play.
  3. I caused the child to play.
  4. I must cause the child to play.
  5. I can cause the child to play.
  6. The child is caused to play.
  7. I did not cause the child to play.

Answers: 1 lopia wile. 2 mia lopia ka wile. 3 mia lopia to ka wile. 4 mia lopia ka na wile. 5 mia lopia ka po wile. 6 lopia se ka wile. 7 mia lopia to ka ma wile. The final answer leaves the child's playing open; it denies only the causal relation named by ka.