Part 10
Common errors
Some particle errors are structural and can be caught by a validator. Others are errors of interpretation: the sentence is grammatical, but a reader assigns a particle a meaning it does not have. Both deserve repair, though only one will make a script complain.
Error 1reversing the Slot 1 order
Wrong: mia ma to nila.
Right: mia to ma nila.
Tense precedes negation. English places "not" among its auxiliaries in ways that do not map onto Phi, so the fixed rank order must do the work: tense, aspect, voice, evidentiality, modality, negation.
Error 2putting two particles in one rank
Wrong: suliwa hi ti nai.
hi and ti are both evidentials. If the speaker intends to make both source claims, each needs its own clause: suliwa hi nai. suliwa ti nai. One clause presents direct perception; the other presents a received report. The one permitted same-rank pair is se ka in the voice rank.
Error 3dropping a needed tense
Wrong for "They left": shia wepu.
Right: shia to wepu.
The bare verb is present. A past main clause therefore needs to. The reverse error is adding past tense to a general statement that is not located in the past.
Error 4treating an unmarked source as direct evidence
Misreading: taking mia thia sano. (I know you) to claim direct perception.
An unmarked assertion names no source. It is not hidden hi, and it is not weaker than an evidential clause. If source matters, choose the corresponding particle; if it does not, leave the rank unmarked.
Error 5confusing an ongoing event with a habit
Wrong for a recurring pattern: misheko si nulae.
Right: misheko ro nulae.
si presents one sleeping event in progress. ro presents sleep as a recurring pattern. Neither says that sleeping is the cat's permanent nature, and ro does not mean always.
Error 6treating passive voice as proof of evasion
Grammatical: phialu to se ma loa.
The sentence says that the water was not given without identifying a giver. That may omit information required by a particular question, or it may be exactly right when the giver is unknown. Passive voice supplies a structure, not a verdict about the speaker.
Error 7restricting a quantity with li
Wrong: li ta shao lipha powea.
li restricts identity, not quantity. The count is ta shao lipha powea. If the amount fails to meet a relevant need, henoi ma nai. adds that judgement. The two thoughts are clearer when neither is asked to impersonate the other.
Error 8filing the vocative under Slot 0
Wrong: kona melu wa thia towe nai.
Right: kona melu. wa thia towe nai.
kona is an extra-clausal utterance, not a particle. The period marks a structural boundary between the call and the question.
Error 9overreading ka ma
Form: mia lopia to ka ma nulae.
This says, "I did not cause the child to sleep." It does not say whether the child slept for another reason. Negation applies to the causal relation expressed by ka; the caused event remains open.
Error 10treating Slot 2 as a one-word slot
Form: li ha lo melu
li has scope over the whole phrase "these friends," not merely over ha. Slot 2 modifies a constituent, which may contain several words. Reading the scope order from left to right prevents the wider particle from being mistaken for a neighbour with no family obligations.