Stage 1 — Roots in context

Roots are introduced through sentences, in clusters of 3–6 per section. Reuse is heavy. After completing this stage, you'll have encountered around 20 roots — not from a list, but from having seen them work.

The primitive inventory exists as reference — consult it when a root comes up, not as a study target.

Cluster 1 — Acting and examining

These sentences come from C001 and C002 — engineers responding to equipment failure. A is reporting in; B is directing.

(1)  la-mi  pa-re-mu  lo-de  ka-se  ta-ti-de
     I found damage in the backup unit.

(2)  ka-se  lo-si-su-mu
     Examine the antenna array.

(3)  ka-de-be  lo-ne-mu
     Repair the connector.

(4)  ka-to-su-ki
     Understood.

(5)  ka-ki  ta-ti-mi
     I'm going now.

New roots:

Root	Core meaning	Where it appears
`ka`	intentional action	prefix forming deliberate acts: `ka-se`, `ka-ki`, `ka-de-be`
`se`	perception / sense	raw sensory awareness — seeing, hearing, detecting

ka is a wrapper. It takes another root and turns it into a deliberate act. ka-se = take the perceptual action = examine. ka-ki = take the motion action = go. ka-de-be = take the restorative action = repair.

You already know both halves of ka-de-be: de (decay) + be (grow/restore) = restore from decay. ka turns the concept into an intentional act.

se is raw, unprocessed perception. You're registering what's there before you interpret it. Detecting a fault. Seeing something. to is what you make of it; se is the signal arriving.

Imperatives. Sentences (2), (3), and (5) have no la-tu. That's the imperative: a direct instruction drops the addressee marker. The action stands alone. You can also drop the speaker: la-mi ka-ki ta-ti-mi commonly appears as bare ka-ki ta-ti-mi — la-mi omitted because in the moment, who else would be going?

Compounds in this cluster you'll see again: re-mu (backup artifact), si-su-mu (signal-structure-artifact = antenna array), ne-mu (relation-artifact = connector). Their internal roots — re, su, ne — are treated as vocabulary in the next two clusters.

Exercise — Acknowledged

In Cluster 1, sentence (4): ka-to-su-ki — Understood. (A = reporting engineer · B = director giving orders)

Roots: ka (intentional action) · to (knowledge) · su (structure) · ki (motion). What does the compound mean, and when does B say it?

Explanation

ka + to-su-ki = "take the action of entering organized knowledge." to-su-ki = knowledge-structure-motion = moving into structured understanding.

ka-to-su-ki = "I have comprehended this and am acting on it." Not merely "I heard you" (se level) but "I have understood" (to level). B says it in C001 after being told to warn the coordinator — it's the Tonesu way of saying acknowledged.

Cluster 2 — State and quality

These sentences come from C001 and C002 — assessing two different pieces of failing equipment. One engineer finds the relay unstable; another finds the connector broken.

(1)  lo-si-mu  no-ru
     The relay is unstable.

(2)  lo-ne-mu  de
     The connector is broken.

(3)  lo-si-mu  ru  ta-ti-mi
     The relay is stable now.

(4)  de  vo  to-si?
     What kind of damage?

New roots:

Root	Core meaning	Where it appears
`ru`	unity / wholeness	predicate position: "is stable, coherent, unified"
`vo`	value / quality	the worth, degree, or intensity of anything
`no`	negation / absence	`no-X` = the absence or negation of X

no- as a prefix. no placed before any root negates it. no-ru = not-unity = unstable. You'll encounter no-de (not-decayed = intact), no-fe (without limit), and many others. The pattern works on any root.

Quality predication. You already know lo-mu de = the machine is damaged. The same frame works with any quality root: lo-si-mu ru = the relay is unified/stable. Quality root follows the patient. No verb required; state is enough.

The content question. In (4): de vo to-si? — three elements. de (the topic: decay). vo (the dimension being queried: what quality?). to-si (the unknown: what I'm seeking). "The damage — quality — [?]" = "What kind/degree of damage?"

vo is the extent or intensity of anything. When someone asks "how bad is it?", they're asking about vo.

Exercise — What does lo-mu no-de mean?

lo-mu no-de — what is the device's condition?

Explanation

lo- + mu (artifact) + no- (negation) + de (decay) = "The device is not-decayed" = the device is intact / undamaged.

The no- prefix flips any quality or state. lo-mu de = damaged; lo-mu no-de = undamaged.

Cluster 3 — Time and limits

These sentences are from C001 A2–B2 — a tightening deadline. A has found that the backup unit is failing; B wants to know if it's already too late.

(1)  lo-re-mu  de  ta-ti-mi
     The backup unit is decaying.

(2)  ti-fe  ki  ta-ti-mi
     [It] approaches the time-limit now.

(3)  ta-ti-mi  fe-ki?
     Does it cross the limit now?

(4)  la-mi  si  [fe-ki  ta-ti-mi]
     I assess: it crosses the limit now.

New roots:

Root	Core meaning	Where it appears
`ti`	time / sequence	`ti-fe` = time-boundary = deadline; seen before in `ti-be`
`re`	repetition / cycle	`re-mu` = backup unit — the repeated artifact, the second instance
`fe`	boundary / limit	`ti-fe` = deadline; `fe-ki` = reach or cross a threshold

ti connects to Stage 0. You already saw ta-ti-be — the upcoming time. ti is the time root; ti-be = time-that-is-growing-toward = an approaching interval. Now: ti-fe = time-boundary = a deadline. Same root, different compound.

re-mu. The backup unit isn't the main unit — it's the repeat unit, the one that cycles in when the primary fails. re (repetition) tells you its role before you know anything else about it.

fe-ki. Boundary (fe) + motion (ki) = reaching or crossing a threshold. ta-ti-mi locks the motion to the present moment: it's crossing now.

Time as a compound. ti pairs with the grow/decay pair to mark temporal direction:

Compound	Roots	Meaning
`ti-be`	time + grow/approach	upcoming time, future
`ti-mi`	time + self/speaker	now, the present moment
`ti-de`	time + decay/elapsed	past time

You saw ta-ti-be in Stage 0 ("the upcoming time"). Here you see ta-ti-mi ("at the present moment"). The ta- prefix builds a time phrase: ta- + time-compound = when something happens. ta-ti-mi = "at this time now." ta-ti-de = "in the past."

Exercise — Epistemic level

In Cluster 3 (A = reporting engineer · B = director):

(3) ta-ti-mi fe-ki? — Does it cross the limit now? (B asking)
(4) la-mi si [fe-ki ta-ti-mi] — I assess: it crosses the limit now. (A answering)

What is sentence (4) doing differently from (3)?

Explanation

Sentence (3), ta-ti-mi fe-ki?, is a direct yes/no question: does it cross the limit now? Speaker B is asking.

Sentence (4), la-mi si [fe-ki ta-ti-mi], is A's answer — but notice A doesn't assert it flatly. la-mi si [...] marks the epistemic level: signal, not certainty. A is saying: "My read is that it crosses now — I'm treating this as a strong hypothesis, not established fact."

The brackets [...] wrap the embedded proposition — the claim whose epistemic status is being marked. This construction, la-[speaker] [epistemic-root] [embedded-proposition], is one of the most productive in Tonesu. Next cluster unpacks it fully.

Cluster 4 — Signals, intentions, reference

These sentences come from C001, C003, and C004 — expressing what you know, what you intend, and pointing at things already established in the conversation.

(1)  la-mi  si  [fe-ki  ta-ti-mi]
     I assess [as hypothesis]: it crosses the limit now.

(2)  la-mi  si  [lo-mu  be  ta-ti-mi]
     I assess: the machine is still operating.

(3)  lo-ma-su  be  ta-ti-mi  pa-ze
     A new water facility is there now.

(4)  la-mi  wi  [ka-se  lo-ze]
     I intend to go see it.

New roots:

Root	Core meaning	Where it appears
`si`	signal / representation	encoded information; hypothesis-level confidence marker
`wi`	will / intention	purpose, goal, intention
`ze`	third person	he / she / it / that — stands in for a prior referent

si as you've already seen it. In Stage 0, you parsed to-si: knowledge (to) + signal (si) = inquiry. Now si appears as a standalone epistemic marker. la-mi si [proposition] = "I, at signal level, assess [proposition]." si tells your listener: I have evidence for this, but hold it as hypothesis.

The epistemic ladder. Three roots mark how confident you are in a claim:

Root	Level	Reading
`se`	raw perception	I'm detecting something
`si`	signal / hypothesis	I have a reading; not certainty
`to`	established knowledge	I'm confident; this is my model

When A says la-mi si [fe-ki ta-ti-mi] in C001, the si level is doing real work: A is not guessing and not certain — A has a strong inference.

wi and purpose clauses. la-mi wi [ka-se lo-ze] = "Agent:I intend [action:examine patient:it]." wi takes an embedded proposition as its content. The brackets mark that clause. This mirrors the si construction — same la-[speaker] [root] [embedded-clause] frame — but wi expresses intention rather than epistemic status.

ze. Like mi (I) and tu (you), ze is the third person: he, she, it, that. In (4), lo-ze = "patient:it" — pointing back to the water facility mentioned in (3). ze can refer to a person, an object, or a previously stated proposition.

Exercise — Construct a question about a device

The pattern is lo-mu ___ to-si? — topic, quality-dimension, query marker. Which root fills the blank to ask what quality / condition the device has?

Explanation

Following the C001 B1 pattern (topic + quality-dimension + query marker):

lo-mu vo to-si?

"The device — quality — [?]" = "What state is the device in?" / "How is the device?"

The floating to-si? applies to whatever precedes it and asks: "I am seeking information about this." The topic and the dimension you're asking about come first.

Roots introduced in this stage

Root	Core meaning	Stage 0 roots it pairs with
`ka`	intentional action	`ki` (motion), `de` + `be` (repair)
`se`	perception / sense	`to` (knowledge formed from it)
`ru`	unity / wholeness	`no-ru` (unstable), `no` prefix
`vo`	value / quality	`de` (damage), `to-si` (content question)
`no`	negation / absence	any root it precedes
`ti`	time / sequence	`be` (upcoming), `mi` (now), `de` (past), `fe` (deadline)
`re`	repetition / cycle	`mu` (backup artifact)
`fe`	boundary / limit	`ti` (deadline), `ki` (crossing)
`si`	signal / representation	`to` (in `to-si`); epistemic modal
`wi`	will / intention	embedded clauses with `ka`
`ze`	third person	`mi` (I), `tu` (you)

Two roots from compounds above — ne (relation/connection) and su (structure/order) — appear in ne-mu and si-su-mu in Cluster 1. They'll be treated as first-class vocabulary in Stage 2, where compounding is the topic.