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Phonology & Naming

Theme: Domains · 6 sentences.

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T-PHN-001 · Phonology & Naming

S108 la-ze lo-si-mu ka-se They perceived the encoded signal.

Notes

  • si-mu = encoded artifact = a record / document / transmitted data packet. Established compound (first used S068 area, discussed S070 notes). si = encoded representation; mu = artifact.
  • ka-se = intentional perception / detection. ka (intentional action) + se (perception root). The pilot is actively reading/receiving the signal.
  • Phonetic adjacency: lo-si-mu (patient) precedes ka-se (predicate). The sequence si ... se spans an argument boundary with a full NP between them. At normal speech rate: lo-si-mu ka-se — the vowels /i/ and /e/ are separated by a morpheme boundary (mu + ka) and are in different prosodic feet. No confusion risk in this position.
  • The distinction si (the signal as an encoded thing) vs se (the act of perceiving it) is semantically clear and is confirmed by the sentence's coherence: perceiving an encoded artifact is the canonical use of ka-se with a si-compound patient.

T-PHN-002 · Phonology & Naming

S109 lo-fe-so lo-fe-si no-ru The warning sound and the warning signal are not the same thing.

Notes

  • fe-so = boundary-sound = warning sound / alarm tone. The acoustic sensory event.
  • fe-si = boundary-signal = warning signal / encoded alert. The encoded representation (which may be visual, data-based, or otherwise non-acoustic).
  • no-ru = not-unified / not-the-same. Negated ru (unity/coherence) functions as a predicate of non-identity: "these two are not one thing."
  • Phonetic adjacency: lo-fe-so lo-fe-si — the crucial minimal pair appears in adjacent argument positions. The only difference: /so/ vs /si/. In the full sequence: fe-so ... fe-si, the contrast is the final vowel of the compound. At normal speech rate this is a genuine discrimination challenge. The prosodic boundary between the two NPs provides a pause point, but the vowel distinction /o/ vs /i/ is the sole differentiator.
  • Verdict for this position: MARGINAL. /o/ and /i/ are maximally distinct vowels (low-back vs. high-front) so the phonetic distance is large, but the near-identical compound frame fe-so / fe-si means a listener mishearing the final vowel gets a lexically valid but semantically wrong word. This is the cluster's sharpest exposure.

T-PHN-003 · Phonology & Naming

S110 la-mi lo-so ka-se wi [lo-si-mu ka-be] I detected the sound, intending to produce a record of it.

Notes

  • lo-so = patient:sound. Bare so as a noun-equivalent in patient position: the sound (acoustic event) is what is being perceived.
  • ka-se = action:perceive / detect.
  • wi [lo-si-mu ka-be] = purpose clause: "with the intention of producing a signal- artifact." si-mu = document/record; ka-be = generate / produce.
  • Three-root sequence: so ... se ... si across the full sentence. Each root is separated by at least one particle or compound boundary. The sequencing at speech rate: lo-SO ka-SE ... lo-si-MU. Crucially the three roots are never adjacent — they appear in different prosodic feet with particles and compound-modifiers between them.
  • Verdict for this position: CLEAN. When separated by particle boundaries, the three roots are unambiguous. The vowels /o/, /e/, /i/ are all near-maximally distinct, and the intervening material provides perceptual reset time.

T-PHN-004 · Phonology & Naming

S111 lo-se-su lo-si-su no-ne The sensor output and the archived data are not in agreement.

Notes

  • se-su = perception-structure = sensor / detection system. The physical arrangement that performs detection.
  • si-su = encoded-structure = archive / database / document collection. Established compound (first attested S056).
  • no-ne = not-related = mismatched / in disagreement. Negated ne (relation/connection) as a predicate: "these two do not relate / are not in correspondence."
  • Phonetic adjacency: lo-se-su lo-si-su — same compound frame, initial vowel is the only differentiator: /se-su/ vs /si-su/. This is tighter than S109 because the contrastive vowel is in the first (stressed) syllable. At normal speech rate, the sequence is se-su ... si-su within adjacent NPs. Stress falls on the first syllable of each compound, so the distinguishing vowels /e/ and /i/ are both stressed.
  • Verdict for this position: BORDERLINE. Stressed /e/ vs stressed /i/ is phonetically distinct (/e/ is mid-front, /i/ is high-front, ~2 semitones apart in F1), but the near-identical compound frame means the listener must rely on that single vowel height difference. In clear speech: unambiguous. In fast speech or noise: moderate risk. The context (sensor output vs. archived data) usually disambiguates semantically, which is a mitigating factor.

T-PHN-005 · Phonology & Naming

S112 A: lo-mu lo-fe ka-se patient:machine patient:boundary action:perceive/detect The machine detected the limit. B: lo-mu lo-fe ka-si-ki patient:machine patient:boundary action:signal-encode(inchoative) The machine began encoding the limit as a signal. (A) The machine detected the limit. (B) The machine began encoding the limit as a signal.

Notes

  • ka-se = detect / sense. ka-si-ki = begin encoding / start signal-representation. The two predicates are structurally and semantically distinguishable — one is a simplex compound, the other is a three-morpheme compound — but both start with ka-s.
  • Verdict: The full compounds ka-se vs ka-si-ki are unambiguous at any speech rate: ka-se (2 syllables) vs ka-si-ki (3 syllables). Length alone prevents confusion. The pure se / si distinction in compound-initial position (i.e. bare roots in isolation) would be riskier.

T-PHN-006 · Phonology & Naming

S113 A: lo-so-su de patient:sound-archive decay/damage The sound archive is degraded. B: lo-si-su de patient:signal-archive decay/damage The signal archive is degraded. (A) The sound archive is degraded. (B) The signal archive is degraded.

Notes

  • so-su = sound-structure = acoustic archive / audio recording collection.
  • si-su = signal-structure = signal archive / encoded document collection. Established compound (S056).
  • This is the definitive minimal pair for so/si. The only phonetic difference in the sentence is the initial vowel of the first compound: /so-su/ vs /si-su/. In isolation these are maximally distinct (/o/ low-back vs /i/ high-front). But the compound frames are otherwise identical, and the sentence structure lo-X-su de provides no other disambiguation cue.
  • Verdict for this position: CONTEXT-DEPENDENT. A sound archive and a signal archive are semantically adjacent concepts; semantic disambiguation is weaker here than for se/si pairs (where perception and encoding are more functionally distinct). In a domain where both types of archives are likely (e.g. a ship's data room), the single- vowel distinction carries full disambiguation weight with no semantic backup.

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