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Row 2: Licensed

L4

Tom's hook

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You are following the Slow Read, which begins with the Prologue on Saturday 10 October and reads a chapter a week. Read ahead? Choose the last chapter you have finished. The site hides anything from a chapter you have not reached; this is proof of reading, never of buying, and a library copy counts.

The commonest sign in the script is the hook with the dot below it: ka. It means keep, and it also means is.

ka
ka

This part draws on Ch 3. It shows when your spoiler level reaches it.

ka means keep, hold, stand. It is also the word for is: Som ka retu, the dream is the back door. On its own it is an answer, Ka: it stands, it is kept, yes.

This part draws on Ch 19. It shows when your spoiler level reaches it.

The ledger's three words

Every clause in Somka carries one of three ledger words: ka (kept, done), kha (struck, not) and na (pending, not yet). Before a verb, ka means it has been done, na means it will be, and kha means it is not.

kakhana
ka, kha, na: kept, struck, pending.

Ne ka ri

I done cross

I have crossed.

Ne na ri

I pending cross

I will cross.

Ne kha ri

I not cross

I don't cross.

A verb with no ledger word in front of it is simply now, or always: Ne ri, I cross. There is no other tense. Time is counted in nights.

Try it

  1. What does Ka mean on its own?
  2. Read this sentence.
  3. Write the word for pending, not yet.
    Strokes
    Marks

    What you have written

    Nothing yet.

  4. What does Ne kha ri mean?
  5. What does this sign say?
  6. What does this sign say?