  It is argued that antiparticles may be interpreted in macroscopic terms
without explicitly using the concept of time and its reversal. The appropriate
framework is that of nonrelativistic phase space. It is recalled that a quantum
version of this approach leads also, alongside the appearance of antiparticles,
to the emergence of `internal' quantum numbers identifiable with weak isospin,
weak hypercharge and colour, and to the derivation of the Gell-Mann-Nishijima
relation, while simultaneously offering a preonless interpretation of the
Harari-Shupe rishon model. Furthermore, it is shown that - under the assumption
of the additivity of canonical momenta - the approach entails the emergence of
string-like structures resembling mesons and baryons, thus providing a
different starting point for the discussion of quark unobservability.
