Book words: Difference between revisions

Even in Toki Pona, theThe book words are predominantly used in {{wikt|meta}} discussions about the language. Speakers also use these words in communications in other languages, effectively as short replacements for the book titles, even outside of [[Toki Ponglish]]. According to a study by {{tok|[[jan Kekan San]]}}, the words {{tp|pu}} and {{tp|ku}} are used in non-Toki Pona sentences over two thirds of the time.<ref>{{cite Discord|url=//discord.com/channels/301377942062366741/1250592437085274152/1250592437085274152|thread=Word frequency in Toki Pona|channel={{tok|toki-suli}}|server={{tp|ma pona pi toki pona}}|author={{tok|[[jan Kekan San]]}}|username=gregdan3|access-date=2024-06-14|quote=here's where it gets interesting: 69.4% of {{tp|pu}}'s uses are in non-tp sentences. 68.7% of {{tok|ku}}'s uses are in non-tp sentences. this is true even against their 80th and 126th place frequency rankings, 14k uses and 6k uses respectively in tp sentences. put another way, these words are used significantly more often in english than in toki pona! roughly speaking, for every 10 uses of these words, you'd see ~3 in toki pona and ~7 in anything besides toki pona.}}</ref>

In {{tp|[[sitelen sitelen]]}}, the book words do not have their own [[word glyph]]s and are written as [[syllable glyph]]s instead, somewhat like [[name]]s. Similarly, in {{tp|[[luka pona]]}}, they are fingerspelled.

For example, ''Toki Pona Dictionary'' attests uses of {{tp|pu}} for "official(ly)" and "constitution", and {{tp|pu ala}} for "slang", although these are all listed as below majority usage.<ref>{{cite ku|336}}</ref> An April 2024 proposal that began in {{tp|[[ma pona pi toki pona]]}}<ref>{{cite Discord|url=//discord.com/channels/301377942062366741/375591429608570881/1225665178411204681|channel={{tok|sona-musi}}|server={{tp|ma pona pi toki pona}}|author={{tok|ijo Amali}}|username=c_rr_t|access-date=2024-04-06|quote=}}<blockquote>i've been thinking about how specific the meanings of "{{tok|pu}}", "{{tok|ku}}", and "{{tok|su}}" are, and how weird it is that they refer to ''these three specific books'' since toki pona is meant to be a very general language<br />what if we were to have "{{tok|pu}}" mean "to interact with any toki pona course",<br />"{{tok|ku}}" mean "to interact with any toki pona dictionary"<br />and "{{tok|su}}" mean "to interact with a story, illustrarion [''{{w|sic}}''], piece of art, etc. written in toki pona"</blockquote></ref> coins similar meanings such as "accepted" and "{{w|[[descriptivist}}]]" for {{tp|ku}}, and "fictional" and "{{wikt|applied}}" for {{tp|su}}.<ref name="reasonable redefinition">{{cite web|url=//lukapona.blogspot.com/2024/04/su-ku-reasonable-redefinition-pu.html|title={{tok|pu}}, {{tok|ku}} & {{tok|su}} - A Reasonable Redefinition|author={{tok|jan Olipija}}|username=|date=|website={{tok|luka pona}}|publisher=Blogspot|access-date=2024-04-06|quote=}}</ref>