How many words does Toki Pona have?
toki pona is known for its low amount of vocabulary. But how many words there are in toki pona depends on the user and / or how generous one is with expanded or controversial cases, and it can even depend on when this question is asked or about.
By the books
Considering only the 2 books from Sonja Lang, lipu pu and lipu ku, the count ranges from 120 to 190, depending on how generous you are with the controversial cases. 120 or 123 are the commonly used numbers for pu, 137 for ku suli, and anything in the range from 178 to 187 for ku lili.
- 120 pu words, unless you include the synonyms (see below).
- 1 alternate pronunciation/spelling: ali. Generally agreed not to be a word in its own right.
- 3 words which were considered synonyms in pu: kin, namako, oko. Now considered part of ku suli.
- 14 other ku suli words, excluding the three above: kijetesantakalu, kipisi, leko, misikeke, monsuta, epiku, jasima, kokosila, lanpan, meso, n, soko, tonsi, ku.
- 41 uncontroversially ku lili words: apeja, kan, kapesi, majuna, pake, pata, po, powe, tuli, ete, ewe, isipin, kamalawala, ke, kese, kiki, kulijo, kuntu, likujo, linluwi, loka, misa, mulapisu, neja, oke, peto, polinpin, pomotolo, samu, san, soto, taki, te, teje, to, umesu, unu, usawi, wa, waleja, wasoweli.
- 4 words which break phonotactics or phonology: sutopatikuna, yupekosi, Pingo, kalamARR, listed by how controversial their rule breaking is, and consequently by how many speakers accept them as ku lili.
- 5 reserved words: ju, lu, nu, su, u. It is unclear whether they count as ku lili.
- 2 spelling mistakes made by jan Sonja while entering data into the book: toma (misspelling of tomo), suke (misspelling of sike). Generally agreed not to be words in their own right.
Additionally, the German and Esperanto translation of lipu pu include a list of the nimi ku suli, and the also included notes on lipu pu from the second book make a note of tonsi (for the part that describes meli and mije), only mentions and doesn't explain kijetesantakalu (when talking about the counting system), and points to the synonyms being used distinctively. Some users say they count tonsi as an honorary pu word.
pre-pu
Before the first official book, the count of words fluctuated a bit. For a long while, it stayed stable at 118 words.
2001
Early on, toki pona went through a lot of changes. Much of this era is lost. When speaking to outsiders about the language, Sonja early on said that toki pona had 150 words, and less than 200. It's not unlikely that 150 words was higher than the count of the actual word list as it was first published.
2002
On 2002-05-15 a poll vote of 6 to 2 decides in favour of Sonja's proposal for a new word kiwen to mean "rock, stone, metal, material". On 2002-05-31 iki changes to ona.
| described as "98% complete" | |
| Word count | 120 |
| non-pu words | iki (listed as "archaic" and not counted), kan, kin, leko, oko |
| pu words not in list | alasa, ali (not counted), esun, pan, pu |
| etymology list, reflects an older usage | |
| Word count | 121 |
| non-pu words | iki, kan, kin, leko, oko |
| pu words not in list | alasa, ali (not counted), esun, ona, pan, pu |
On 2002-11-01 ali becomes an alternative to ale, en is used between head nouns instead of modifiers, kan no longer exists, and kin is used for emphasis of any word
2003
| described as "98% complete" | |
| Word count | 119 |
| non-pu words | iki (listed as "archaic" and not counted), kan, kin, leko, oko, pata |
| pu words not in list | alasa, anu, esun, pan, pu |
2007
| Word count | 118 |
| non-pu words | kin, oko |
| pu words not in list | alasa, esun, pan, pu |
2009
On 2009-04-01 the word kijetesantakalu got introduced as an April Fool's joke.
Beyond the books
Many many many other words have been created, most of which never have been used beyond its creation. It is impossible to find them all.