Usage categories

A usage category is a criterion for word usage based on the annual surveys by Linku. These are a more granular, more frequently updated replacement for the book presence categories.

Table of categories

In the following tables, a bold line represents the cutoff for the categories that are selected by default. Numbers are rounded to the nearest percentage point. For words that were below these categories, Linku used the term non-notable; nimi.li used the term marginal, which has been adopted on sona pona to avoid the interpretation that these words are not notable for the wiki.

On 22 February 2024, waso Keli brought up the idea of simplifying Linku categories to aid their adoption. Teachers on the kama sona community discussed and reached a consensus, reducing the number of categories from six to four. This change was rolled out alongside the lipu Linku redesign on 30 March 2024.

2024 redesign Category Users Core [90%, 100%] Common [60%, 90%) Uncommon [30%, 60%) Obscure [5%, 30%) Sandbox [0%, 5%)

2023 survey results Category Users nSample size = 868 Core [90%, 100%] Widespread [70%, 90%) Common [50%, 70%) Uncommon [20%, 50%) Rare [10%, 20%) Obscure [2%, 10%)

2022 survey results Category Users nSample size = 345 Core [90%, 100%] Widespread [70%, 90%) Common [50%, 70%) Uncommon [20%, 50%) Rare [10%, 20%) Obscure [1%, 10%)

Survey results

• 2023 survey results (868 responses)
• 2022 survey results (345 responses)
  The 2022 survey changed the methodology. It asks "do you use this word". Previous years asked "do you consider this word real". Because of this, results from 2022 and after cannot be directly compared to 2021 and before.
• 2021 survey results (152 responses)
• 2020 survey results (86 responses)