Phonotactics: Difference between revisions

Toki Pona's '''{{wp|phonotactics}}''', that is the rules for putting sounds together, are well defined. Unlike its [[phonology]], knowing the phonotactics is not needed to speak the language orally, since the main set of words already adheres to them. It is most useful for creating [[name]]s and {{tp|[[nimi sin]]}}. An asterisk marks a sequence that is not allowed phonotactically.

In the lesson "Proper Names", {{pu}} lists the phonotactic rules of Toki Pona in the following order:

* '''No adjacent nasals.''' {{Indent|In sequences like {{tp|*anna}} and {{tp|*anma}}, the first syllable's coda {{tp|-n}} would {{wp|Assimilation (phonology)|assimilate}} to the second syllable's onset nasal: respectively {{tp|ana}} and {{tp|ama}}.}}

===Coda nasal===

The '''coda nasal''' or '''moraic nasal''' is an {{w|archiphoneme}}, that is an underspecificied {{wp|phoneme}}, written as {{IPA|/N/}} and realized as {{IPA|[m ~ n ~ ɲ ~ ŋ]}} depending on context. It undergoes {{w|Assimilation (phonology)|assimilation}}, that is it gets more similar to the following consonant, in words such as {{tp|anpa}}, which may be pronounced as {{IPA|[ˈampa]}}, and {{tp|enko}} (an obscure {{tp|nimi sin}}), which may be pronounced as {{IPA|[ˈeŋko]}}.

===Palatalization===

The syllable {{tp|*ti}} is disallowed because of {{wp|Palatalization (sound change)|palatalization}}, a common sound change that has occurred in many languages. An English example is the suffix "-tion", as in "motion". The previous phonemes {{IPA|/ti/}} have been palatalized to {{IPA|/ʃ/}}, so it sounds like "-sion" as in "mission". For the same reason, {{tp|*ti}} is changed to {{tp|si}}.

As the phoneme {{IPA|/k/}} can also be palatalized, many languages merge {{IPA|[ki ti si]}}. There are no minimal pairs between {{tp|ki}} and {{tp|si}} in the 120 {{tp|[[nimi pu]]}} and among all [[ijo Linku#Word usage surveys|commonly used words]], except for the word {{tp|kin}} can be mistaken for {{tp|sin}}.

'''{{tp|wuwojiti}}''' is a {{w|mnemonic}} word for the disallowed syllables in [[Toki Pona]] phonotactics: {{tp|*wu}}, {{tp|*wo}}, {{tp|*ji}}, {{tp|*ti}}, and their equivalents with coda nasal. Some uncommon {{tp|nimi sin}} flout this rule, often as a joke.

! Disallowed syllable

! colspan="2" | Alternatives

! {{tp|*wu(n)}}

| {{tp|u(n)}}<ref group="lower-alpha" name="word-initially">Chiefly word-initially.</ref>

| rowspan="2" | {{tp|wa(n)}}

! {{tp|*wo(n)}}

| {{tp|o(n)}}<ref group="lower-alpha" name="word-initially"/>

! {{tp|*ji(n)}}

| {{tp|i(n)}}<ref group="lower-alpha" name="word-initially"/>

| {{tp|je(n)}}

! {{tp|*ti(n)}}

| {{tp|si(n)}}

| {{tp|te(n)}}

The following chart shows all 92 syllables under Toki Pona phonotactics.

!rowspan="10" style="padding:0.4em 0.2em;text-orientation:sideways;transform:rotate(0.5turn);width:1.6em;writing-mode:vertical-rl;"| Null coda

!rowspan="10" style="padding:0.4em 0.2em;text-orientation:sideways;transform:rotate(0.5turn);width:1.6em;writing-mode:vertical-rl;"| Coda nasal

The number of phonotactically allowed words, up to <var>n</var> syllables, is given by the following equation: {{Indent|<math>92\cdot\sum_{\sigma=1}^{n}72^{\left(\sigma-1\right)}</math>}}

|style="text-align:start;"|{{tp|a&ndash;win}}