Phonotactics

Toki Pona's phonotactics, or rules for putting sounds together, are well defined. Unlike its phonology, knowing the phonotactics is not needed to speak the language orally. It is most useful for creating names and nimisin.

An *asterisk marks a sequence that is not allowed phonotactically.

Rules

In its "Proper Names" lesson, pu lists the phonotactic rules in the following order.

1. (C)V(n) syllable structure: "Each syllable consists of a consonant plus a vowel, plus an optional n."
2. Null onset is word-initial only: "The first syllable of a word does not need to begin with a consonant."

   As a corollary, every syllable after the first does need to begin with a consonant, thus is CV(n). There are no adjacent vowels or diphthongs. The sequence ana is syllabified as a‧na (2 morae), not an‧a (3 morae).

3. No *ti: "The syllables [*]ti and [*]tin become si and sin."

   This rule concerns palatalization.

4. No *wo or *wu: "The consonant w cannot appear before o or u."
5. No *ji: "The consonant j cannot appear before i."

   These two rules cover the same thing. *wo, *wu, and *ji are disallowed because the semivowel in the onset, w or j, can be hard to distinguish from the vowel. The syllables would sound too close to o, u, and i, respectively.

At least one other rule is often noted:

• No adjacent nasals.

  In sequences like *anna and *anma, the first syllable's coda -n would assimilate to the second syllable's onset nasal: respectively ana and ama.

Palatalization

*ti is disallowed because of palatalization, a common sound shift that has occurred in many languages. An English example is the suffix "-tion", as in "motion". The /ti/ has been palatalized to /ʃ/, so it sounds like "-sion" as in "mission". For the same reason, *ti is changed to si.

Because /k/ can also be palatalized, many languages merge [ki ti si]. There are no ki–si minimal pairs in the 120 nimi pu, and among all commonly used words, only kin can be mistaken for sin.

wuwojiti

Disallowed syllable	Alternatives
*wu(n)	u(n) ^	wa(n)
*wo(n)	o(n) ^
*ji(n)	i(n) ^	je(n)
*ti(n)	si(n)	te(n)

^ Word-initially

wuwojiti is a mnemonic for the disallowed syllables in Toki Pona phonotactics: *wu, *wo, *ji, *ti, and their equivalents with coda -n. Some less common nimisin flout this rule, often as a joke.

Syllables

This is a chart of every syllable under Toki Pona phonotactics.

∅	Null coda	a	e	i	o	u	Coda -n	an	en	in	on	un
j		ja	je	–	jo	ju		jan	jen	–	jon	jun
k		ka	ke	ki	ko	ku		kan	ken	kin	kon	kun
l		la	le	li	lo	lu		lan	len	lin	lon	lun
m		ma	me	mi	mo	mu		man	men	min	mon	mun
n		na	ne	ni	no	nu		nan	nen	nin	non	nun
p		pa	pe	pi	po	pu		pan	pen	pin	pon	pun
s		sa	se	si	so	su		san	sen	sin	son	sun
t		ta	te	–	to	tu		tan	ten	–	ton	tun
w		wa	we	wi	–			wan	wen	win	–