Preverb marking

ta is an experimental particle for toki pona that separates the preverbs of a sentence from the main predicate. This makes preverbs a grammatical position rather than a lexical class, allowing for the usage of all content words as descriptors for a main state or process. Similarly to e, ta varies in its meaning depending on the type of word included in the preverb phrase.

For transitive words (such as alasa, where the object is the patient of the predicate), ta affects the main predicate by treating a preverb as a layer over the main predicate:

mi utala ta toki e ni. → mi utala e ni: mi toki e ni. → I resist saying that.

For intransitive words (such as ken, where the object is made to be or do the predicate), the preverb affects the main predicate by commenting on the main predicate and object:

jan mute li nasin ta tawa tomo pali. → ni li nasin: jan mute li tawa tomo pali. → Many people have a habit/duty of going to work.

Similarly to traditional preverbs, the order of words in a ta phrase can greatly impact the meaning of the final message by changing the ordering of levels. Additionally, ala retains its usage of negating preverbs in a ta phrase.

Only one ta is necessary in a sentence, and repeating it is redundant. Similarly to mi and sina for li, the "canonical" lexical class of preverbs (alasa, awen, ken, kama, lukin/oko, sona, and wile) do not need ta to be interpreted as preverbs.