Radicals
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In sitelen pona, a radical is a recurring graphical component across multiple glyphs.
The radical-based analysis was invented[where? by whom?] after the initial set of glyphs was published in Toki Pona: The Language of Good. Some of these elements were clearly intended, such as the emitters initially representing pana-like concepts, the triangle shape representing colors, and the incorporation of luka (the hand radical) representing manual actions. Other proposed radicals may be coincidental or questionably meaningful, such as acknowledgments of shared glyph "etymologies". For example, markers of non-declarative sentences have been analyzed as having a punctuation stem radical, but perhaps it is more direct to say that these glyphs are each based on Latin punctuation.
The term is taken from radicals of Chinese characters, which dictionaries use to sort words. This comparison has been disputed. While there have been attempts to group sitelen pona glyphs by common features, there is no standard collation, and glyphs are most often sorted alphabetically by the words' sitelen Lasina spellings. Radicals are more often used for shape-based input methods, comparable to Cangjie. In addition, not every sitelen pona glyph is considered to contain a radical, and some have multiple that are considered with equal or unclear priority.
History[edit | edit source]
In 2020, radicals were used as the basis of the Wakalito input method.
Table of radicals[edit | edit source]
| Description | Shape | Examples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pu glyphs | Other | ||
| Arrow | ni | ni nasin tan | |
| Arrowhead | li | li e lili suli | |
| Box (closed) | lipu | lipu sitelen sona pakala pu len | ku ju lu nu su u |
| Box (open) | poki | poki anpa insa monsi open poka sinpin | sewi2 |
| Circle (thing) | ijo | ijo kulupu toki pali | kokosila1 |
| Circle (head) | jan jo lape lawa mama mani meli mijemoli mu wawa | lanpan1 | |
| Cross | ala | ala en ma moli nanpa pimeja utala | kalamARR kapesi kapesi2 |
| Dot (location) | | anpa insa lon monsi poka sinpin | meso2 sewi2 kipisi lanpan |
| Dot (disambiguator) | seli uta | ||
| Dot (o-mouth) | mu suwi | olala | |
| Dots (eyes) | akesi lukin pipi soweli waso | kala2 kijetesantakalu oko misa misa2 misa3 misa4 misa5 misa6 wasoweli jonke kikolo lokon matula opasan owe pipo poni silapa sisi sipije snoweli sowoli sutopatikuna waken | |
| Emitters | 🗧
|
kalamapanaselisinsonatoki | kokosila namako1 mu2 olin2 isipin kulijo kuntu linluwi2 usawi jonke omekapo peta tona yutu |
| Hammer | ilo | ilo kepeken | |
| Hand (flat) | luka | luka kepeken moku pali pana | |
| Hand (pointing) | sina | mi sina ona | |
| Heart | pilin | pilin olin | wile2 melome mijomi |
| Mouth (closed) | pona | ponaike | epiku2 |
| Mouth (open) | uta2 | kalama moku uta | uta2 kuntu |
| Legs | tawa | kama tawa awen | |
| Punctuation stem | ! | a o seme | kin n wa je |
| Tally mark | | | wan tu mute nanpa | |
| Triangle (color) | △ | jelo kule laso loje pimeja walo | unu nalanja kapesi kapesi2 peta tona |
| Wavy line | linja | linja kon telo | jasima linluwi linluwi2 |
| Features | Words · Combined glyphs · Extended glyphs · Radicals · nasin sitelen kalama (pi linja lili) |
|---|---|
| Usage | History · Literature · Fonts (Guidelines) · UCSUR · ASCII · Wakalito |