Reduplication
Reduplication is repeating a word exactly or almost exactly to form a new word or phrase. In English, it occurs in words like "bye-bye" and "zigzag", in contrastive focus reduplication, and with "schm-".
Reduplication has often been suggested for Toki Pona, generally as an intensifier (for example, suwi suwi for "really cute"). However, it is not widely used, with a, mute, and suli being used for emphasis instead. It is occasionally not clear whether a repeated modifier is being used as an intensifier or as simply an ordinary word.
len ona li pimeja pimejalen ona li pimeja pimeja.[1]
Their clothes were blackest black/black-on-black/very black (lit. 'black black')
Other times, simply interpreting the second word as an ordinary modifier is adequate to understand the sentence.
jan ilo mute mute li pali lon onajan ilo mute mute li pali lon ona![2]
Many many programmers worked on it!
A potential ambiguity of this feature would be the phrase lili lili. This is reported as being used by 1-10% of respondents in ku to mean "minimum."[3] Under current standard grammar, it means "a little small". If read as reduplicated, it would also mean "very small", becoming an auto-antonym.
Doubled words in standard usage[edit | edit source]
Because Toki Pona doesn't typically have reduplication, a head word can be modified with the same word again, both words using their usual meaning. For example, "mama mama" is usually used to mean "grandparent", and wouldn't be understood as "platonic ideal of caregiver".
| Phrase | Possible meaning |
|---|---|
| a a | haha |
| ala ala | not nothing |
| ale ale | 100+100=200 |
| anpa anpa | below the lower part |
| ante ante | another different one |
| kulupu kulupu | a group of people that's about groups of people, e.g. the people who run an event venue |
| lawa lawa | boss's boss |
| len len | hidden cloth |
| lili lili | a little bit small |
| lipu lipu | a book about books |
| luka luka | 5+5=10 |
| lupa lupa | a hole that's for holes, e.g. a keyhole |
| ma ma | land of dirt |
| mama mama | grandparent |
| moku moku | food that food eats, e.g. the stuffing in a turkey |
| monsi monsi | behind the back |
| mu mu | moo moo |
| mun mun | the moon of a planet |
| mute mute | very many, or 20+20=40 |
| nanpa nanpa | the index of a number |
| nena nena | a smaller bump on a larger bump, e.g. a pimple on a nose |
| open open | the beginning of an opening segment |
| pakala pakala | an unsuccessful attempt at breaking something |
| pali pali | working to enable work |
| pini pini | the end of an ending |
| poka poka | next to your hip |
| poki poki | a container's container, or a contained container |
| selo selo | the outer layer of an outer layer |
| sewi sewi | above the higher part, or a high-up god |
| sinpin sinpin | in front of the front |
| sona sona | knowledge about knowledge |
| soweli soweli | an animal's animal, e.g. a furry's pet, or a pet's furry |
| tan tan | the origin of some origin |
| tenpo tenpo | some time that's about time, e.g. a meeting about planning a schedule |
| toki toki | talking about communication |
| tu tu | 2+2=4 |
| uta uta | a kiss on the mouth |
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ jan Kepe. (5 May 2023). "Nasi". utala.pona.la. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
- ↑ jan Kepe. (15 July 2023). "Nasi". http://utala.pona.la/toki-en-lipu/lipu-suli/nasi.html. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
- ↑ Lang, Sonja. (18 July 2021). Toki Pona Dictionary. Illustrated by Vacon Sartirani. Tawhid. ISBN 978-0978292362. pp. 123, 266.