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A semantic space is a domain of content words including broad definitions, which map onto a wide range of words in other languages.

Many existing dictionaries present a limited, discrete list of related translations within each Toki Pona word's semantic space, without giving a clearer sense of the size and shape of the underlying meaning. The semantic space explanation is meant to avoid misconceptions with these definition lists.^[1] lipamanka has created a dictionary that describes semantic spaces in full prose.^[2]

Semantic size is occasionally mentioned to refer to how broad or narrow a word's meaning is. For example, kijetesantakalu takes up less semantic space than soweli.

One element of most words' semantic spaces is the literal–figurative or concrete–abstract axis. The core of the semantic space will be a literal, concrete sense, with metaphorical, abstract extensions which may or may not be familiar to English speakers. This has also been expressed as the second quality in Atawans Guide on How To Make A nimi sin™: "every toki pona word is tied to a physical process in some way."

References

English Wikipedia has an article on
semantic space.

↑ lipamanka. "on the definitions of toki pona words". lipamanka.gay.
↑ lipamanka. "toki pona dictionary". lipamanka.gay.

[1] . "on the definitions of toki pona words". lipamanka.gay.

[2] . "toki pona dictionary". lipamanka.gay.

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 A '''semantic space''' is a domain of [[content word]]s including broad definitions, which map onto a wide range of words in other languages.
-Many existing [[dictionaries]] present a limited, discrete list of related translations within each Toki Pona word's semantic space, without giving a clearer sense of the size and shape of the underlying meaning. The semantic space explanation is meant to avoid misconceptions with these definition lists.<ref>{{tok|lipamanka}}. [//lipamanka.gay/essays/semantic-spaces on the definitions of toki pona words]. ''lipamanka.gay''.</ref> {{tok|lipamanka}} has created a dictionary that describes semantic spaces in full prose.<ref>{{tok|lipamanka}}. [//lipamanka.gay/essays/dictionary toki pona dictionary]. ''lipamanka.gay''.</ref>
+Many existing [[dictionaries]] present a limited, discrete list of related translations within each Toki Pona word's semantic space, without giving a clearer sense of the size and shape of the underlying meaning. The semantic space explanation is meant to avoid misconceptions with these definition lists.<ref>{{cite web|url=//lipamanka.gay/essays/semantic-spaces|title=on the definitions of toki pona words|author={{tok|lipamanka}}|username=|date=|website=lipamanka.gay|publisher=|access-date=|quote=}}</ref> {{tok|lipamanka}} has created a dictionary that describes semantic spaces in full prose.<ref>{{cite lipamanka}}</ref>
+''Semantic size'' is occasionally mentioned to refer to how broad or narrow a word's meaning is. For example, {{tp|[[kijetesantakalu]]}} takes up less semantic space than {{tp|[[soweli]]}}.
-One element of most words' semantic spaces is the literal&ndash;figurative axis. The core of the semantic space will be a literal sense, with metaphorical extensions which may or may not be familiar to English speakers.
+One element of most words' semantic spaces is the ''literal&ndash;figurative'' or [[Concrete vs. abstract meanings|''concrete&ndash;abstract'']] axis. The core of the semantic space will be a literal, concrete sense, with metaphorical, abstract extensions which may or may not be familiar to English speakers. This has also been expressed as the second quality in [[Atawans Guide on How To Make A nimi sin™|Atawans Guide on How To Make A {{tok|nimi sin}}™]]: "every toki pona word is tied to a physical process in some way."
 ==References==