View source for Source:Toki Pona: The Language of Good/Letters and Sounds

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"'''Letters and Sounds'''" is the first lesson of ''[[Toki Pona: The Language of Good]]'', by [[Sonja Lang]].

==Lesson 1: Letters and Sounds==
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[[Toki Pona]] uses only 14 [[letter]]s of the alphabet.

{{Indent|{{tp|a e i j k l m n o p s t u w}}}}

<h3 style="font-family:'Avenir Next',Avenir,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;">Vowels</h3>
There are five [[vowel]]s, similar to {{w|Spanish phonology#Vowels|those of Spanish}}, {{w|Japanese phonology#Vowels|Japanese}} or [[Esperanto]].

{|class="wikitable" style="background:transparent;text-align:center;width:4.5in;"
|-style="font-family:'Avenir Next',Avenir,sans-serif;"
!style="background:transparent;font-weight:normal;width:1.5in;"|how it’s written
!style="background:transparent;font-weight:normal;width:1.5in;"|how it sounds
!style="background:transparent;font-weight:normal;width:1.5in;"|[[International Phonetic Alphabet|phonetic symbol]]<br />(for linguists)
|-
|{{tp|a}}
|‘ah’ as in<br />the word<br />‘f'''a'''ther’ or ‘br'''a'''’
|{{IPA|<nowiki>[</nowiki>{{w|Open central unrounded vowel|ä}}<nowiki>]</nowiki>}}
|-
|{{tp|e}}
|‘eh’ as in<br />‘b'''e'''d’ or ‘h'''ea'''d’
|{{IPA|<nowiki>[</nowiki>{{w|Mid front unrounded vowel|e̞}}<nowiki>]</nowiki>}}
|-
|{{tp|i}}
|‘ee’ as in<br />‘d'''ee'''p’ or ‘mach'''i'''ne’
|{{IPA|<nowiki>[</nowiki>{{w|Close front unrounded vowel|i}}<nowiki>]</nowiki>}}
|-
|{{tp|o}}
|‘oh’ as in<br />‘p'''o'''ny’ or ‘g'''o'''’
|{{IPA|<nowiki>[</nowiki>{{w|Mid back rounded vowel|o̞}}<nowiki>]</nowiki>}}
|-
|{{tp|u}}
|‘oo’ as in<br />‘f'''oo'''d’ or ‘m'''oo'''se’
|{{IPA|<nowiki>[</nowiki>{{w|Close back rounded vowel|u}}<nowiki>]</nowiki>}}
|}

<h3 style="font-family:'Avenir Next',Avenir,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;">Consonants</h3>
Toki Pona has nine [[consonant]]s. The letters {{tp|p t k m n s l w}} sound exactly as in English. The Toki Pona letter {{tp|j}} sounds like an English ‘y’. For example, the word {{tp|[[jelo]]}} sounds like ‘yellow’.

Toki Pona is a forgiving language. Because it has so few sounds, your tongue enjoys more freedom. For example, if you say {{tp|dogi}} instead of {{tp|[[toki]]}}, your pronunciation would still be acceptable.

Stress falls on the first syllable of a word. Pronounce it a bit louder, longer or higher-pitched. For example, the word {{tp|toki}} is pronounced ‘<em style="font-style:normal;">TO</em>-kee’ and not ‘to-<em style="font-style:normal;">KEE</em>’.

Toki Pona words are written in lowercase, even at the beginning of a sentence.

<h3 style="font-family:'Avenir Next',Avenir,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;">Practise</h3>
Read these words aloud. They should sound like English words.

<div style="column-count:2;font-style:italic;max-width:4.5in;">
#{{tok|[[jelo]]}}
#{{tok|[[jaki]]}}
#{{tok|[[ken]]}}
#{{tok|[[mu]]!}}
#{{tok|[[mun]]}}
#{{tok|[[open]]}}
#{{tok|[[mani]]}}
#{{tok|[[wan]]}}
</div>

Answers are on page 63.<!--Not compatibly licensed-->
</div>

==See also==
*[[Phonology]]
[[Category:Source texts]]