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Jan Ke Tami (talk | contribs) (semi-lexicalisation rather than lexicalisation; I don't think we can say that toki pona is culturally neutral/universal) |
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==Philosophy==
The goal of Toki Pona is to break complicated concepts down into their important aspects, from the speaker's own perspective. This is dynamic. Different features will be important at different times, in different [[context]]s. And people have different perspectives. The lack of lexicalization is by design.
''[[ku]]'' confirms this with a "Warning Against Lexicalization!" in its "About the Dictionary" section:
<blockquote>
…the whole point of Toki Pona is to meditate about what things mean to you personally, paying attention to the unique context around them, and to construct your own phrases using the building blocks provided by Toki Pona. Don’t think of the translations listed in this dictionary as <em>the</em> answers…
</blockquote>
''[[pu]]'' presents a car as an example against lexicalization. To a passenger, a car might be ''tomo tawa'' ("moving room")<ref group="note">Ironically, ''tomo tawa'' [[Common lexicalizations|has become semi-lexicalized]] anyway.</ref>. To its driver, it might be ''ilo tawa'' ("going tool"). To a pedestrian that the car hit, it might be ''kiwen tawa'' ("moving hard thing"). Beyond these examples, a parked car might not be ''tawa'' at all, but ''awen'' ("staying"). You can refer to a car by any phrase as long as you've established the appropriate context.
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