Phonotactics: Difference between revisions

The syllable {{tp|*ti}} is disallowed because of '''{{wpw|Palatalization (sound change)|palatalization}}''', a common sound change that has occurred in many languages. An English example is the suffix "-tion", as in "motion". The previous phonemes {{IPA|/ti/}} have been palatalized to {{IPA|/{{w|Voiceless postalveolar fricative|ʃ}}/}}, so it sounds like "-sion" as in "mission". For the same reason, Toki Pona {{tp|*ti}} is changed to {{tp|si}}.

As the phoneme {{IPA|/k/}} can also be palatalized, many languages merge {{IPA|[ki ti si]}}. There are no minimal pairs between {{tp|ki}} and {{tp|si}} in the 120 {{tp|[[nimi pu]]}} and among all [[ijo Linku#Word usage surveys|commonly used words]], except for the word {{tp|kin}} which cancould be mistaken for {{tp|sin}}.