Lexicalization: Difference between revisions

{{pu}} presents a car as an example against lexicalization. To a passenger, a car might be {{tp|tomo tawa}} ("moving room")<ref group="note">Ironically, {{tp|tomo tawa}} [[Common lexicalizations|has become semi-lexicalized]] anyway.</ref>. To its driver, it might be {{tp|ilo tawa}} ("going tool"). To a pedestrian that the car hit, it might be {{tp|kiwen tawa}} ("hard moving thing") or {{tp|kiwen utala}} ("hard hitting thing").<ref>Roc Morin (15 July 2015). [//theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/07/toki-pona-smallest-language/398363 "How to Say Everything in a Hundred-Word Language"]. ''The Atlantic''. "‘What is a car?’ Lang mused recently via phone from her home in Toronto. / ‘You might say that a car is a space that's used for movement,’ she proposed. ‘That would be {{tp|tomo tawa}}. If you’re struck by a car though, it might be a hard object that’s hitting me. That’s {{tp|kiwen utala}}.’"</refblockquote> Beyond these examples, a parked car might not be {{tp|tawa}} at all, but {{tp|awen}} ("staying, unmoving"). Any phrase can refer to a car as long as there is appropriate context.