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== Prepositions as content words ==
One part of the differing interpretations is about what counts as being transitive: the verb or the predicate. Verbs are phrases consisting of content words, whereas predicates can be broader and include prepositions.
(Sidenote: The term "predicate" gets described differently across different sources. While according to some descriptions, "predicate" could mean anything after the subject, or anything after "li", or anything after a preverb - all of which would include "e" phrases - this article uses it to refer to any phrase within the main clause in a verb position. For toki pona, this means any phrase immediately following "li" - or "mi" or "sina" or "o" - ignoring preverbs, and excludes any subsequent part of the sentence beginning with "e" or a prepositional phrase. A second "li" phrase would be a second, separate predicate.)
===Preposition words as content words===
Any word that is used as a preposition may also be used as a content word. While prepositions have a more grammatical function, they carry with them semantic information, which informs what the word could mean as a non-preposition. [[pu]] is explicit only about one of the prepositions, noting ''tawa'' as an adjective meaning "moving", and uses ''lon'' in examples to mean "to be present". [[ku]] also notes: "Many people also use prepositions as nouns."
As a consequence, all preposition words as content words might not be completely universal.
Derived meanings from prepositions mostly seem to be widely understood, with only some exceptions for edge cases such as the topic of this article.
The meaning for kepeken as a transitive verb breaks down into:
::I apply usage to the tool so the tool is a usage.
::I turn the tool into a usage, so the tool is useful.
::I make the tool use, so the tool is using.
===Prepositional phrases as transitive predicates===
Since a transitive ''predicate'' is interpreted as making the predicate apply to the direct object of the sentence, and a prepositional phrase can head a predicate, it is possible to transitively apply a prepositional phrase to a direct object, like so:
:;
::The pirate put them in a cage can brought them to the boat.▼
This can be interpreted:▼
:jan lanpan li tawa tomo telo e ona la ona li tawa tomo telo,▼
which holds together. Ordinarily "tawa tomo telo" is interpreted as a prepositional phrase, and within this framework, it is perfectly reasonably applied to a direct object here and conforms to the observations on transitivity described above.
Generally, all prepositions can also act as content words. In the sentence,
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it is practically impossible to interpret the last word of the sentence as a preposition, rather than a [[modifier]] of the word ''sitelen''. The phrase ''mi lon e ma'' has a completely distinct flavor from ''mi lon ma''.<ref>jan Kekan San, "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU9PEZ9TARs mi lon e ma]."</ref> In the first, ''lon'' is a content word meaning "real, existing," and so the sentence means "I make the earth exist." The second sentence has ''lon'' as a preposition introducing ''ma'', so the sentence means, "I am in place." The presence of the particle [[e]] serves to distinguish them.
However, using prepositions as content words makes certain sentences ambiguous. A classic example, coined on 2002-05-28 by [[Nikita Ayzikovsy]] on the [[toki pona forums]] will suffice:
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This sort of sentence is necessarily ambiguous. Since ''tawa'' could be either a modifier or a preposition, and no feature of the language enables the speaker to distinguish the possibilities, both glosses above are equally plausible interpretations. The difference between them is usually described by saying that ''tawa'' is acting as a preposition in the former interpretation, and as a content word in the latter.
==== Conclusion ====
▲;mi kepeken e ilo. :I'm using tools.
▲:;"jan lanpan li poki e ona li tawa tomo telo e ona."<ref>[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wGSEiI3XlJ32YKeFRmp6U-HMKW96Ac_4/view mijomi telo], page 3.</ref>
▲::The pirate put them in a cage can brought them to the boat.
▲This can be interpreted:
▲:jan lanpan li tawa tomo telo e ona la ona li tawa tomo telo,
▲Ordinarily "tawa tomo telo" is interpreted as a prepositional phrase, and it is applied to a direct object here and conforms to the observations on transitivity described above.
▲== Conclusion ==
:;mi kepeken e ilo la ilo li kepeken.
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