Toki Pona: Difference between revisions

'''Toki Pona''' is a philosophical artistic {{wp|constructed language}} created by [[Sonja Lang]] in 2001. It is designed for talking about things by explaining them in simple terms.<ref>{{cite YouTube|id=n3p4-GFXrkM|title={{tok|o ku}}: introducing the Toki Pona Dictionary|author={{tok|[[jan Misali]]}}|channel={{tok|jan Misali}}|handle=HBMmaster|date=2021-07-19|access-date=2023-12-03|quote=}}</ref>

 

 

== Name ==

 

Toki Pona (titlecased) is the language's proper name in other languages such as English, French, and German. It is usually translated as "[[Toki Pona: The Language of Good|the language of good]]" (Esperanto: {{lang|eo|''la lingvo de bono''}}, French: {{lang|fr|''la langue du bien''}}, German: {{lang|de|''die Sprache des Guten''}}). In Esperanto, the name is altered to '''{{lang|eo|Tokipono}}'''.

== Language rules ==

# '''[[Phonology]]''': Letters are pronounced as in the {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}}. Stress is on the start of each word. {{Indent|Most of the consonants are intuitive to English speakers. {{tp|j}} is an {{tp|i}} with a swash tail, pronounced like English Y as in "fjord" and "hallelujah". Vowels are pronounced as in languages like Spanish, Japanese, and Esperanto.}} {{Indent|There are well-defined [[phonotactics]], but that only matters for transliterating [[name]]s.}}<hr style="margin:0.5em 0;" />

# '''[[Names|Proper names]]''' are modifiers and require a descriptive [[Headnouns|head]]. {{Indent|[[Sonja Lang]] becomes {{tp|jan Sonja}}, "the person Sonja". Canada becomes {{tp|ma Kanata}}, "the place Canada".}}

# '''Phrasal modifiers''' start with {{tp|[[pi]]}}, which groups the rest of the phrase. {{Indent|{{tp|tomo telo nasa}} means "strange water room", perhaps "weird washroom"; {{tp|tomo}} is modified by {{tp|telo}} and {{tp|nasa}}. {{tp|tomo pi telo nasa}} means "strange-water room", perhaps "pub", because alcohol is a liquid that makes people strange; {{tp|tomo}} is modified by {{tp|telo nasa}}, wherein {{tp|telo}} is modified by {{tp|nasa}}.}} {{Indent|{{tp|pi}} is a can of worms. Many speakers [[pin't|avoid it]].}}