User:ItMarki/Chemical nomenclature in Toki Pona
Preface
This is an attempt to establish a system of inorganic and organic chemical nomenclature in Toki Pona. It is written to test how good Toki Pona is at naming scientific (specifically chemical) concepts using as few neologisms as possible.
To aid reading, Toki Pona text or text meant to be written in Toki Pona will be marked in a template, such as toki pona li lon lipu ni. The reader may set a custom CSS syntax for the language code if italics text is insufficient.
Standard examples are shown in green, while nonstandard examples are shown in red and acceptable but not favored examples are shown in gray. All occurences of nimisins (Toki Pona neologisms, see nimisins) used in this document are shown in blue and are linked to their definitions in nimisins.
The names of all chemical elements and compounds will follow the IUPAC standard unless otherwise stated. The reader is reminded that this nomenclature set out in this page is not the only option, and that lexicalization is discouraged. However, should any consistency errors appear in this document, please inform me.
Basic nomenclature
Elements
An element (ijo nasin pi wan Atomo) is a substance in which all of its atoms have the same number of protons.
The Toki Pona names of all 118 known elements are shown in the table below (Z = atomic number).
Z | Symbol | Toki Pona name |
---|---|---|
1 | H | Itoken |
2 | He | Elijun |
3 | Li | Lisijun |
4 | Be | Pelilijun |
5 | B | Polon |
6 | C | Kapon |
7 | N | Nitoken |
8 | O | Osiken |
9 | F | Polin |
10 | Ne | Nejon |
11 | Na | Nasijun (from Latin natrium) |
12 | Mg | Manesijun |
13 | Al | Aluminijun |
14 | Si | Silikon |
15 | P | Popolu |
16 | S | Supu |
17 | Cl | Kolin |
18 | Ar | Akon |
19 | K | Kalijun (from Latin kalium) |
20 | Ca | Kakijun |
21 | Sc | Kansijun |
22 | Ti | Sitanijun |
23 | V | Wanasijun |
24 | Cr | Komijun |
25 | Mn | Mankane |
26 | Fe | Pelun (from Latin ferrum) |
27 | Co | Kopa |
28 | Ni | Nike |
29 | Cu | Kupun (from Latin cuprum) |
30 | Zn | Sinku[1] |
31 | Ga | Kalun[2] |
32 | Ge | Kemanijun |
33 | As | Aseni |
34 | Se | Selenijun |
35 | Br | Pomin |
36 | Kr | Kiton |
37 | Rb | Lupisijun |
38 | Sr | Tonsijun |
39 | Y | Isijun |
40 | Zr | Sikonijun |
41 | Nb | Nijopijun |
42 | Mo | Molitenun |
43 | Tc | Tenesijun |
44 | Ru | Lutenijun |
45 | Rh | Losijun |
46 | Pd | Palasijun |
47 | Ag | Akentun (from Latin argentum) |
48 | Cd | Kamijun |
49 | In | Insijun |
50 | Sn | Tanun (from Latin stannum) |
51 | Sb | Sipijun (from Latin stibium) |
52 | Te | Telulijun |
53 | I | Ijosin |
54 | Xe | Senon |
55 | Cs | Kesijun |
56 | Ba | Palijun |
57 | La | Lantanun |
58 | Ce | Kelijun |
59 | Pr | Pasejosimijun |
60 | Nd | Nejosimijun |
61 | Pm | Pomesijun |
62 | Sm | Samalijun |
63 | Eu | Elopijun |
64 | Gd | Katolinijun |
65 | Tb | Tepijun |
66 | Dy | Siposijun |
67 | Ho | Omijun |
68 | Er | Epijun |
69 | Tm | Tulijun |
70 | Yb | Itepijun |
71 | Lu | Lutesijun |
72 | Hf | Anijun |
73 | Ta | Tantalun |
74 | W | Opan (from German wolfram) |
75 | Re | Lenijun |
76 | Os | Osijun[3] |
77 | Ir | Ilisijun |
78 | Pt | Pasinun |
79 | Au | Alun (from Latin aurum) |
80 | Hg | Mekuli/Itakilun (Mekuli is from English "mercury"; Itakilun is from Latin hydragyrum) |
81 | Tl | Talijun |
82 | Pb | Punpun (from Latin plumbum) |
83 | Bi | Pimu |
84 | Po | Polonijun |
85 | At | Atasin |
86 | Rn | Laton |
87 | Fr | Pankijun |
88 | Ra | Lasijun |
89 | Ac | Asinijun |
90 | Th | Tolijun |
91 | Pa | Potasinijun |
92 | U | Ulanijun |
93 | Np | Netunijun |
94 | Pu | Putonijun |
95 | Am | Amelikijun |
96 | Cm | Kulijun |
97 | Bk | Pekelijun |
98 | Cf | Kaliponijun |
99 | Es | Ensenijun |
100 | Fm | Pemijun |
101 | Md | Mentelewijun |
102 | No | Nopelijun |
103 | Lr | Lalenkijun |
104 | Rf | Luteposijun |
105 | Db | Tunpijun |
106 | Sg | Sepokijun |
107 | Bh | Polijun |
108 | Hs | Asijun |
109 | Mt | Menelijun |
110 | Ds | Tantasijun |
111 | Rg | Lonkenijun |
112 | Cn | Kopenikijun |
113 | Nh | Nijonijun |
114 | Fl | Pelowijun |
115 | Mc | Mokowijun |
116 | Lv | Liwemowijun |
117 | Ts | Tenesin |
118 | Og | Okaneson |
When referring to these elements, ijo nasin [name] or ijo [name] can be used. This document will use ijo [name] throughout.
Approaches that do not use proper names exist, such as this Reddit post by jan Melon.
Periodic table
Numerals
- See the article Number systems for more information.
There are four official numerals in pu, ala (no; zero), wan (one), tu (two) and mute (at least three). A more systematic number system is used by a big part of the Toki Pona community, in which luka is redefined as five, mute as twenty, and ale/ali as one hundred. Numerals are strung together and ordered from largest to smallest. For example, seven is luka tu, and thirty six is mute luka luka luka wan.
However, two more numerals are featured in ku, san and po, as nimi ku pi suli ala. They mean three and four, and replace tu wan and tu tu, respectively. This document will use the numerals ala, wan, tu, san, po, luka, mute and ale throughout.
The reader is reminded that any number system is acceptable as long as it can be understood.
Tokiponization
- See the section Names for more information.
Tokiponization is the act of transcribing a foreign word into Toki Pona's phonology and phonotactics. All words created this way act as adjectives and must describe another word, usually a noun. For specific rules about Tokiponization, see Rules for transcription into Toki Pona.
When Tokiponizing chemical terminology, make sure it can be expressed as other words (Tokiponized or not), so although ijo Itokapon and ijo Itoken Kapon are both acceptable names for hydrocarbon, ijo Itoken Kapon is prioritized.
If, however, a term must be Tokiponized and it cannot be expressed with other Tokiponized terms, Latin (or New Latin) takes precedence over any other language, so alkane, alkene and alkyne use Akan, Aken and Akin respectively, and not Aken, Akin and Akan as in English.
According to Tokiponization rules, related proper nouns become the same adjective in Toki Pona. Therefore, as sulphur is ijo Supu, sulphuric acid is apo Supu instead of apo supuli.
The special rules for Tokiponizing words through Latin (or New Latin) are as follows:
- b, f and ph become p.
- d and th become t.
- g and c become k.
- y becomes j.
- r becomes l, from the trilled [r].
- x, z and sh become s.
- h becomes w or j depending on the next vowel. If the next vowel is a or e, h becomes w. Any h at the start of a word is omitted.
Vowel clusters
The table below shows which syllable(s) should be used when merging a vowel cluster between two roots.
First vowel | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
a | e | i | o | u | ||
Second vowel |
a | a/aja | aje | awi | ajo | aju |
e | eja | e/eje | ewi | ejo | eju | |
i | ija | ije | i/iwi | ijo | iju | |
o | owa | owe | owi | o/ojo | oju | |
u | uwa | uwe | uwi | ujo | u/uju |
For two identical consecutive vowels, the shorter combination is to be used unless doing so would compromise interpretability.