User:Jan Deni
sitelen pona
Alternate gender glyphs
My proposal for alternate gender glyphs. I created them using these goals:
- Recognizable: Use a recognizable radical. I used the circle from "jan"
- Unbiased: Should not be based on stereotypical features (broad shoulders, long hair, hijab), or astrological/gender signs like ♂/♀
- Memorable: Include a memory aid, since gender and the glyphs to represent it are arbitrary. I used unique latin characters taken from each toki pona word. J for mije, L for meli, T for tonsi.
- Unambiguous: The shapes should not be confusable for a combination of stacked or nested glyphs. To avoid reading anything like "ijo X", I took the latin character and made it overlap with the circle. Normal glyph stacking never does this, so it's unambiguous
Text description of glyphs
- meli: A circle with a latin uppercase "L" superimposed. The vertical bar of the L passes through the lower center of the circle. The horizontal bar of the L is below the circle.
- mije: A circle with a latin uppercase "J" superimposed, with no dot above. The vertical portion of the J passes through the lower center of the circle. The hook is below the circle
- tonsi: A circle with a latin uppercase "T" superimposed. The vertical part passes through the lower center of the circle. The horizontal part passes through the center of both the left and right sides
Community reception
Polls
I polled ma pona about the glyphs, to very positive feedback. I have not seen any other proposal be this well received.
- pona tawa mi / ike tawa mi - 60 pona, 18 ike
- mi ken kepeken ni / mi wile ala kepeken ni - 11 kepeken, 28 wile ala
- jan ante li kepeken la ni li ike ala / jan o kepeken ala - 36 ike ala, 1 kepeken ala
Font support
- linja lipamanka: lipamanka has said that they will include these as alternate glyphs if/when they continue work on the font
- sitelen seli kiwen: included