Variant glyphs

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This is a list of variant glyphs in sitelen pona.

Flexible glyphs edit

Many sitelen pona characters are not static, and aren't supposed to be drawn the same way every time.

akesi, pipi, soweli (akesi pipi soweli): The amount of legs is sometimes reduced, especially in combined glyphs to reduce glyph density. Especially akesi is commonly written with two strokes for legs (akesi) instead of three (akesi).

jaki (jaki): Any scribble, usually in a single stroke dense with overlaps and (mostly) curvy lines. For example, scribbles submitted by community members to be added to linja lipamanka:

ko (ko): Any blobby closed shape. For example, blobby closed shapes submitted by community members to be added to linja lipamanka:

ku (ku): The symbol representing Toki Pona on the cover of lipu ku can range anywhere from a simple dot to a full Toki Pona symbol.

mi, sina, ona (mi sina ona): These may be written either with a curved stroke (mi sina ona) or a straight stroke (mi sina ona).

lete, kin (lete kin): The rotation of the asterisk shape is not important. In some cases it may be written with four intersecting lines instead of three, and in kin some people reduce the asterisk to an X shape.

linja, kon, telo, pakala, mun (linja kon telo pakala mun): May be mirrored.

ni (ni): May point to the part of the text that ni is referencing; left, up, right, down (󱥁‍← 󱥁‍↑ 󱥁‍→ 󱥁‍↓), or other directions, instead of the standard downwards arrow. In handwriting, it may be drawn in an extended manner, pointing toward the relevant reference. A right-facing arrow (ni>) is often used in linking ni statements. It may also be extended horizontally (ni>(--) ni<(--)).

Alternative glyphs edit

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Incomplete

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For various reasons, people have designed new glyphs for words that already have them. The Esperanto edition of Toki Pona: The Language of Good includes drawings of some of these.

In many sitelen pona fonts with ASCII transcription, glyphs different from the font's standard glyph can be typed by appending a number to the end of a word, such as kala1. The default variants and list of supported alternative glyphs are not consistent between fonts, so this is not a consistent method to identify glyph variants. The added numbers may also interfere with screen readers.

Word	sitelen pona		Notes	Included in pu Epelanto?
Word	Earlier	Later	Notes	Included in pu Epelanto?
a	a	a	Diagonal punctuation stem. In some cases the stem is drawn very short, almost like a diacritic.
kin	kin	kin
n	n	n
o	o	o
akesi	akesi	akesi	Only 2 strokes for legs.
epiku	epiku	epiku	Obsolete:^[i] Upwards arrow, now more often used for directional ni. Later: pona with emitters.
jaki	jaki		May be any scribble. Four different variations are included in the Esperanto translation of lipu pu.
kala	kala	kala	Two dots for eyes to match the other animal glyphs.
kokosila	kokosila	kokosila	Obsolete:^[i] Star, representing the Verda Stelo. Later: toki with diagonal slash.
lanpan	lanpan	lanpan	Obsolete:^[i] Turned pana.
lanpan	lanpan2	lanpan	Obsolete:^[i] Top end is a hooklike curve. Later: Top end has a circle representing a head, similar to jo.
majuna	majuna	majuna	Earlier: Turned sin. Later: Five rays up similar to a lotus flower.
meli	meli	meli	Derived from the planetary gender symbols, possibly by analogy with tonsi (from the transgender symbol). These alternatives avoid physical stereotypes. Uncommon due to gendern't philosophy, which avoids meli and mije regardless of glyph choice.
mije	mije	mije
meso	meso	meso	Earlier: 2 vertical lines with dot between. Later: ante with dot between strokes. (Less common)
moli	moli	moli	Low line for mouth instead of circle for head. Often used in pixelated fonts due to space constraints.
namako	namako	namako	Earlier: sin with an extra ray below. Later: Hot pepper with emitters above.
olin	olin	olin	pilin with emitters above
sewi	sewi	sewi	Earlier: Derived from Arabic اللّٰه (allāh). Sometimes used only when sewi is used to mean "God" or "holy, divine". Later: Turned anpa. Commonly called "secular sewi". Sometimes used only when sewi is used to mean "up, above".
sewi	sewi		It has been suggested elsewhere to use other religious symbols, with the possible downside of being less legible.^[1]
soko	soko	soko2	Earlier: A mushroom with a thick stem (increasingly uncommon) Later: The stem simplified to a vertical line. Can be seen with or without a horizontal stroke for an annulus. These later variants are meant to avoid confusion with mama.	includes only
soko	soko	soko		includes only
uta	uta	uta	Dotless. Can create ambiguity with moku (otherwise moku; here confusable with luka uta). However, this ambiguity is not more than that which already exists with pali and kepeken (normally read as ilo and kepeken respectively, but technically possible to read as luka ijo and luka ilo).
wile	wile	wile	Closed to become a turned heart or pilin. While the separation of the line endings varies in handwriting, this alternative is most likely influenced by sitelen pona pona (a font and derivative script). Most differences in sitelen pona pona are rejected by sitelen pona users, but some occasionally slip in when writers want to introduce oddities.

Notes:

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 Obsolete glyphs are still likely to be encountered because the new glyph is relatively recent. However, the new glyph is still most widely accepted.

Fonts such as sitelen seli kiwen also support OpenType character variants and stylistic sets, which can be enabled:

In Microsoft Word, in the Font dialog box → Advanced → Stylistic sets.
- In many versions of Word, the Font dialog box is directly accessed from the Ribbon → Home tab → Font group, in the lower right corner.
- In other recent versions, you can use Tell me → search for "Font Settings".
In CSS, with the font-feature-settings property.^[2]

Mirrored glyphs edit

The subject of this section is nonstandard and will not be understood by most speakers.

If you are a learner, this information will not help you speak the language. It is recommended to familiarize yourself with the standard style, and to be informed and selective about which nonstandard styles you adopt.

sitelen pona is uncommonly written from right to left. There is no set practice for doing so. Some speakers recommend that all glyphs should be mirrored vertically, so that, for example, the glyph for soweli (soweli) faces left (soweli).

linja sike includes experimental mirrored glyphs for e, li, pi, tan (visually elipitan) at codepoints U+EC9B–U+EC9E.^[3]

References edit

↑ soko weka [@vanapiton]. (12 June 2022). Informal poll in #sona-kulupu. ma pona pi toki pona. Discord. Retrieved 6 November 2023.

Concerning the sitelen pona glyph for sewi, which of these (choose all that apply)...
Option (Multiple allowed)	Votes (`n` = 75)
Option (Multiple allowed)	Do you like the usage of:	Do you use in your nasin:
Arabic sewi	73	72
Secular sewi	48	22
Other religious symbols	8	2
Other	2	3

↑ font-feature-settings. font-feature-settings. MDN Web Docs. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
↑ linja sike documentation. Google Docs. Retrieved 24 October 2023.

[obsolete-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 Obsolete glyphs are still likely to be encountered because the new glyph is relatively recent. However, the new glyph is still most widely accepted.

[soko-weka-2] soko weka [@vanapiton]. (12 June 2022). Informal poll in #sona-kulupu. ma pona pi toki pona. Discord. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
Concerning the sitelen pona glyph for sewi, which of these (choose all that apply)...
Option
(Multiple allowed) Votes
(n = 75)

Do you like the usage of: Do you use in your nasin:

Arabic sewi 73 72

Secular sewi 48 22

Other religious symbols 8 2

Other 2 3

[3] t-feature-settings. font-feature-settings. MDN Web Docs. Retrieved 7 November 2023.

[4] sike documentation. Google Docs. Retrieved 24 October 2023.

[i]

[1]

[2]

[3]