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The {{tp|[[sitelen pona]]}} glyph for {{tp|a}} ({{UCSUR char|{{codepoint|a}}}}) is composed of the [[Radicals|punctuation stem]] and the lowercase Latin letter A.
The letter A at the bottom is typically drawn in its single-story form '''ɑ''',
Compare the glyphs for {{tp|[[kin]]}}, {{tp|[[n]]}}, and {{tp|[[o]]}}.
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Revision as of 23:00, 6 April 2024
  | |
| Pronunciation | /a/ |
|---|---|
| Usage | 2023: Core (99% → )2022: Core (99%) |
| Book and era | nimi pu ("synonym" in pu) |
| Part of speech | Particle |
| Codepoint | U+F1900 |
a is a particle used to indicate emphasis and emotion.
Function
a is used to indicate emphasis or emotion on a word, phrase, or sentence. When at the end of a sentence, it is equivalent to the exclamation mark in English. It may also be used alone as an interjection, meaning "ah", "oh", "uhm", among other words.
a ni li pona tawa mia! ni li pona tawa mi.
Oh. This is good for me.
ni li musi a tawa mini li musi a tawa mi!
This is so fun!
It typically applies to the word immediately before it. Take for example, the following phrases with similar but the exact meaning, where the particle a emphasizes a different word in the sentence.
ona a li pali e tomoona a li pali e tomo.
She builds a house.
ona li pali a e tomoona li pali a e tomo.
She builds a house.
ona li pali e tomo aona li pali e tomo a.
She builds a house.
When a is reduplicated, it is used to express laughter.
a a aa a a!
Hahaha!
pu
In the "Official Toki Pona Dictionary" section, the book Toki Pona: The Language of Good defines a as:
PARTICLE (emphasis, emotion or confirmation)
ku
For Toki Pona Dictionary, respondents in ma pona pi toki pona translated these English words as a:[1]
ah5, oh5, ha5, ooh4, uh4, gosh4, whoa4, wow4, um3, huh3, uh-huh2, quite2, gasp2, really2, mm-hmm2, hmm2, sigh2
sitelen pona
The sitelen pona glyph for a () is composed of the punctuation stem and the lowercase Latin letter A.
The letter A at the bottom is typically drawn in its single-story form ɑ, usually resembling the Latin letter's handwritten forms more than in type. However, the letter A can occasionally also be seen written as its double-story form a, or as the lower case Greek letter alpha (α, resembling a mirrored kala glyph). The punctuation stem can be drawn upright (a) or at a diagonal (a).
Compare the glyphs for kin, n, and o.
sitelen sitelen
References
- ↑ Lang, Sonja. (18 July 2021). Toki Pona Dictionary. Illustrated by Vacon Sartirani. Tawhid. ISBN 978-0978292362. p. 199.
Further reading
Resources
- Toki Pona: The Language of Good: Lesson 10
- jan Kekan San: Intejections
- jan Lentan: Lesson 7
- soweli Tesa: Lesson 10
- nasin toki pona: the emoticle a
- Jonathan Gabel: Interjections and Commands
Dictionaries
- "a" on lipu Linku
- "a" on lipu Wikipesija
- "a" on English Wiktionary