ale

ale
Pronunciation	/ˈa.le/
Usage	2023: Core (90% ↘︎ )2022: Core (92%)
Book and era	nimi pu
Part of speech	Number, content word
Codepoint	󱤄 U+F1904

ale (also pronounced ali) is a core content word referring to everythingness, all or plenty of something.

Etymology

The word ale is derived from Dutch al ("all (of)") and alle (/ˈɑlə/, "all").

Semantic space

The semantic space of ale includes the entirety of a given thing, or all entities in a given group. It is often used as a modifier:

ona ale li pona

ona ale li pona.

They all are good.
All of it is good.

It may act as an intensifier for predicates, referring to doing something entirely or thorougly. In this usage, it overlaps with a.

sina o toki ala e ijo ni2 　 sina sona pi ala ale e ona

sina o toki ala e ijo ni: sina sona pi ala ale e ona!

You shouldn't talk about something that you don't know at all (lit.literal translation 'entirely don't know')!

When ale is the head of a phrase and has a modifier following it, the phrase describes all things with that quality.

ale suwi li pona

ale suwi li pona.

Everything (that is) sweet is good.

The idea of "some, but not necessarily many" can be communicated by negating ale or a phrase that uses it.

jan-ale ala li suwi

jan ale ala li suwi.

Not everyone is sweet.

By extension, ale can refer to everything in existence, reality, and life, similarly to the word lon.

ale li pona　

ale li pona.

All is well.
Life is good.
Don't worry.

Number

kiwen ale luka tu wan en kiwen lawa wan li lon linja

kiwen ale luka tu wan en kiwen lawa wan li lon linja.

108 beads and one head bead are on the string.

ale may denote when something is infinite, or plentiful in number—that is, virtually infinite.

kala ale wile li lon nasin telo

kala ale wile li lon nasin telo.

All the fish you need are in the river.

In the advanced number system, ale has an exact numeric sense of one hundred.

sike ale ale li lon poki

sike ale ale li lon poki.

There are 200 marbles in the glass.

pu

In the "Official Toki Pona Dictionary" section, the book Toki Pona: The Language of Good defines ale as:

ADJECTIVE  all; abundant, countless, bountiful, every, plentiful
NOUN  abundance, everything, life, universe
NUMBER  100

ku

For Toki Pona Dictionary, respondents in ma pona pi toki pona translated these English words as ale:

every⁴61–80% of respondents, everything⁴61–80% of respondents, all⁴61–80% of respondents, entire⁴61–80% of respondents, universal³41–60% of respondents, completely³41–60% of respondents, total³41–60% of respondents, entirely³41–60% of respondents, universe³41–60% of respondents, altogether³41–60% of respondents, comprehensive³41–60% of respondents, full²21–40% of respondents, totally²21–40% of respondents, each²21–40% of respondents, fully²21–40% of respondents, any²21–40% of respondents, thoroughly²21–40% of respondents, absolute²21–40% of respondents, general²21–40% of respondents, countless²21–40% of respondents, complete²21–40% of respondents, whole²21–40% of respondents, hundred²21–40% of respondents

The respondents translated the following English words as the word variant ali:

all²21–40% of respondents, entire²21–40% of respondents, universe²21–40% of respondents

lipamanka's semantic spaces dictionary

In lipamanka's semantic spaces dictionary, the entry for ale reads:

ale is everything. this can be either everything ever or a smaller subset of everything. If you modify ale with another word, it is limited to objects that have that word's quality, such as "ale loje" for "all things red," "ale lipu" for "all things related to books," or "ale pali" for "all things related to working." this is often similar to the reverse, but not exactly the same. for example, "loje ale" is all reds, not all things red, "lipu ale" is all books, and would not talk about a printing press or reading glasses, and "pali ale" would be something like all jobs or activities, and wouldn't talk about a hammer or a cheesecloth.

sitelen pona

The sitelen pona glyph for ale (󱤄) is derived from the infinity symbol, used in mathematics.

sitelen sitelen

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ali

ali
Pronunciation	/ˈa.li/
Usage	2023: Uncommon (32% ↘︎ ) Most speakers don't use this word.2022: Uncommon (35%)
Book and era	nimi pu
Part of speech	Content word
Codepoint	󱤄 U+F1904

ali is an uncommon variant of ale. They are generally considered to be spelling and pronunciation variants of the same word, not two separate synonyms. It was coined to distinguish itself from ala ("nothing"), which are minimal pair, whose final vowel is reduced to schwa by some speakers.^{[When? By who? Links]}This claim needs references to reliable sources.

In writing systems that are not based on phonetics, such as the logographic sitelen pona and sitelen sitelen, ale and ali are written the same way, and may then be read as either pronunciation.

Further reading

• "ale" on lipu Linku
• "ale" on lipu Wikipesija
• "ale" on English Wiktionary