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 alle, meaning "all".

Semantic space

The semantic space of ale includes the entirety of a given thing, or all entities in a given group.

ona ale li pona

ona ale li pona.

They all are good.
All of it is good.

When a modifier follows ale, 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.

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

ale may denote when something is infinite, or plentiful—that is, virtually infinite. This is reflected in its number sense, where ale means a hundred.

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

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.^{[citation needed]}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