ale

This page needs work. If you know about this topic, you can help us by editing it. (See all)

ale
Pronunciation	/ˈa.le/ (listen)
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 all entities in a group or the entirety of something.

ona ale li pona　

ona ale li pona.

They all are good.
All of it is good.

The idea of "some, but not necessarily many" can be communicated by negating ale with ala.

jan-ale ala li suwi

jan ale ala li suwi.

Not everyone is sweet.

ale can refer to everything in existence, life or reality itself, much like lon.

ale li pona　

ale li pona.

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

ale may denote when something is infinite, or plentiful—that is, virtually infinite. This is reflected in its number sense, where ale means 100.

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 (∞).

ali

ali
Pronunciation	/ˈa.li/ (listen)
Usage	2023: Uncommon (32% ↘ ) 2022: Uncommon (35%)
Book and era	nimi pu
Part of speech	Content word
Codepoint	󱤄 U+F1904

ali is a 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"). ale and ala are a minimal pair, and some speakers reduce the final vowel of both words to schwa.

In other writing systems

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.

Wikimedia Commons has a nonstandard disambiguatory sitelen pona glyph for ali, written as aleale with a ring similar to the degree sign: . In practice, speakers do not use this glyph. The file description acknowledges that "[u]sing this file is discouraged except for special (e.g. educational) purposes."

Further reading

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