Content words
Content words are the main type of word in Toki Pona, contrasted with particles. Many speakers classify them as a part of speech. They are a class of words that are flexibly used like nouns, verbs, and modifiers (adjectives and adverbs), depending on their placement in the sentence structure. Specific content words also have preposition or preverb senses.
By the books[edit | edit source]
In the dictionary section of pu, content words are each defined as adjectives, nouns, or verbs. Other senses of these words can be derived from these definitions. For example, for a content word defined as a verb, possible noun senses include "something that is verbed" and "the act of verbing". This is supplemented by the analysis of using any content word as a transitive verb: A li B e C means "A causes C to be B".
ku notes the content word analysis, saying "it may be more appropriate or accurate." A specific analysis that ku recommends is "Toki Pona Analysis: Parts of Speech" by u/pisceyo (kala kala) on lipu Wesi.