Content words

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Content words are the main type of word in Toki Pona, contrasted with particles. They are a class of words that are flexibly used as the head (primary word of a phrase) and modifier of a content phrase. A content phrase itself may be used as a predicate of a sentence. Specific content words also have preposition, preverb, or name senses.

By the books

Toki Pona: The Language of Good

In the dictionary section of the book Toki Pona: The Language of Good, content words are each defined as nouns, verbs, or adjectives. 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. For example, A li B e C means "A causes C to be B".

Toki Pona Dictionary

The Toki Pona Dictionary, in the section "Notes on lipu pu", mentions the content word analysis saying "it may be more appropriate or accurate". A specific analysis that the book recommends is one by kala kala on Reddit.

Phrases

Main article: Phrases

A phrase is a run of content words, starting with a head and optionally continuing with modifiers.

References

English Wikipedia has an article on
content words.