kepeken e: Difference between revisions

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needs to be expanded on and explained better
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== Prepositions as content words ==
One part of the differing interpretations is about what counts as being transitive: the verb or the predicate. Verbs are phrases consisting of content words, whereas predicates can be broader and include prepositions.
 
(Sidenote: The term "predicate" gets described differently across different sources. While according to some descriptions, "predicate" could mean anything after the subject, or anything after "li", or anything after a preverb - all of which would include "e" phrases - this article uses it to refer to any phrase within the main clause in a verb position. For toki pona, this means any phrase immediately following "li" - or "mi" or "sina" or "o" - ignoring preverbs, and excludes any subsequent part of the sentence beginning with "e" or a prepositional phrase. A second "li" phrase would be a second, separate predicate.)
===Preposition words as content words===
Any word that is used as a preposition may also be used as a content word. While prepositions have a more grammatical function, they carry with them semantic information, which informs what the word could mean as a non-preposition. [[pu]] is explicit only about one of the prepositions, noting ''tawa'' as an adjective meaning "moving", and uses ''lon'' in examples to mean "to be present". [[ku]] also notes: "Many people also use prepositions as nouns."
 
As a consequence, all preposition words as content words might not be completely universal.
 
Derived meanings from prepositions mostly seem to be widely understood, with only some exceptions for edge cases such as the topic of this article.
== ==Conclusion ====
The meaning for kepeken as a transitive verb breaks down into:
:;mi kepeken e ilo. :I'mla usingilo toolsli kepeken.
::I apply usage to the tool so the tool is a usage.
::I turn the tool into a usage, so the tool is useful.
::I make the tool use, so the tool is using.
===Prepositional phrases as transitive predicates===
Since a transitive ''predicate'' is interpreted as making the predicate apply to the direct object of the sentence, and a prepositional phrase can head a predicate, it is possible to transitively apply a prepositional phrase to a direct object, like so:
 
:;"jan lanpan li poki e ona li tawa tomo telo e ona."<ref>[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wGSEiI3XlJ32YKeFRmp6U-HMKW96Ac_4/view mijomi telo], page 3.</ref>
::The pirate put them in a cage can brought them to the boat.
 
This can be interpreted:
 
:jan lanpan li tawa tomo telo e ona la ona li tawa tomo telo,
 
which holds together. Ordinarily "tawa tomo telo" is interpreted as a prepositional phrase, and within this framework, it is perfectly reasonably applied to a direct object here and conforms to the observations on transitivity described above.
 
Generally, all prepositions can also act as content words. In the sentence,
 
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it is practically impossible to interpret the last word of the sentence as a preposition, rather than a [[modifier]] of the word ''sitelen''. The phrase ''mi lon e ma'' has a completely distinct flavor from ''mi lon ma''.<ref>jan Kekan San, "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU9PEZ9TARs mi lon e ma]."</ref> In the first, ''lon'' is a content word meaning "real, existing," and so the sentence means "I make the earth exist." The second sentence has ''lon'' as a preposition introducing ''ma'', so the sentence means, "I am in place." The presence of the particle [[e]] serves to distinguish them.
 
In the original toki pona lessons, ''tawa'' "acts as a preposition and never uses e."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090821024454/http://bknight0.myweb.uga.edu/toki/about/lesson/tp4.html] toki pona original Lesson 4</ref> Similarly, the meaning of ''lon'' as a transitive word is not discussed, though its use as a [[Glossary#modifier|modifier]] is defined.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090819071609/http://bknight0.myweb.uga.edu/toki/about/lesson/tp7.html]toki pona Original Lesson 7</ref> However, by 2002, the word ''tawa'' is used transitively:
 
<blockquote>
tan ma tomo Pape la jan sewi Jawe li tawa e jan tawa ma mute.<ref>[https://archive.ph/yuYp1/]Religious Texts translated by Sonja Lang</ref>
</blockquote>
 
A word list from this period also confirms that prepositions could be used as content words by this period: ''tawa'' and ''kepeken'', in particular, are used as transitive verbs.<ref>[https://archive.ph/K7fME]toki pona word list with parts of speech</ref>
 
However, using prepositions as content words makes certain sentences ambiguous. A classic example, coined on 2002-05-28 by [[Nikita Ayzikovsy]] on the [[toki pona forums]] will suffice:
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This sort of sentence is necessarily ambiguous. Since ''tawa'' could be either a modifier or a preposition, and no feature of the language enables the speaker to distinguish the possibilities, both glosses above are equally plausible interpretations. The difference between them is usually described by saying that ''tawa'' is acting as a preposition in the former interpretation, and as a content word in the latter.
==== Conclusion ====
 
Generally, when a preposition heads a predicate it does not take the particle [[e]] with its object. However, since it is also possible to use the prepositions as content words, some interpretations of toki pona use follow ''kepeken'' by [[e]] when it heads a predicate, as though it were a transitive verb:
 
<blockquote>
;mi kepeken e ilo. :I'm using tools.
;sina wile kepeken e ilo. :You have to use tools.
;mi kepeken e poki ni. :I'm using that cup.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20041217044933/http://tokipona.nytka.org/lesson/lesson6.html]jan Pije Lesson 6, circa 2004</ref>
</blockquote>
 
This style is not universally accepted as of 2023; [[pu]] does not use the particle [[e]] in this context.
== Transitive prepositional phrases ==
Some speakers hold that prepositions are never used as content words, and that when followed by [[e]] they apply the preposition to the object. For example, jan Juli argues that
<blockquote>
kepeken is a word that does not exist in English. Its indirect object is the thing that's being used (to achieve something), not its direct object.<ref>[https://github.com/kilipan/nasin-toki#how-to-use-prepositions]nasin toki how to use prepositions</ref>
</blockquote>
In this interpretation, a preposition at the head of a predicate followed by [[e]] is nevertheless a preposition:
<blockquote>
;mi tawa e soweli :I move the animal [towards an unspecified location].
;mi lon e kala :I exist the fish (i make the fish exist) [in an unspecified location/time/way].
;mi sama e akesi :I sameify the frog (i make the frog similar) [to sth unspecified].
;mi tan e ona :I make them be the result [of something unspecified].
;mi kepeken e ona :I make them use [something unspecified].<ref>[https://github.com/kilipan/nasin-toki#a-comparative-analysis-of-prepositions]nasin toki a comparative analysis of prepositions</ref>
</blockquote>
 
However, this interpretation makes it possible to use an entire prepositional phrase transitively:
 
:;"jan lanpan li poki e ona li tawa tomo telo e ona."<ref>[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wGSEiI3XlJ32YKeFRmp6U-HMKW96Ac_4/view mijomi telo], page 3.</ref>
::The pirate put them in a cage can brought them to the boat.
 
This can be interpreted:
 
:jan lanpan li tawa tomo telo e ona la ona li tawa tomo telo,
 
Ordinarily "tawa tomo telo" is interpreted as a prepositional phrase, and it is applied to a direct object here and conforms to the observations on transitivity described above.
== Conclusion ==
 
:;mi kepeken e ilo la ilo li kepeken.