View source for mi ken ala toki pona e ijo la mi sona ala e ijo

{{Short description|Reliance of Toki Pona on understanding subject matter}}
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{{Phrase
|mi ken ala toki pona e ijo la mi sona ala e ijo
|sp=mi ken ala toki-pona e ijo la<br />mi sona-ala e ijo
}}
'''{{tp|mi ken ala toki pona e ijo la mi sona ala e ijo}}'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Sometimes reversed as {{tp|mi sona ala e ijo la mi ken ala toki pona e ona}}.</ref> ("If I can't express a thing in Toki Pona, I don't understand the thing") is a principle about [[circumlocution]] in the [[philosophy]] of [[Toki Pona]]. The design of Toki Pona encourages the speaker to express what they mean. It reveals when one lacks a deep understanding of a word or idea and offers them a chance to learn more and understand the world a bit better.

If you have trouble expressing a concept in Toki Pona, try researching it and figuring out how to describe it in [[Multiple sentences|multiple simple sentences]]. Searching for a [[Lexicalization|set-in-stone "translation"]] is unhelpful. Other people will likely not recognize it, and will need you to build more [[context]] or explain the idea in depth. You get to emphasize which of the idea's details are important in the conversation, and important to you.

==Notes==
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==Further reading==
* {{cite web|url=https://joelthomastr.github.io/tokipona/pana-sona-ale_si|title=jan li ken pana e sona ale kepeken toki pona|trans-title=A person can give all knowledge with Toki Pona|language=tok|author={{tok|jan Telakoman}}; {{tok|jan Kapu}} (Gabriel Mizrahi)|username=|date=2020-11-30|website={{tp|lipu pi jan Telakoman}}}}
{{General}}
[[Category:Philosophy]]