mu

mu
Pronunciation	/mu/ 🔊 🔊
Usage	2023: Core (99% ↗︎ )2022: Core (97%)
Book and era	nimi pu
Part of speech	Content word
Codepoint	󱤹 U+F1939

mu is a core and content word relating to animal noises and other onomatopoeia.

Etymology

The word mu is derived from an onomatopeia, likely either from a cow or cat sound.

Semantic space

The semantic space of mu varies wildly between speakers. It is very common to refer to some noises that are not animal vocalizations as mu. Some factors may be more or less important to a speaker, but a multi-dimensional spectrum is possible for how mu gets distinguished from kalama, with overlap between the different factors.

Widening the semantic space of mu can involve asking "why and how do animals make noises, and when might non–animals behave similarly?"

On platforms like Discord, mu is sometimes used to describe @mentions, which cause the application to make a notification sound. Thus, o mu e mi ("ping me") can be taken as short for o mu ilo e nimi mi.

pu

In the "Official Toki Pona Dictionary" section, the book Toki Pona: The Language of Good defines mu as shown below, calling it a particle. However, in the example sentences, it is clearly treated as a regular content word.

PARTICLE  (animal noise or communication)

In the second part of the book, it translates Al-Naml, a chapter from the Qur'an, where a bird reports to Solomon about the Queen of Sheba, as the single word "mu!".

ku

For Toki Pona Dictionary, respondents in ma pona pi toki pona translated these English words as mu:

woof⁵81–100% of respondents, meow⁵81–100% of respondents, animal vocalization⁵81–100% of respondents, ribbit⁵81–100% of respondents, purr⁵81–100% of respondents, neigh⁵81–100% of respondents, cock-a-doodle-doo³41–60% of respondents

Proposed axes and qualifiers

mu alignment chart

Origin

The pu definition clearly lists the origin as being from an animal. Nonetheless, this can be expanded on or even ignored. Animals, or beings and things that are close to the concept of animals, may make sounds which are mu.

What if a sound does not come from an animal and shares some characteristics with other representations of mu? What if the origin is not an animal, but shares something in common with animals?

Animacy

While animacy might not be an inherent concept to all or most words in Toki Pona, speakers might still attribute mu to living things, or emphasize that the origin might be alive, or things that are close in concept to living—such as machines, fire, or anything with googly eyes on it.

Duration

A noise going on forever tends to become background noise, whereas short noises are more likely to catch our attention and become mu.

Identification

mu sounds tend to be specific to the point that they may be connected to a unique concept of origin when heard without seeing the origin. Unless you have the experience, the sound of a tree falling in a forest can make all sorts of sounds that may not be characteristic enough to tie them to the tree, but an alarm clock noise and ribbits are much easier to get a connection with.

Intent

Changes in our soundscape often demand our attention. While most living things are able to make a noise of some form, not all sounds are produced with a goal to be perceived. If such a goal seems to exist, it might be a mu. In the technological world, many sounds have been created with the goal to be perceived. The exact source of the agency may be blurry. Echoes are reflections of sounds from boundaries, but you may be the one causing the echo, and even if you didn't intend there to be an echo, you'll hear your intent to cause a specific sound getting reflected back. A warning sound on your computer might not be something you think of the computer willing into existence, but the intent comes from the programming of the device, which a programmer put decisions into.

Message

While mu denotes sounds that aren't language on their own, they're still a form of communication. So if a message can be understood, it may be a mu. The most basic things of what mu can communicate are presence and a more precise location.

Messages may be derived despite of lack of actual meaning. A rock falling into water and making a funny noise may still tell you something about the comedic effect of that specific sound, or you may imagine the water making silly sounds on purpose as if it likes to tell jokes.

Melodicity

Some speakers prefer to think of mu as being sounds that are distinct tones or even progressions of tones. Here, pure white noise would tend to not be mu, but an electronic buzzer with a specific frequency would roughly get closer in form to how a birdsong sounds.

sitelen pona

The sitelen pona glyph for mu (󱤹) represents an animal's face, with two circular ears in the upper corners, and a nose or mouth at the bottom of the head.

sitelen sitelen

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Related words

The subject of this section is just for fun. It might not be meant or appropriate for serious use.

jonke

jonke
Pronunciation	/ˈjon.ke/ 🔊/j/ sounds like English Y, as in "fjord" or "hallelujah".
Usage	2023: Obscure (5% ↗︎ ) Most speakers don't understand this word.2022: Obscure (3%)
Book and era	No book (post-pu)
Part of speech	Content word

jonke is an obscure joke word for a goose sound. It was coined by cyanidesDuality in 2021 and is derived from the sound produced by geese (usually transcribed as "hjönk"), inspired the game Untitled Goose Game.

The sitelen pona glyph for jonke is derived from the glyph for waso with angry eyebrows and emitters on the side. It was designed by cyanidesDuality in 2022.

nja

nja
Pronunciation	/nja/ 🔊/j/ sounds like English Y, as in "fjord" or "hallelujah".
Usage	2023: Obscure (9% ↗︎ ) Most speakers don't understand this word.2022: Obscure (5%)
Book and era	No book (post-pu)
Part of speech	Content word

nja is an obscure joke word for a feline sound, such as a meow. It was coined by jan Kita in 2019 and is derived from the Japanese onomatopeia ニャ (Hepburn: nyā).

The sitelen pona glyph for nja represents a face, with a cat ears and mouth. It was designed by cyanidesDuality in 2022.

See also

• a
• kalama
• n

Further reading

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