o: Difference between revisions

	o
Pronunciation	/o/;
Usage	2023: Core (100% → )2022: Core (100%)
Book and era	nimi pu
Part of speech	Particle
Codepoint	󱥄 U+F1944

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Latest revision as of 20:10, 19 May 2024

o is a particle used to express desires and wishes, as well as to address a listener.

Functions Edit

Imperative and optative Edit

o is used to indicate an imperative, expressing a command or instruction. In this case, the particle li is replaced by o and the subject may optionally be ommited. Unlike li, the particle o can be used following mi or sina.

o kama sona e toki-pona

o kama sona e toki pona!

Learn Toki Pona!

o pakala ala e ijo mi

o pakala ala e ijo mi!

Do not break my things!

o is also used to indicate an optative mood, expressing a wish or hope. In many cases, it can be translated with "should" or with sentences starting with "may". In some cases it is used to express "must" or "have to", a meaning that is traditionally covered by wile.

mi o lape　

mi o lape.

I should sleep. (i.e. It would be better if I went to sleep)

sijelo sina o kama pona　

sijelo sina o kama pona.

May your body become good/healthy. (i.e. I wish for your body to become healthy)
I hope you get better!

Vocative Edit

o, following a word or phrase, indicates a vocative phrase, expressing that the speaker is addressing that person, place, or thing. The phrase may either go before or after the rest of the sentence.

toki 　 jan-ale o

toki, jan ale o!

Hi, everybody!

soweli mi o 　 sina moku e lipu mi tan seme

soweli mi o, sina moku e lipu mi tan seme?

Doggo, why did you eat my homework?

If o comes before the addressee instead, it becomes a command to be or personify them. For example, o jan ale! means "Be everyone!" and o soweli mi! means "Be my pet!"

Combining both imperative and vocative phrases together can be expressed with a single o:

jan [ale luka uta] o kama

jan Alu o kama!

Come, Alu!

Alternatively, they may be separated:^{[citation needed…]}

jan [ale luka uta] o 　 o kama

jan Alu o, o kama!

Come, Alu!

Definitions Edit

ku Edit

For Toki Pona Dictionary, respondents in ma pona pi toki pona translated these English words as o:^[1]

hey³, shall³, should², ought², must², please¹, let^½, dare^½, mandate^½, dear^½

History Edit

Some of the earliest Toki Pona texts feature an obsolete use of o. Placed before the subject of a sentence, o expressed the optative mood (used for wishes); before the predicate, it could only signal an imperative (used for commands). The following examples of optative sentences are taken from the earliest version of Toki Pona's Wikipedia page^[2] (2004), but the vocabulary in the text suggests it was written in 2002.

o nimi pi mi mute li kama suli!

o nimi pi mi mute li kama suli!

May our name become important!

o jan li sona ala e toki pi jan ante　

o jan li sona ala e toki pi jan ante.

May people not understand each other's languages.

o ona li lape pona　

o ona li lape pona.

Let her rest well.

o stopped appearing before the subject early in the language's history.^{[citation needed]} Since then, the second sentence type with o (before the predicate) has subsumed the meaning of the former: the imperative and optative were merged. Some speakers, such as jan Kipo (John Clifford) and jan Minasa (astrodonunt), prefer the historical usage of o, despite it now being considered nonstandard.^[3]

sitelen pona Edit

The sitelen pona glyph for o (󱥄) is composed of the punctuation stem and the lowercase Latin letter O. The punctuation stem can be drawn upright (o) or at a diagonal (o). Compare the glyphs for a, kin, and n.

sitelen sitelen Edit

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References Edit

↑ Lang, Sonja. (18 July 2021). Toki Pona Dictionary. Illustrated by Vacon Sartirani. Tawhid. ISBN 978-0978292362. p. 304.
↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Toki_Pona&oldid=2842887
↑ Stephan Schneider (jan Tepan). (30 June 2015). "Dialectal Toki Pona (KIPO)". GitHub.

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 ==History==
+Some of the earliest Toki Pona texts feature an obsolete use of ''o.'' Placed before the subject of a sentence, ''o'' expressed the [[Glossary#optative|optative mood]] (used for wishes); before the predicate, it could only signal an [[Glossary#Imperative|imperative]] (used for commands). The following examples of optative sentences are taken from the earliest version of Toki Pona's Wikipedia page<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Toki_Pona&oldid=2842887</ref> (2004), but the vocabulary in the text suggests it was written in 2002.
-{{Start section|Historical}}
+{{Example|o nimi pi mi mute li kama suli!|May our name become important!}}{{Example|o jan li sona ala e toki pi jan ante.|May people not understand each other's languages.}}{{Example|o ona li lape pona.|Let her rest well.}}
-Some speakers, such as {{tok|jan Kipo}} (John Clifford) and {{tok|jan Minasa}} (astrodonunt) <!-- hi juwan! little did you know i was also doing a smaller edit to the same page, i have no idea how to cite the yt video la sina kxk ni lon ni a -->, preferred using the particle {{tp|o}} as sentence-initial particle instead of it substituting {{tp|li}} or another similar particle.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://github.com/stefichjo/toki-pona/blob/master/kipo.md|title=Dialectal Toki Pona (KIPO)|website=GitHub|author=Stephan Schneider ({{tok|jan Tepan}})|date=2015}}</ref> Nowadays this is considered nonstandard.
+''o'' stopped appearing before the subject early in the language's history.{{citation needed|date=2024-05-06}} Since then, the second sentence type with ''o'' (before the predicate) has subsumed the meaning of the former: the imperative and optative were merged. Some speakers, such as {{tok|jan Kipo}} (John Clifford) and {{tok|jan Minasa}} (astrodonunt)<!-- hi juwan! little did you know i was also doing a smaller edit to the same page, i have no idea how to cite the yt video la sina kxk ni lon ni a -->, prefer the historical usage of {{tp|o}}, despite it now being considered nonstandard.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://github.com/stefichjo/toki-pona/blob/master/kipo.md|title=Dialectal Toki Pona (KIPO)|website=GitHub|author=Stephan Schneider ({{tok|jan Tepan}})|date=2015}}</ref><!-- prefer or preferred? -->
-{{Example
-|o ona li lape pona.
-|Let her rest well.
-|sp=no
-}}
-{{End section}}
 =={{tp|sitelen pona}}==
-The {{tp|[[sitelen pona]]}} glyph for {{tp|o}} ({{UCSUR char|{{codepoint|o}}}}) is composed of the [[Radicals|punctuation stem]] and the lowercase Latin letter ''O''. The punctuation stem can be drawn upright ({{sp|1=<span style="font-feature-settings:'ss16';">o</span>|font="sitelen seli kiwen asuki"}}) or at a diagonal ({{sp|1=<span style="font-feature-settings:'ss17';">o</span>|font="sitelen seli kiwen asuki"}}). Compare the glyphs for {{tp|[[a]]}}, {{tp|[[kin]]}}, and {{tp|[[n]]}}.
+The {{tp|[[sitelen pona]]}} glyph for {{tp|o}} ({{UCSUR char|{{codepoint|o}}}}) is composed of the [[sitelen pona radicals|punctuation stem]] and the lowercase Latin letter ''O''. The punctuation stem can be drawn upright ({{sp|1=<span style="font-feature-settings:'ss16';">o</span>|font="sitelen seli kiwen asuki"}}) or at a diagonal ({{sp|1=<span style="font-feature-settings:'ss17';">o</span>|font="sitelen seli kiwen asuki"}}). Compare the glyphs for {{tp|[[a]]}}, {{tp|[[kin]]}}, and {{tp|[[n]]}}.
 =={{tp|sitelen sitelen}}==