tonsi

tonsi
Pronunciation	/ˈton.si/
Usage	2023: Common44-category system, Widespread66-category system (83% ↘︎ )2022: Widespread (86%)
Book and era	nimi ku suli (post-pu, "honorary nimi pu")
Part of speech	Content word
Codepoint	󱥾 U+F197E

tonsi is a content word and nimi ku suli mainly relating to non-binary gender. It is coordinate with meli for femininity and mije for masculinity.

Etymology

The word tonsi is derived from Mandarin Chinese 同志 (tóngzhì, lit. "same will"), meaning "kindred spirit" or "comrade", with neologistic senses of "gay" and "queer (person)". tonsi was coined by jan inwin in 2019 as a proposal for a nimi sin for non-binary identity. It was informally voted on in a series of polls in the ma pona pi toki pona Discord server.

Semantic space

The semantic space of tonsi includes non-binary gender identity and gender non-conformity.

tonsi is also sometimes used with the broader, alternative meaning of transgender. This is contentious as some non-binary people do not identify with the trans label, and they and binary trans people may not want their specific experiences to be conflated. Due to the core definition of tonsi, describing binary trans people as meli tonsi or mije tonsi might be construed to imply that they are not fully women or men, especially as there is no coordinate term to specify cisgender meli and mije.

According to the data in the Toki Pona Dictionary, tonsi has also been used to describe intersexuality.

ku

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

non-binary person³41–60% of respondents, transgender person³41–60% of respondents, gender non-conforming person³41–60% of respondents, intersex person²21–40% of respondents

Adoption

The speaking community widely considers tonsi to be a crucial addition to Toki Pona, referring to it as an honorary nimi pu to give it equal consideration to meli and mije in spite of pu-rism. In the "Notes on lipu pu" section of the Toki Pona Dictionary, jan Sonja endorses the effort:

At this point, meli and mije have been taught. A third word, tonsi, has been created by the community of Toki Pona speakers in a grassroots project, and I support it. See the dictionary part of this book for definitions.

This does not mean that all non-binary and gender non-conforming people identify with tonsi. Beyond personal opinions about self-description with the word, some speakers also reject using tonsi by virtue of avoiding gender words altogether.

The Esperanto and German editions of the book Toki Pona: The Language of Good mention tonsi alongside the other nimi ku suli.

As of the the 2023 ijo Linku survey, tonsi is used by 1%pt.percentage point more speakers (83% of respondents) than meli or mije (each 82%).

sitelen pona

The sitelen pona glyph for tonsi in the colors of the non-binary flag

The sitelen pona glyph for tonsi is derived from the transgender symbol (⚧). The glyph was chosen by a poll on Reddit, decided from a total of 13 proposals. The original creator of the glyph is unknown. According to kala Asi at the time of making the poll, she encountered it and made a stylized version herself.

sitelen sitelen

The sitelen sitelen glyph for tonsi in the colors of the non-binary flag, featured in lipu tenpo nanpa akesi

The sitelen sitelen glyph for tonsi was added in 2020. It is possibly derived from the glyph for kule, with the bottom part being similar to the glyphs for meli and mije.