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1 Introduction
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Some basic features of Toki Pona's syntax are: The word <i lang="x-tokipona">li</i> usually separates the subject from the predicate; <i lang="x-tokipona">e</i> precedes the direct object; direct object phrases precede prepositional phrases in the predicate; <i lang="x-tokipona">la</i> separates complex adverbs from the main sentence. These features plus a few others are expressed below in Extended Backus-Naur form:
<sentence> ::= <sentence-adverb> "la" <subject> "li" <predicate>
<sentence-adverb> ::= <noun-phrase>
<subject> ::= <noun-phrase> | <compound-subject>
<predicate> ::= <verb-phrase> | <compound-predicate>
<compound-subject> ::= <subject> "en" <subject>
<compound-predicate> ::= <predicate> "li" <predicate>
<noun-phrase> ::= <noun> <adjective>*
<verb-phrase> ::= <verb> <adverb>* <direct-object>*
<direct-object> ::= "e" <noun-phrase>
Toki Pona uses Subject Verb Object typology.
Pronouns
Toki Pona has the basic pronouns <i lang="x-tokipona">mi</i> (first person), <i lang="x-tokipona">sina</i> (second person), and <i lang="x-tokipona">ona</i> (third person).
Note that the above words do not specify number. Thus, <i lang="x-tokipona">ona</i> can mean both "he" and "they." In practice, Toki Pona speakers use the phrase <i lang="x-tokipona">mi mute</i> to mean "we." Although much less common, <i lang="x-tokipona">ona mute</i> means "they." However, the phrase <i lang="x-tokipona">sina mute</i> for a pluralized "you" is strongly discouraged.
Whenever the subject of a sentence is either of the pronouns <i lang="x-tokipona">mi</i> or <i lang="x-tokipona">sina</i>, then <i lang="x-tokipona">li</i> is not used to separate the subject and predicate.
Nouns
With such a small vocabulary, Toki Pona relies heavily on compounds to make more complex meanings. A typical example is combining <i lang="x-tokipona">jan</i> (person) with <i lang="x-tokipona">utala</i> (fight) to make <i lang="x-tokipona">jan utala</i> (soldier, warrior).
Toki Pona does not use proper nouns; instead, it uses proper adjectives, which are the language's only open class. For example, names of people and places are modifiers of the common root for "person" and "place", e.g. ma Kanata (lit. "Canada country") or jan Lisa (lit. "Lisa person").
Adjectives
Phrases in Toki Pona are head-initial; modifiers always come after the word that they modify. This trait resembles the typical arrangement of adjectives in Spanish language|Spanish and Arabic language|Arabic and contrasts with the typical English structure.
Order of operations is completely opposite to that of Lojban.
In Toki Pona, "N A1 A2" (where N represents a noun and A1 and A2 represent modifiers) is parsed as ((N A1) A2), that is, an A1 N that is A2.
This can be changed with the particle <i lang="x-tokipona">pi</i> = "of", which groups the following adjectives into a kind of compound adjective that applies to the head noun. E.g., <i lang="x-tokipona">jan pona lukin</i> = ((jan pona) lukin), a seeing friend (<i lang="x-tokipona">jan pona</i> = "friend", literally "good person"); <i lang="x-tokipona">jan pi pona lukin</i> = (jan (pona lukin)) = "good-looking person".
Demonstratives, numerals, and possessive pronouns follow other modifiers.
Verbs
Some verbs, such as <i lang="x-tokipona">tawa</i> = "to go", which in English govern prepositions, do not take <i lang="x-tokipona">e</i> before their direct objects.
5
The 118-word vocabulary is designed around the principles of living a simple life without the complications of modern civilization.
The words generally come from English language|English, Tok Pisin, Finnish language|Finnish, Georgian language|Georgian, Dutch language|Dutch, Acadian French language|Acadian French, Esperanto language|Esperanto, Croatian language|Croatian, Chinese language|Chinese (Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese language|Cantonese).
Some words have archaic synonyms because they were changed to avoid a potentially confusing minimal pair.
For instance, <i lang="x-tokipona">ona</i> ("he, she, it") used to be <i lang="x-tokipona">iki</i> but was changed because <i lang="x-tokipona">iki</i> is too similar to <i lang="x-tokipona">ike</i> ("bad").
See also Common phrases in constructed languages.
Colors
Toki Pona has only five root words for colors: <i lang="x-tokipona">pimeja</i> (black), <i lang="x-tokipona">walo</i> (white), <i lang="x-tokipona">loje</i> (red), <i lang="x-tokipona">jelo</i> (yellow), and <i lang="x-tokipona">laso</i> (blue). This simplified conceptualization of colors tends to exclude a number of colors that are commonly expressed in Western languages. For example, like several natural languages, Toki Pona lacks any word that labels green as a colour distinct from both blue and yellow. However, speakers sometimes may combine these five words to make more specific descriptions of certain colors.
Numbers
Toki Pona has root words for one (<i lang="x-tokipona">wan</i>), two (<i lang="x-tokipona">tu</i>), and many (<i lang="x-tokipona">mute<i>). In addition, <i lang="x-tokipona">ala</i> can mean zero, although its more literal meaning is "no" or "none."
Toki Ponans express larger numbers additively by using phrases such as <i lang="x-tokipona">tu wan</i> for three, <i lang="x-tokipona">tu tu</i> for four, and so on.
An early description of the language uses <i lang="x-tokipona">luka</i> (literally "hand") to signify "five." Kisa has deprecated this feature in the latest official description of Toki Pona. However, some Toki Pona speakers still use this structure, and Pije describes it in his unofficial lessons for the language http://tokipona.esperanto-jeunes.org/lesson/lesson16.html. For more examples of this structure, see http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tokipona/message/1263, which uses <i lang="x-tokipona">luka luka luka wan</i> to mean "sixteen."
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Toki Pona
Wikipedia
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Toki Pona is a constructed language which first published online in mid-2001. It was designed by Canada|Canadian translation|translator and linguistics|linguist Sonja Elen Kisa (b. 1978), of Toronto.
Toki Pona is a minimal language. Like a pidgin, it focuses on simple concepts and elements that are relatively universal among cultures. Kisa designed Toki Pona to express maximal meaning with minimal complexity. The language has 14 phonemes and 118 words. It is not designed as an international auxiliary language but is instead inspired by Taoism|Taoist philosophy, among other things.
The language is designed to shape the thought processes of its users, in the style of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. This goal, together with Toki Pona's deliberately restricted vocabulary, have led some to feel that the language, whose name literally means "simple language", "good language", or "goodspeak", resembles George Orwell's fictional language Newspeak.
Toki Pona is phonetically minimal.
Its system resembles that of Japanese language|Japanese but lacks distinctive phonation|voicing, gemination|geminate consonants, long vowels, and clusters of palatal_consonant|palatal consonants.
(This is not how the syllables are presented in the official lessons, but it shows the parallels to better-known CV(n) languages.)
It also lacks diphthongs.
a e i o u Toki Pona 'u' may be rounded or unrounded.
ka ke ki ko ku Obstruents (stops and fricatives)
sa se si so su may be pronounced voiced or unvoiced.
ta te to tu 'ti' has fallen into 'si'.
na ne ni no nu
pa pe pi po pu
ma me mi mo mu
ja je jo ju 'j'
Syntax
Some basic features of Toki Pona's syntax are: The word <i lang="x-tokipona">li</i> usually separates the subject from the predicate; <i lang="x-tokipona">e</i> precedes the direct object; direct object phrases precede prepositional phrases in the predicate; <i lang="x-tokipona">la</i> separates complex adverbs from the main sentence. These features plus a few others are expressed below in Extended Backus-Naur form:
<sentence> ::= <sentence-adverb> "la" <subject> "li" <predicate>
<sentence-adverb> ::= <noun-phrase>
<subject> ::= <noun-phrase> | <compound-subject>
<predicate> ::= <verb-phrase> | <compound-predicate>
<compound-subject> ::= <subject> "en" <subject>
<compound-predicate> ::= <predicate> "li" <predicate>
<noun-phrase> ::= <noun> <adjective>*
<verb-phrase> ::= <verb> <adverb>* <direct-object>*
<direct-object> ::= "e" <noun-phrase>
Toki Pona uses Subject Verb Object typology.
Pronouns
Toki Pona has the basic pronouns <i lang="x-tokipona">mi</i> (first person), <i lang="x-tokipona">sina</i> (second person), and <i lang="x-tokipona">ona</i> (third person).
Note that the above words do not specify number. Thus, <i lang="x-tokipona">ona</i> can mean both "he" and "they." In practice, Toki Pona speakers use the phrase <i lang="x-tokipona">mi mute</i> to mean "we." Although much less common, <i lang="x-tokipona">ona mute</i> means "they." However, the phrase <i lang="x-tokipona">sina mute</i> for a pluralized "you" is strongly discouraged.
Whenever the subject of a sentence is either of the pronouns <i lang="x-tokipona">mi</i> or <i lang="x-tokipona">sina</i>, then <i lang="x-tokipona">li</i> is not used to separate the subject and predicate.
Nouns
With such a small vocabulary, Toki Pona relies heavily on compounds to make more complex meanings. A typical example is combining <i lang="x-tokipona">jan</i> (person) with <i lang="x-tokipona">utala</i> (fight) to make <i lang="x-tokipona">jan utala</i> (soldier, warrior).
Toki Pona does not use proper nouns; instead, it uses proper adjectives, which are the language's only open class. For example, names of people and places are modifiers of the common root for "person" and "place", e.g. ma Kanata (lit. "Canada country") or jan Lisa (lit. "Lisa person").
Adjectives
Phrases in Toki Pona are head-initial; modifiers always come after the word that they modify. This trait resembles the typical arrangement of adjectives in Spanish language|Spanish and Arabic language|Arabic and contrasts with the typical English structure.
Order of operations is completely opposite to that of Lojban.
In Toki Pona, "N A1 A2" (where N represents a noun and A1 and A2 represent modifiers) is parsed as ((N A1) A2), that is, an A1 N that is A2.
This can be changed with the particle <i lang="x-tokipona">pi</i> = "of", which groups the following adjectives into a kind of compound adjective that applies to the head noun. E.g., <i lang="x-tokipona">jan pona lukin</i> = ((jan pona) lukin), a seeing friend (<i lang="x-tokipona">jan pona</i> = "friend", literally "good person"); <i lang="x-tokipona">jan pi pona lukin</i> = (jan (pona lukin)) = "good-looking person".
Demonstratives, numerals, and possessive pronouns follow other modifiers.
Verbs
Some verbs, such as <i lang="x-tokipona">tawa</i> = "to go", which in English govern prepositions, do not take <i lang="x-tokipona">e</i> before their direct objects.
The 118-word vocabulary is designed around the principles of living a simple life without the complications of modern civilization.
The words generally come from English language|English, Tok Pisin, Finnish language|Finnish, Georgian language|Georgian, Dutch language|Dutch, Acadian French language|Acadian French, Esperanto language|Esperanto, Croatian language|Croatian, Chinese language|Chinese (Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese language|Cantonese).
Some words have archaic synonyms because they were changed to avoid a potentially confusing minimal pair.
For instance, <i lang="x-tokipona">ona</i> ("he, she, it") used to be <i lang="x-tokipona">iki</i> but was changed because <i lang="x-tokipona">iki</i> is too similar to <i lang="x-tokipona">ike</i> ("bad").
See also Common phrases in constructed languages.
Colors
Toki Pona has only five root words for colors: <i lang="x-tokipona">pimeja</i> (black), <i lang="x-tokipona">walo</i> (white), <i lang="x-tokipona">loje</i> (red), <i lang="x-tokipona">jelo</i> (yellow), and <i lang="x-tokipona">laso</i> (blue). This simplified conceptualization of colors tends to exclude a number of colors that are commonly expressed in Western languages. For example, like several natural languages, Toki Pona lacks any word that labels green as a colour distinct from both blue and yellow. However, speakers sometimes may combine these five words to make more specific descriptions of certain colors.
Numbers
Toki Pona has root words for one (<i lang="x-tokipona">wan</i>), two (<i lang="x-tokipona">tu</i>), and many (<i lang="x-tokipona">mute<i>). In addition, <i lang="x-tokipona">ala</i> can mean zero, although its more literal meaning is "no" or "none."
Toki Ponans express larger numbers additively by using phrases such as <i lang="x-tokipona">tu wan</i> for three, <i lang="x-tokipona">tu tu</i> for four, and so on.
An early description of the language uses <i lang="x-tokipona">luka</i> (literally "hand") to signify "five." Kisa has deprecated this feature in the latest official description of Toki Pona. However, some Toki Pona speakers still use this structure, and Pije describes it in his unofficial lessons for the language http://tokipona.esperanto-jeunes.org/lesson/lesson16.html. For more examples of this structure, see http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tokipona/message/1263, which uses <i lang="x-tokipona">luka luka luka wan</i> to mean "sixteen."
Sample texts
See also
External links
This article is licensed under the
GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the
Wikipedia article "Toki Pona".
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Last Modified: 2005-11-04 |
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