Toki Pona

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Toki Pona
Project author Sonja Lang (then Sonja Elen Kisa) or jan Sonja (in Toki Pona)
Year of publication 2001
speaker over 100
Linguistic
classification
particularities Planned language with only 123 basic words
Language codes
ISO 639 -1

-

ISO 639 -2

art (other constructed languages)

ISO 639-3

Application rejected in February 2008

logo

Toki Pona (in German: "good language" or "simple language") is a planned language . It was created by the Canadian Sonja Lang (then Sonja Elen Kisa). Toki Pona was first published online by her in the summer of 2001. They estimate that there were at least 100 fluent speakers worldwide in 2007. The name of the language is derived from the Tok-Pisin word tok (from the English talk "to speak") and the Esperanto adjective bona ("good").

Linguistic community

According to Lang, at least 100 people were fluent in the Toki Pona language in 2007. She estimated that several hundred people had basic language skills, as evidenced by hits on the Toki Pona mailing list and other online communities through Toki Pona. During the international Esperanto youth conference in Sarajevo in August 2006 there was a special event for Toki Pona speakers with 12 participants.

John Clifford made a presentation on Toki Pona at the Second Language Creation Conference at Berkeley University in 2007, entitled The Problems with Success: What Happens When an Opinionated Conlang Meets Its Speakers .

Toki lili is a microblogging -Internetseite that Twitter is similar and is aimed at Toki-Pona spokesman. There was a Wikipedia language version on Toki-Pona, Wikipesija, which was hosted on Wikimedia until 2010 but can now be found on Wikia .

Advantages and disadvantages

Probably the biggest advantage of Toki Pona is the short learning time. With regular practice it is possible to master Toki Pona with its 120 basic vocabulary and its grammatical rules after just one month.

word Paraphrase translation
alcohol crazy water telo nasa
bed Sleeping area supa lape
friend good person jan pona
geology Earth knowledge sona ma
girl little woman meli lili
Happy feel good (d) pilin pona
restaurant Food house tomo moku
to teach Give knowledge pana e sona
when? what time? tenpo seme (la ...)?

A disadvantage is that the 120 basic words quickly accumulate into long and sometimes arbitrary word combinations which, due to their ambiguity, can hardly be used to accurately and precisely describe a term (think of terms such as " cylinder head gasket " or " social democracy ") . Frequent, exact use of number words over 20 is relatively difficult to implement due to the cumbersome word formation with Toki Pona. When using this planned language one deliberately and deliberately restricts oneself to the paraphrase “many” with large numbers.

Structure of the language

alphabet

Spelling board

Toki Pona's alphabet is limited to 14 letters. There are five vowels a , e , i , o and u and nine consonants j , k , l , m , n , p , s , t and w .

phonetics

  1. There are five vowels and nine consonants, j, k, l, m, n, p, s, t and w.

There is a simple rule when pronouncing letters or words:

  1. All vowels are always pronounced long (as in H a se , M o nd or H u t )
  2. All consonants are pronounced true to the sound and thus remain acoustically unchanged (in contrast to German or English)

The syllable formation of Toki Pona is similar to the Japanese language . Syllables always consist of a consonant and a vowel, with the exception of the first syllable of a word, which can only consist of a vowel, and the last, to which an n can also be appended. Example: “o” (ho), “ala” (not, un-), “ken” (can), “kule” (color). Here all possible syllables :

Syllables annotation
  a   e   i   O   u The syllable 'u' can be round or non-round.
ka ke ki ko ku
sa se si so see below
ta te to do The syllable 'ti' could be confused with 'si'.
n / A no ni no nu
pa pe pi po pu
ma me mi mo must
Yes ever jo ju The syllable 'ji' is avoided because of the similarity to 'i'.
la le left lo lu
wa we wi The syllables 'wu' and 'wo' are missing due to their similarity to 'u' and 'o'.
n At the end of the syllable.

For comparison: The 50-sound table in Japanese writing :

transcription Hiragana Katakana
0a 0i 0u 0e 0O あ い う え お ア イ ウ エ オ
ka ki ku ke ko か き く け こ カ キ ク ケ コ
sa shi see below se so さ し す せ そ サ シ ス セ ソ
ta chi tsu te to た ち つ て と タ チ ツ テ ト
n / A ni nu no no な に ぬ ね の ナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ
Ha Hi fu hey ho は ひ ふ へ ほ ハ ヒ フ ヘ ホ
ma mi must me mo ま み む め も マ ミ ム メ モ
ya yu yo や ゆ よ ヤ ユ ヨ
ra ri ru re ro ら り る れ ろ ラ リ ル レ ロ
wa (w) i (w) e (Where わ (ゐ) (ゑ) を ワ (ヰ) (ヱ) ヲ
n ん ン

vocabulary

Color names in Toki Pona

Toki Pona has a basic vocabulary of just 123 words. These words are usually kept very short and come mainly from the following languages:

Many compound syntagms are used in Toki Pona because there are no real compounds .

  • "Kili suwi jelo" = "banana" (literally: fruit sweet yellow, so "yellow sweet fruit", English: yellow fruit)
  • "Pan pi sike mama waso" = "waffle" (literally: grain product, from, round thing, motherly, bird, also "pancake", English: cereal-grain-product of bird maternal round-things)

spelling, orthography

All words are consistently lowercase, even if they are at the beginning of a sentence. Capitalization is only permitted for “unofficial words” that do not originate from the Toki Pona vocabulary, i.e. for proper names of people as well as geographical and foreign language names. Words that do not belong to the basic vocabulary are also adapted to the sound structure and spelling of the Toki Pona.

In addition, there is a logographic writing system called sitelen pona (“good / simple images”) , which the inventor Sonja Lang calls “ hieroglyphs ”, as well as a “non-linear writing system” called sitelen sitelen (“pictorial images”), which is reminiscent of the Maya - font reminds. In addition, the language, even in a system called Toki Pona luka "händisches Toki Pona" behaving be.

Sentence structure

In Toki Pona, as in German, there are the parts of speech noun , verb , adjective , adverb , conjunction and preposition . In order to keep the vocabulary low, the following rules are applied in Toki Pona:

Toki Pona German
mi suli. I am big.
I was tall.
I will be great.
I am important.
I was important.
I will be important.
  1. Each word has numerous denotations . The word "suli" means not only "big" or "long", but also "important". The word or sentence structure is often decisive for the correct meaning of a particular word.
  2. By combining several words, extra names are unnecessary. The term “victim” is expressed by combining the words “jan” (“human”) and “pakala” (“injured”) to “jan pakala”. The number of word combinations is of course unlimited.
  3. There is no gender , no case and no number (as is usually the case in isolating languages ).
  4. There is also no conjugation or declination .
  5. An equivalent for the word “to be” is completely missing, and with it all tenses. A sentence can thus describe the present, past or future (see table).

A simple sentence consists of a subject and a verb or adjective, for example "mi awen." = "I am waiting.", But also "We are waiting." However, so that more complicated and complex sentences are understandable for the listener or reader, four "auxiliary words" are included in the sentences. This makes it possible to distinguish between subjects, objects, various verbs or even adjectives and adverbs:

  1. Several direct objects: "mi moku e kili e telo." = "I take water and fruit." The "e" indicates that "kili" and "telo" are both direct objects and to the verb "moku." " belong.
  2. Several verbs: "waso li lukin li moku." = "The bird looks and eats." The "li" makes it clear that the two verbs "lukin" and "moku" refer to the same subject "waso".
  3. Combination of nouns and adjectives: "jan pi pona lukin." = "A good-looking person." Without the "pi" the sentence would mean "a looking friend.", Because "jan pona" means "friend" and "lukin" follows as an adjective.
  4. Adverbial context: “tenpo ni la mi lape” “Now I'm sleeping”. The particle “la” must appear at the end of the adverbial context. In addition, the whole comes before the subject of the sentence. Together with the word “ken” it means “maybe”, e.g. B. "ken la jan Lisa li moku e suwi." = "Maybe Lisa ate the sweet." Before the particle "la" there can be a whole sentence. Then it means “if”, e.g. B. "mi lape la ali li pona." = "When I sleep, (then) everything is fine."
    1. When asked about age, the particle “la” appears: “tenpo pi mute seme la sina sike e suno?” = (Literally: “How often have you circled the sun?”) “How old are you?” The answer is formed according to the following scheme: "tenpo mute wan la mi sike e suno." = (literally: "20 + 1 = twenty-one times I have circled the sun.") "I am twenty-one years old."

The words "e", "la", "li" and "pi" have no meaning of their own. They are only intended to prevent misunderstandings from occurring in complex sentences. Since this is an extraordinary feature of the planned language Toki Pona, the use of these four "auxiliary words" takes a little getting used to.

The particle "ala" is used for the negation.

  1. Usually the particle "ala" follows the verb, just like the word "nicht" in German. "Mi lape ala" = "I don't sleep".
  2. For modal verbs, it follows this, as in German. "Mi wile ala lape." = "I don't want to sleep."
  3. But it can also be used as a subject or an object. Then it has the meaning "nothing", e.g. B. “ala li jaki” “Nothing is dirty.” Note that it cannot be combined with the word “ijo”.
  4. The particle “ala” is also used for a variant of questions. "Sina jo ala jo e tomo?" = "Do you have a house?" Here the verb is doubled. In a positive answer only the verb is repeated: "jo", while in a negative answer the verb with the particle "ala" appears: "jo ala".

"Seme" is used for questions with a correct question word. It can mean “who” or “what”.

  1. It is the subject at the beginning of the sentence. "Seme li moku e kili mi?" = "Who ate my fruit?"
  2. It stands as an object after the particle "e" or after the verb. "Sina lukin e seme?" = "What are you looking at?"
  3. After the word "lon" it means "where?" "Pipi li lon seme?" = "Where is the beetle?"
  4. After the word “tan” it means “where from?” Or “why?”. "Sina moku e suwi tan seme?" = "Why did you eat the candy?"
  5. To ask about a person, the word “jan” comes before “seme”. The whole is at the front as a subject. "Jan seme li moku e suwi?" = "Who is eating the candy?" The whole thing stands as an object behind the verb. "Sina lukin e jan seme?" = "Who do you see?"
  6. After other nouns, it means "which one?" "Ma seme li pona tawa sina?" = "Which countries do you like?" "Sina kama tan ma seme?" = "Which country are you from?"

Proper names are adjectives that define the preceding noun more closely, for example "jan Sonja" = "(the) Sonja'sche man: Sonja" - "ma Elopa" = "(the) European earth: Europe" - "toki Tosi" = "(The) German speaking: German".

numbers

The numbers in Toki Pona attest to the minimalist concept of this planned language. There are no numerals from one to ten on which the whole number system is based. This was deliberately avoided in order to make the use of higher numbers more difficult and to return to a simple way of thinking in the spirit of Daoism . All in all, there are  only five number words - taking into account the zero -: 0, 1, 2, 5 and 100.

Designation of body parts in Toki Pona
Digit Numeral in Toki Pona German
00 ala Nothing
01 wan one
02 do two
03 do wan two one
04th do do two two
05 luka five
06th luka wan five one
07th luka do five two
08th luka tu wan five two one
09 luka do do five two two
10 luka luka five five
100 ale (ali) hundred

Higher numbers are even more complicated to form, so that one is happy to dispense with them in a conversation. For example, the number 17 is called “luka luka luka tu” (= five five five two). Incidentally, “luka” is also the word for arm and hand.

Text examples

Our Father

The Lord's Prayer in Toki Pona is given here as a text example :

mama pi mi mute o,
sina lon sewi kon.
nimi sina o sewi en pona.
ma sina o kama.
jan o pali e wile sina en lon sewi kon en lon ma.
sina o pana lon tenpo suno ni e moku tawa mi.
o weka e pali ike mi, sama la mi weka e pali ike pi jan ante.
o pana ala e wile ike tawa mi.
o awen e mi weka tan ike.
ni li nasin.

research

In 2010 the ROILA project of the Technical University of Eindhoven was published. The aim of the project was to research the suitability of planned languages for automatic speech recognition . The ROILA project used Toki Pona as the first version of vocabulary.

Literary results

Lang wrote some proverbs , some poems , and a basic phrase book in Toki Pona. Several other Toki Pona speakers have created their own websites with texts, comics, translated video games, and some songs too.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Toki Pona  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Toki Pona  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Vocabulary list, Toki-Pona vocabulary  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Sonja Lang (2014: 124–135). See the Toki Pona Dictionary for a list of words.
  2. ↑ www-01.sil.org (PDF) Application for ISO 639-3 identification at SIL International .
  3. ↑ SIL International ISO 639-3 Registration Authority: Reject requested creation of new identifier for Toki Pona (PDF) Decision of February 18, 2008.
  4. ^ Official Toka Pona Dictionary , p. 131, entry pona. In: Sonja Lang (2014).
  5. ^ A b c Siobhan Roberts: Canadian has people talking about lingo she created. The Globe and Mail, July 9, 2007, accessed July 20, 2007 .
  6. ^ Siobhan Roberts: Canadian has people talking about lingo she created , The Globe and Mail. July 9, 2007. Retrieved July 20, 2007. 
  7. ^ Second Language Creation Conference 2007 . Dedalvs.conlang.org. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  8. ^ Second Language Creation Conference Handouts (PDF) Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  9. ↑ toki lili: tokilili.shoutem.com . tokilili.shoutem.com. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  10. ^ Proposals for closing projects / Closure of Toki Pona Wikipedia
  11. ↑ Toki Pona Wikipesija on Wikia
  12. ↑ Israel Alves Correa Noletto: Glossopoese- O Complexo e Desconhecideo Mundo That biblioteca24horas, p 143 books.google.de
  13. ↑ Article about the colors ( Memento from July 28, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) on the official website
  14. ↑ Sonja Lang (2014: 37).
  15. ↑ Sonja Lang (2014: 104–111). See also Toki Pona Hieroglyphs for a description of the system and ilo pi sitelen pona for a conversion program.
  16. ↑ Sonja Lang (2014: 72–78). A course can be found on the inventor Jonathan Gabel's website at jonathangabel.com .
  17. ↑ Sonja Lang (2014: 92-103). See also Toki Pona Sign Language for a description of the system.
  18. ↑ List of "progressive" numerals ( Memento from January 13, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) (English)
  19. ↑ Sonja Lang (2014: 37).
  20. ^ Sonja Lang (2014: 125) Official Toki Pona Dictionary . Ale or ali only has this exact meaning as a numerical word, as an adjective it means among other things "all" and as a noun among other things "everything".
  21. ↑ Omar Mubin, Christoph Bartneck, Loe Feijs: Towards the Design and Evaluation of ROILA . Bartneck.de. August 19, 2010. doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-642-14770-8_28 . Retrieved December 11, 2013 .; Human-Computer Interaction - INTERACT 2009: 12th IFIP TC 13 International Conference, Uppsala, Sweden, August 24-28, 2009, Proceedings, Designing an Articficial Robotic Interaction Language , p. 849 ff. Books.google.de ; Advances in Natural Language Processing: 7th International Conference on NLP, IceTAL 2010, Reykjavik, Iceland, August 16-18, 2010, Proceedings, Towards the Design and Evaluation of ROILA , p. 250 ff. Books.google.de
  22. ^ The simple language of good . Toki Pona. October 10, 2009. Retrieved December 19, 2009.
  23. ↑ lipu pi jan Pije . Bknight0.myweb.uga.edu. March 14, 2010. Archived from the original on January 27, 2013. Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 11, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / bknight0.myweb.uga.edu
  24. ↑ sitelen musi pi toki pona . Web.archive.org. May 29, 2008. Archived from the original on May 29, 2008. Retrieved on December 11, 2013.
  25. ↑ tomo pi jan Ke . ( Memento of the original from May 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.freewebs.com