Toki Pona: Difference between revisions

| pronunciation    = {{IPA-all|ˈtoki ˈpona|}}

| family          = [[constructed language]], combining elements of the subgenres [[personal language]] and [[philosophical language]]

| setting          = testing principles of [[minimalism]], the [[Linguistic relativity|Sapir–Whorf hypothesis]] and [[pidgin]]s

| posteriori      = [[a posteriori language]], with elements of [[English language|English]], [[Tok Pisin]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[Georgian language|Georgian]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Acadian French]], [[Esperanto]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]]

| iso3            = none

'''Toki Pona''' ({{IPA-all|ˈtoki ˈpona}}; {{IPAc-en|lang|ˈ|t|oʊ|k|i|_|ˈ|p|oʊ|n|ə}}) is a [[Philosophical language|philosophical]] [[Artistic language|artistic]] [[constructed language]] (or philosophical artlang) known for its small vocabulary. It was created by Canadian linguist and translator Sonja Lang<ref name=":8">{{Cite news|last=Morin|first=Roc|date=2015-07-15|title=How to Say (Almost) Everything in a Hundred-Word Language|work=[[The Atlantic]]|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/07/toki-pona-smallest-language/398363/|access-date=2019-08-01}}</ref> for the purpose of simplifying thoughts and communication. It was first published online in 2001 as a draft,<ref name=":6" /> and later in complete form in the book ''Toki Pona: The Language of Good'' in 2014.<ref name=":14">{{Cite web|last=Thomas|first=Simon|date=2018-03-27|title=Exploring Toki Pona: do we need more than 120 words?|url=https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2018/03/27/toki-pona-invented-language-120-words/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511184141/https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2018/03/27/toki-pona-invented-language-120-words/|archive-date=2019-05-11|access-date=2019-02-03|website=Oxford Dictionaries}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Lang|first=Sonja|title=Toki Pona: The Language of Good|publisher=Tawhid|year=2014|isbn=978-0-9782923-0-0|pages=134}}</ref> A small community of speakers developed in the early 2000s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Roberts|first=Siobhan|date=2007-07-09|title=Canadian has people talking about lingo she created|language=en-ca|work=[[The Globe and Mail]]|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/canadian-has-people-talking-about-lingo-she-created/article20399052/|access-date=2017-03-10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Јовановић|first=Тијана (Tiyana Yovanovich)|date=2006-12-15|title=Вештачки језици|trans-title=Artificial languages|url=http://www.politikin-zabavnik.co.yu/tekst.php?broj=2862&tekst=04|archive-url=https://archive.today/20070610173202/http://www.politikin-zabavnik.co.yu/tekst.php?broj=2862&tekst=04|url-status=dead|archive-date=2007-06-10|journal=Политикин Забавник (Politikin Zabavnik)|language=sr|issue=2862}}</ref> While activity mostly takes place online in chat rooms, on social media, and in other groups, there were a few organized in-person meetings during the 2000s<ref name=":6" /> and 2010s.

The underlying feature of Toki Pona is [[minimalism]]. It focuses on simple universal concepts, making use of very little to express the most. The language is [[Isolating language|isolating]] and has around 123 [[root word]]s and 14 [[phoneme]]s<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":6" /> that are easy to pronounce across different languages. However, it was not created to be an [[international auxiliary language]]. Inspired by [[Taoist philosophy]], the language is designed to help users concentrate on basic things and to promote positive thinking, in accordance with the [[Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis|Sapir–Whorf hypothesis]]. Despite the small vocabulary, speakers are able to understand and communicate with each other, mainly relying on context and combinations of several words to express more specific meanings.

The name of the language is constituted by {{lang|mis|toki}} (language),<ref name=":21">{{Cite web|date=2009-09-28|title=Toki Pona word origins|url=http://en.tokipona.org/wiki/Etymology_of_Toki_Pona_words|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20100308091122/http://en.tokipona.org/wiki/Etymology_of_Toki_Pona_words|archive-date=2010-03-08|website=tokipona.org}}</ref> derived from [[Tok Pisin]] {{lang|tpi|tok}}, which itself comes from English "talk"; and {{lang|mis|pona}} (good/simple), from [[Esperanto]] {{lang|eo|bona}} (good),<ref name=":21" /> from Latin {{lang|la|bonus}}.

Sonja Lang ({{née|Sonja Elen Kisa}}) started developing Toki Pona as a way of simplifying her thoughts during depression.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="latimes" />

An early version of the language was published online in 2001 by Sonja Lang, and it quickly gained popularity.<ref name=":0" /> Early activity took place in a [[Yahoo! Groups|Yahoo! group]]. Members of the group discussed the language with one another in English, Toki Pona, and Esperanto, proposed changes, and talked about the resources on the ''tokipona.org'' site. At its peak member count, the group had a little over 500 members. Messages in the group were archived in the Toki Pona forum using [[phpBB]].[[File:Toki Pona The Language of Good.jpg|thumb|286x286px|Cover of ''Toki Pona: The Language of Good'' (2014)]]

In 2008 an application for an [[ISO 639-3]] code was rejected, with a statement that the language was too young.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020|title=Change Request Documentation: 2007-011|url=https://iso639-3.sil.org/request/2007-011|access-date=2020-06-05|website=iso639-3.sil.org}}</ref> Another request was rejected in 2018 as the language "does not appear to be used in a variety of domains nor for communication within a community which includes all ages".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://iso639-3.sil.org/request/2017-035|title=Change Request Documentation: 2017-035|website=SIL ISO 639-3|access-date=2019-01-10}}</ref>

Toki Pona was the subject of some scientific works,<ref name=":6" /> and it has also been used for artificial intelligence and software tools,<ref name=":4" /> as well as a therapeutic method for eliminating negative thinking by having patients keep track of their thoughts in the language.<ref name=":0" /> In 2010 it was chosen for the first version of the vocabulary for the [[Robot Interaction Language|ROILA]] project. The purpose of the study was to investigate the use of an artificial language on the accuracy of [[Speech recognition|machine speech recognition]], and it was revealed that the modified vocabulary of Toki Pona significantly outperformed English.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Mubin|first1=Omar|last2=Bartneck|first2=Christoph|last3=Feijs|first3=Loe|date=2010|title=Towards the Design and Evaluation of ROILA: A Speech Recognition Friendly Artificial Language|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221418730|journal=Advances in Natural Language Processing|series=Lecture Notes in Computer Science|volume=LNCS 6233/2010|pages=250–256|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-14770-8_28|citeseerx=10.1.1.175.6679|isbn=978-3-642-14769-2|via=ResearchGate}}</ref>

Toki Pona has nine [[consonant]]s ({{IPA|/p, t, k, s, m, n, l, j, w/}}) and five [[vowel]]s ({{IPA|/a, e, i, o, u/}}),<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":0" /> shown here with the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] symbols. Stress falls on the initial syllable of a word. There are no [[diphthong]]s, [[contrasting pair|contrasting]] [[vowel length]], [[consonant cluster]]s (except those starting with the [[nasal coda]]), or [[tone (linguistics)|tones]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Blahuš|first=Marek|date=November 2011|editor-last=Fiedler|editor-first=Sabine|title=Toki Pona: eine minimalistische Plansprache|trans-title=Toki Pona: A Minimalistic Planned Language|url=http://www.interlinguistik-gil.de/wb/media/beihefte/18/beiheft18.pdf#page=51|journal=Interlinguistische Informationen|language=de|location=Berlin|volume=18|pages=51–55|issn=1432-3567}}</ref> Both its sound inventory and [[phonotactics]] are compatible with the majority of human languages, and are therefore readily accessible.<ref name=":14" />

! !! [[labial consonant|Labial]]!![[coronal consonant|Coronal]]!![[dorsal consonant|Dorsal]]

|<span style="font-size:125%;">{{IPA link|m}}</span>||<span style="font-size:125%;">{{IPA link|n}}</span>||

|<span style="font-size:125%;">{{IPA link|p}}</span>||<span style="font-size:125%;">{{IPA link|t}}</span>||<span style="font-size:125%;">{{IPA link|k}}</span>

|  ||<span style="font-size:125%;">{{IPA link|s}}</span>||

|<span style="font-size:125%;">{{IPA link|w}}</span>||<span style="font-size:125%;">{{IPA link|l}}</span>||<span style="font-size:125%;">{{IPA link|j}}</span>

! !![[Front vowel|Front]]!![[Back vowel|Back]]

|<span style="font-size:125%;">{{IPA link|i}}</span>||<span style="font-size:125%;">{{IPA link|u}}</span>

![[Mid vowel|Mid]]

|<span style="font-size:125%;">{{IPA link|e̞|e}}</span>||<span style="font-size:125%;">{{IPA link|o̞|o}}</span>

| colspan="2" |<span style="font-size:125%;">{{IPA link|ä|a}}</span>

[[Image:Pronunciation Toki Pona.png|thumb|Alphabet chart|220x220px]]14 [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] letters, ''a e i j k l m n o p s t u w'', are used to write the language. They have the same values as in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]]:<ref name=":6" /> ''j'' sounds like English ''y'' (as in [[German orthography|German]]) and the vowels are like those of [[Spanish phonology|Spanish]]. Capital initials are used to mark [[Proper noun|proper adjectives]], while Toki Pona roots are always written with lowercase letters, even when they start a sentence.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":9" />

Besides the Latin alphabet, which is the most convenient and most used way of writing the language,<ref name=":6" /> two [[Logogram|logographic]] writing systems, {{Lang|mis|sitelen pona}} and {{Lang|mis|sitelen sitelen}}, were later introduced and included in ''Toki Pona: The Language of Good''. The former, in which each word is represented by a symbol, was devised as an alternative by Lang herself.<ref name=":2" /> It has been described as "a hieroglyphic-like script that makes use of squiggles and other childlike shapes"<ref name="Smith" /> {{See below|[[#sitelen pona|list of sitelen pona glyphs]]}}. Proper names are written inside a [[cartouche]]-like symbol using a series of symbols, where each symbol represents the first letter of its word. Symbols representing a single adjective may be written inside or above the symbol for the preceding word that they modify. The symbol of the language is written in {{Lang|mis|sitelen pona}},<ref name="Smith">{{cite news |title=Toki Pona – The language of good |url=https://www.pressreader.com/australia/smith-journal/20190603/282660393885733 |access-date=2019-10-20 |work=Smith Journal |date=2019-06-03 |location=Melbourne, Australia}}</ref> with the symbol for {{Lang|mis|pona}} written inside the symbol for {{Lang|mis|toki}}.

For example, interjections such as {{lang|mis|a}}, {{lang|mis|ala}}, {{lang|mis|ike}}, {{lang|mis|jaki}}, {{lang|mis|mu}}, {{lang|mis|o}}, {{lang|mis|pakala}}, {{lang|mis|pona}}, {{lang|mis|toki}}, etc. can stand alone as a sentence.<ref name=":16" />

Statements follow the normal structure of ''subject-predicate'' with an optional {{lang|mis|la}} phrase at the beginning. The word {{lang|mis|li}} always precedes the predicate unless the subject is a {{lang|mis|mi}} or {{lang|mis|sina}}. The direct object marker {{lang|mis|e}} comes before direct objects. More {{lang|mis|li}} and {{lang|mis|e}} markers can present new predicates or direct objects. [[Vocative case|Vocative]] phrases come before the main sentence and are marked with {{lang|mis|o}} at the end of the phrase, after the addressee.<ref name=":16" /><ref name=":4" />

In commands, the word {{lang|mis|o}} comes before a verb to express a second person command. It can also replace {{lang|mis|li}}, or come after the subjects {{lang|mis|mi}} or {{lang|mis|sina}}, to express wishes.

There are two ways to form [[Yes–no question|yes-no questions]] in Toki Pona. The first method is to use the "verb {{lang|mis|ala}} verb" construction in which {{lang|mis|ala}} comes in between a duplicated verb, auxiliary verb, or other [[Predicate (grammar)#Predicators|predicators]].<ref name=":16" /> Another way to form a yes-no question is to put {{lang|mis|anu seme?}} ({{lit|or what?}}) at the end of a sentence. Questions cannot be made by just putting a question mark at the end of a sentence.

[[Non-polar question]]s are formed by replacing the unknown information with the [[interrogative word]] {{lang|mis|seme}}.<ref name=":4" />

Toki Pona has basic pronouns: {{lang|mis|mi}} (first person), {{lang|mis|sina}} (second person), and {{lang|mis|ona}} (third person).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.suburbandestiny.com/?p=239|title=Toki Pona: Pronouns unleashed|last=Martin|first=Matthew|date=2007-09-11|website=My Suburban Destiny|access-date=2019-01-25}}</ref>

With such a small root-word vocabulary, Toki Pona relies heavily on noun phrases, where a noun is modified by a following root, to make more complex meanings.<ref name="latimes">{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-conlang24aug24,0,4155484,full.story|title=In their own words – literally / Babel's modern architects|last=Dance|first=Amber|date=2007-08-24|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=2007-08-29|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130103134152/http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-conlang24aug24,0,4155484,full.story|archive-date=2013-01-03}}</ref> A typical example is combining {{lang|mis|jan}} (person) with {{lang|mis|utala}} (fight) to make {{lang|mis|jan utala}} (soldier, warrior). {{See below|{{section link||Modifiers}}}}

Most Toki Pona roots come from [[English language|English]], [[Tok Pisin]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[Georgian language|Georgian]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Acadian French]], [[Esperanto]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]], with a few from [[Chinese language|Chinese]] ([[Standard Chinese|Mandarin]] and [[Cantonese]]).<ref name=":21" /><ref name=":9" />

Signed Toki Pona, or {{Lang|mis|toki pona luka}}, is a [[Manually coded language|manually coded form]] of Toki Pona. Each word and letter has its own sign, which is distinguished by the hand shape, location of the hand on the body, palm or finger orientation, and the usage of one or both hands. Most signs are performed with the right hand at the required location. A few signs, however, are performed with both hands in a symmetrical way.

The language is fairly known among Esperantists, who often offer courses and conversation groups at their meetings.<ref name=":6" /> In 2007, Lang reportedly said that at least 100 people speak Toki Pona fluently and estimated that a few hundred have a basic knowledge of the language.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Marsh">{{cite news|title=Now you're really speaking my language|last1=Marsh|first1=Stefanie|date=2007-09-06|work=[[The Times]]|location=London, England|page=2}}</ref> One-hour courses of Toki Pona were taught on various occasions by the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] during their [[Independent Activities Period]].<ref name=":0" />

The language is used mainly online on social media, in forums, and other groups.<ref name="Marsh"/> Users of the language are spread out across multiple platforms. A [[Yahoo! Groups|Yahoo! group]] existed from about 2002 to 2009, when it moved to a forum on a [[phpBB]] site.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fakelinguist.wakayos.com/?p=861|title=Conlang SE|last=Martin|first=Matthew|date=2018-03-11|website=Fake languages by a fake linguist|access-date=2019-10-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tokipona/|title=tokipona Toki Pona|date=2019-10-20|website=Yahoo! Groups|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430061813/http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tokipona/|archive-date=2013-04-30|access-date=2019-10-20}}</ref> For a short time there was a Wikipedia written in Toki Pona (called {{Lang|mis|lipu Wikipesija}}). It was closed in 2005<ref name=":5">{{Cite news|last=van Steenbergen|first=Jan|date=2018|title=A new era in the history of language invention.|work=Linguapax Review|url=https://www.linguapax.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Linguapax_Review_2018_revisio%CC%81MC-complet-1.pdf}}</ref> and moved to [[Wikia]].

Two large groups exist on [[Facebook]]—one designated for conversation in Toki Pona and English, and the other for conversation in only Toki Pona.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Knežević|first=Nenad|date=2018|title=Constructed languages in the whirlwind of the digital revolution|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328135114|journal=Језик, књижевност и технологија / Language, Literature and Technology: Proceedings from the Sixth International Conference at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, 19–20 May 2017|publisher=Алфа БК универзитет (Alfa BK univerzitet)|pages=16|isbn=978-86-6461-023-0|via=ResearchGate}}</ref> In 2019, the most subscribed group, in which members communicate in both English and Toki Pona, had over 4,000 total members.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal|last=Zorrilla|first=Natalia C.|date=2018|title=Still Hoping: The Relation of International Auxiliary Languages to Worldview and Perception|url=https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/sj24a/|journal=SocArXiv|doi=10.31235/osf.io/sj24a}}</ref><ref name=":5" />

Another influential group existing on [[Discord (software)|Discord]] is called {{Lang|mis|ma pona pi toki pona}}''.'' It has over 2000 members as of October 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Join the ma pona pi toki pona Discord Server!|url=https://discord.com/invite/Byqn5z9|access-date=2020-07-09|website=Discord}}</ref>

</blockquote>{{col-begin}}

</blockquote>{{col-n}}{{col-end}}

*{{Cite book|title=Toki Pona Stories: akesi seli lili|year=2020|isbn=979-8637271252|trans-title=The Little Dragon}}{{refend}}

*{{Official website|http://tokipona.org/}} – The creator's website.

*{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200320191326/http://tokipona.net/tp/janpije/dictionary.php |date=March 20, 2020 |title=Toki Pona Dictionary }}

*[https://aiki.pbworks.com/f/tp+in+76+lessons+English.pdf toki pona in 76 Illustrated Lessons]

*[https://tokipona.fandom.com/wiki/Where_is_Toki_Pona_used%3F Where is Toki Pona used?] – A [[Wikia]] page with many links to Toki Pona related websites.

 

[[Category:2001 introductions]]

[[Category:Constructed languages]]

[[Category:Constructed languages introduced in the 2000s]]

[[Category:Artistic languages]]