Toki Pona

[neoni]

i thought this was the coolest thing over the summer, but i can't remember any of it. i'll try to convince a friend to learn it one day, i don't want to just talk to myself in it.

what's happening with the book? the website still says it'll be out in 2008

[ILuvEire]

i thought this was the coolest thing over the summer, but i can't remember any of it. i'll try to convince a friend to learn it one day, i don't want to just talk to myself in it.

what's happening with the book? the website still says it'll be out in 2008

Yeah, I know! I'm going to join the Yahoo group and figure out what's going on!

[arpee]

I asked the creator of this language in LiveJournal and she replied "It will be out sometime in 2009 but, next month I will make an update"

Note: She replied sometime in February. Next month from February is March and yet there is still no update.

I can't wait for the book. It's really going to prove Toki Pona to be a full and complete language. The book will have so many features:

* 76 lessons
(from complete beginner to advanced level)
* Official Toki Pona dictionary
(the 120 words, from a to wile, fully explained with ample examples of usage, including 2 bonus words)
* Foreign words
o Rules
o World atlas
o Other ethnic groups
o Religions
o Common people names
o Tokiponization guidelines
* Grammatical encyclopedia
(complete reference to dozens of different topics and facets of the language explained, including...)
o Toki Pona hieroglyphs
(a more traditional-looking writing system)
o Toki Pona sign language
o the Tuki Puna dialect
* Comics and stories
(plenty of all-new comics to sit back and read)
* English-to-Toki Pona dictionary
(how to translate thousands of English concepts to Toki Pona)
* Accompanying CD
(all-new songs composed in Toki Pona, with lyrics included)

[ILuvEire]

The only reason I want the book is so that I can see some of that Toki Pona sign language. I've been thinking about making something like that up, based on BSL and ASL, but if Sonja already did that, then I'll just use hers.

[piskku]

toki! mi jan Pisku. sina pona ala pona?

In another post I sugest the use of some "foreign" words that are like universal, my family comes from Argentina and we have Italian ancestry, we use the word "tata" to call my grandpa, so I sometimes uses the word "tata" to say father in tokipona since the word mama right now means mother and father, and that is ridiculous. You need to use the word "mije" wich means male and so you say: mama mije (mother man) XD ok enough
It´s good to be sex gender neutral but this is extreme!

I have a personal proyect to build a small ecovillage or anarchist community, and some of my friends don´t speak spanish wich unfortunatly is my first language (I hate spanish! haha) and as you can see my English is poor. If this proyect is completed, I want to establish an international or "something like that" language in this community, right now I have simpathy towards toki pona, but other languages like esperanto seems more practical.
I ask you this: if you could help developing tokipona into a more advanced version of itself would you help? I mean, in an interview Sonja said that tokipona is a living thing and it has to evolve

So I suggest a new word: tata do you have any other ideas?

nimi tata li pona tawa mi! sini pilin ala pilin e sama?

mi tawa!

[piskku]

raisakabello send me a nice scrap with the use of toki pona with is 118 words only.

mama - father (ok how I know you are talking of your dad and not of your mom, you must use mije)
CORRECT: "mama mije" - mother man (father)

pona e - clean that (pona is not clean it means postiviness, coolness and in extreme urgency to make something good, to fix, there is no clean in toki pona, see why it needs to evolve?)
CORRECT: pona e - fix that

the other stuff you send me is correct your tokipona is amazing in comparation with mine, you said if you change tokipona it will no be tokipona anymore, you are right
as I said before I want to make an advanced version of it, for example: spanish is not the same as latin right? so TOKIPONA(LATIN)------->NEWTOKIPONA(SPANISH)
All languages even Esperanto had evolve, tokipona will evolve and spawn other languages because it´s simplicity and coolness make it a perfect "start point" to other languages.

Thanks for your scrap raisakabello! pona!

[rasikabello]

pona e - clean that (pona is not clean it means postiviness, coolness and in extreme urgency to make something good, to fix, there is no clean in toki pona, see why it needs to evolve?)
CORRECT: pona e - fix that

The idea is that the word 'pona e' is to make something good. For example,

mi wile pona e tomo mi tan ni: kulupu mama mi li kama tawa tomo mi a!
I want to 'good/fix' my home because my family is coming to my house!

The context and idea is to make something of uplifting quality or in a state of beneficial wholeness, completeness. Cleanliness is just a natural part of something fixed or good.

I'm just a toki pona purist.
mi kin wile awen e toki pona pi mama Sonja.

[ILuvEire]

Pona o Wasikapelo! Mi sona ala e nimi "la." seme sina ken "help" e mi sona? Kin, seme nimi tawa "help?"
Hi Rasikabello! I don't understand "la." Can you help me understand? Also, what's the word for "help"?

[rasikabello]

Can you help me understand?
sina ken ala ken pana e sona tawa mi.
you can no can give e knowledge to me?

Yes or no questions are usually in the formation of 'verb ala verb.' For example,

sina moku ala moku. You-eat-no-eat?
moku. Yes, I ate.
moku ala. No, I have not eaten.

sina wile ala wile kama sona e toki pona.
you-want-no-want-come-know-e-toki-pona?
Do you want to learn toki pona?
wile. Yes, I want to learn.
wile ala. No, I do not want.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'seme' or 'what' is a little tricky. See the following sentences.

What is your name?
nimi sina li seme.
name-you-li-what?
Your name is what?

Where is Ajelawaje?
jan Ajelawaje li lon ma seme.
person-ILuveEire-li-in-place-what.
ILuveEire is in what place?

Who are you?
sina seme.
you-what.
What/who are you?

When is the party?
tenpo nasa li lon tenpo seme.
time-crazy-li-on-time-what?
Crazy time is at what time?

Why do you eat?
sina moku tan seme.
you-eat-because'of-what?
You eat because of what?

mi moku tan ni: mi wile pana e moku tawa insa mi.
I eat because I want to give my stomach food.

How do you sleep?
sina lape lon nasin seme.
you-sleep-in-way-what.
You sleep in what way?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To say help, ususually it is said like this:

sina ken ala ken pana e pona tawa mi?
Can you help me?

o pana e pona tawa ona!
Help him!


To help is to 'pana e pona tawa' or 'to give good/fixings to'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'la' is also a little complex.

The easiest construction is that 'la' is used for time clauses.

tenpo ni - now
tenpo kama - future
tenpo kama lili - recent future
tenpo kama mute - far future
tenpo pini - past
tenpo pini lili - recent past
tenpo pini mute - long time ago
tenpo suno - day
tenpo suno ni - today
tenpo suno pini - yesterday
tenpo suno kama - tomorrow
tenpo mun - month
tenpo mun ni - this month
tenpo mun pini - last month
tenpo mun kama - next month
tenpo sike - year
tenpo sike ni - this year
tenpo sike pini - last year
tenpo sike kama - next year

So, for example: tenpo suno pini la mi tawa tomo moku poka mije mi. Yesterday, I went to a restaurant with my husband.

Second usage, but more rarely, it is used for birthday references! To say how old one is, it is usually a number, followed by 'sike e suno' or 'circle the sun.'

tenpo luka luka luka luka la mi sike e suno. I am twenty years old.

Third usage, it is used for subjective phrases. Which translates to "If/When.... then...."

mi moku la mi pilin pona. If/When I eat, I will feel good.
sina kama jo e supa lape la lape sina li kama pona. If you get a bed, then your sleep will improve.

Fourth usage, which is new to me, is as an adverbial phrase. These are to modify the entire sentence, as opposed to the verb only.

ken la - maybe
ike la - badly, unfortunately
pona la - fortunately
sama la - similarily
nasa la - foolishly
ante la - otherwise, on the other hand

ken la mi ken kama sona pona e toki pona.
Maybe I can learn toki pona well.

I hope that helps!

tan jan Lasika.

[Centrismo]

with 117 words woudl this not make TP nearly devoid of grammar?

Anyone interested in turning this into a practice thread?

Surprisingly, not, it does have grammar. The grammar is just very easy.

mi wile toki pi toki pona!

wouldn't it be "mi wile toki e toki pona"? e instead of pi, because pi is used for other things, not for direct object

[arpee]

An interesting update to Toki Pona!

The official Toki Pona site now looks like wikipedia!

There are new words! Here is a list (including esun, pan):

Code: Select all

esun - commerce (market, shop, etc.), social event, social gathering
alasa - to gather (resources/food), to hunt (animals)
kipisi - to cut
monsuta - a threat, a monster/human prey, object of fear
namako - accessory, something extra, season (noun/verb), to stimulate, to excite, cure
pan - cereals (grain, bread, pasta, rice, etc.)
pu - comma, semi-colon

Origins of some of the new words:

Code: Select all

esun - Akan, from edwamu [edʒum] 'at market', from dwa [dʒwa] 'market')
namako - Hindi (namaka/salt)
pan - Cantonese (fan/rice), Spanish/Portuguese (pan)
monsuta - English (Monster)?

The new words when used in compound:

Code: Select all

mama kipisi: co-founder
ilo alasa: bow, rifle, spear, trap, etc.
pilin monsuta: phobia
kule namako: cosmetics, make-up
esun kala: fish market

Not much info on "pu" yet.

Note: I've decided to revive this topic since it had more content than the other.

[TeneReef]

Toki Pona sounds like basic/simplified Malay

[RubyH]

I read about this some years ago, I think it's really original and sweet.

I find these simple things more boring.

[''']

my interest is piqued again. Is it a useable lang yet?