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Case 8: Meet the Conlangers, right

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(Middle left) Sonja Elen Kisa

Creator of Toki Pona

Canada

Especially for this exhibit, Sonja Elen Kisa described herself as "a 29-year-old Queer Acadian (French-Canadian) woman currently living in Toronto, Canada. She designed the minimal language Toki Pona in 2001 after a period of depression, as she sought to simplify her life and find the true meaning behind things. She is currently studying to become a speech-language pathologist." Kisa was the subject of an article in The Globe and Mail, a major Toronto newspaper, in July 2007. According to that source, around 100 people speak Toki Pona fluently, mostly in chat rooms and blogs. Even more interesting are the facts that a "Colorado programmer is developing an apocalyptic computer game with Toki Pona as the spoken language [and an] Israeli-German singer and member of the Stuttgart Chamber Choir is including it in a concert of musical pieces composed in constructed languages, alongside Esperanto and Star Trek's Klingon." An example of the language is the proverb "Nasin ante li pona tawa jan ante: Different ways are good for different people (i.e. different strokes for different folks)."

The Babel Text in Toki Pona

1.ma ali li jo e toki wan en sama.

2.jan ali li kama tan nasin pi kama suno, li kama lon ma Sinale, li awen lon ni.

3.jan li toki e ni: "o kama! mi mute o pali e kiwen tomo, o seli e ona."

4.jan mute li toki e ni: "o kama! mi mute o pali e ma tomo e tomo palisa suli. lawa pi tomo palisa li lon sewi kon.

5.o nimi pi mi mute li kama suli! mi wile ala e ni: mi mute li kan ala. mi mute li lon ma ali."

6.jan sewi Jawe li kama anpa, li lukin e ma tomo e tomo palisa pi jan lili mute.

7.jan sewi Jawe li toki e ni: "jan ni li jo e ma wan, li jo e toki sama, li pali e tomo palisa. tenpo ni la ona mute li ken pali mute ike. mi wile tawa anpa, mi pakala e toki pi jan mute ni. o jan li sona ala e toki pi jan ante."

8.jan sewi Jawe li pali e ni: jan ali li poki ala jan, li lon ma mute, li ken ala pali e ma tomo.

9.nimi pi ma tomo ni li Pape tan ni: jan sewi Jawe li pakala e toki pi jan ali. tan ma tomo Pape la jan sewi Jawe li tawa e jan tawa ma mute.

(www.omniglot.com/babel/tokipona.htm)
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flickr.com/photos/26418663@N05

@jansegers Hi, i need to know if these posts are automated and/or monitored, asking as an admin/mod.

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