jansegers @jansegers@qoto.org
Webosoof
Joined Oct 2019
Toki Pona Analysis: Parts of Speech
pisceyo | 2019
Heads up: This is a long post!
So, I think there are some misunderstandings of internal / meta Toki Pona structures in the community on both ends. Regarding parts of speech (hereon referred to as PoS), many beginners may get caught up in "can this word be a noun?" or "how do I say X if Y is a verb?" Every language has its parts of speech, and while there are lots of similarities, there are plenty that deal with this matter differently than say, English (a language I believe most in thus sub speak). In this post I'm going to be breaking down what the actual distinct parts of speech are in toki pona. Thank you to my friends on ma pona for helping me clear up some blockages!
1. Content Words
Def.: A word with its own semantic value and range that cannot be used to perform any specialty grammatical or syntactic functions.
Content words are the majority of the dictionary in Toki Pona. Examples include moku, telo, and sinpin. Content words can be the head of a phrase [moku pona], they can modify heads [moku pona], they can be in verb slots [mi moku], etc. They cannot, however, act as particles or any other specialty part of speech to function as anything other than semantic value.
2. Prepositions
Def.: A word that can form new prepositional phrases and heads in a clause, but can also function as a content word and holds semantic value when mediating grammatical functions.
Prepositions are a closed class of the following words: tawa, lon, sama, kepeken, and tan.
These words, as stated in the definition, are unique in that they can function as grammatical/syntactic units, however they also have semantic value. For example: mi moku kepeken ilo trans.: I eat with a fork. mi moku tawa ilo trans.: I eat for a fork. or ona li jan pona sama moku trans.: She is a friend akin to food.
Whether or not prepositions can directly modify heads in all slots is up for debate between differing perspectives. I've seen convincing proof for them modifying heads (plus its not uncommon for people to already do), but I won't discuss that in this post. The semantic value of prepositions also allows them to function as content words, such as: mi tawa (I go) or mi sona ala e tan (I don't know why)
3. Preverbs
Def.: A word that can precede a verb, in contradiction to typical modifier order, to add additional semantic or aspectual information, but can also function as a content word.
Preverbs are very similar to prepositions in some regards. They are specialty words that hold function, while also holding semantic value and the capacity to be a content word.
Some examples of preverbs: wile, kama, lukin. Example sentences: mi wile moku // mi kama lape. As content words: sina wile e seme? // mi kama.
Preverbs are slightly more open, in that there are certain preverbs not explicitly listed that are commonly in use. For example, the usage of alasa as "to try/attempt at," open for "to start to/begin to," etc. Even with these examples, preverbs are still a relatively small closed class of set words.
4. Particles
Def.: A word that can perform grammatical or syntactic functions that has no semantic value or capacity to take on another part of speech
Particles include li, e, en, pi, etc. They function solely for grammatical and syntactic operations. Although each particle performs a separate function, they all demonstrate this behavior. Examples: ona li moku // sina lukin e ni.
Note: pi is the particle equivalent of a neutral preposition. It starts new heads in phrases, but has no additional semantic value between operations. Similarly, li could be said to be the particle equivalent of preverbs.
5. Semiparticles
Def.: A word that performs as a content word, but can also perform specialized grammatical or syntactic functions akin to a particle.
This class of words is much smaller, but because of a few outliers in the behavior of vocabulary, it exists! The semiparticles are: taso and nanpa. Additionally, kin could be said either to be a semiparticle or in the category with a later on, depending on the speaker's usage (more later).
A particle cannot hold any semantic value or act as a content word, right? So then, how does nanpa function in jan nanpa wan ? It is a semiparticle, because nanpa is a content word (meaning numeral, etc), but also performs specialized grammatical function without syntax in converting numerals into ordenals ("first person").
Then there is taso, which is also a content word such as in mi wile e moku taso ("I want only food"). However, it can also act as a conjunction/link between sentences at the beginning of a sentence such as in taso mi wile ala.
Where kin fits in is its usage as a head. The usage of kin varies from speaker to speaker, either being identical in semantics to a, separate in usage but identical in syntactic behavior to a, or as a potential content word and semiparticle.
6. Interjections
Def.: A word or phrase that when isolated can act as an exclamation, response, reaction, etc.
Interjections are potential functions of content words and some particles.
The potential interjections are:
pona, ike, lon, nasa, jaki, pakala, a, o, mu, ken, [content word] pona, sama, suwi, toki, (answer to a yes/no question)*
Example: pona! // lon! // a! sina lon
As in the list of interjections, phrases such as moku pona, tawa pona, etc. that would typically break some kind of grammatical rule (such as the dropping of o) can stand alone.
7. Loaned Adjectives
Def.: A proper name or word that is loaned and acts solely as a modifier to a native Toki Pona content word.
These are pretty self explanatory. Examples include names and proper place names. ma Sonko or jan Salan
Lastly... a or the Emphatic Particles !
a is a special word, in that it is partially an interjection, partially a particle, and maybe a little of something else! It often acts like a modifier, adding emphasis to a word or sentence with a hint of emotional comment as well. However, because it can modify an entire sentence when at the end, this behavior says its not just a content word. It also cannot form its own heads or phrases as all content words can. a doesn't really perform a syntactic operation either. Thus, it gets its own category. One could potentially call it an emphatic particle.
However, a isn't necessarily alone. As most of the community uses it, kin is nearly identical to a in where it appears, except it offers a separate kind of emphasis than a does, without the emotional content.
And that's it! The parts of speech in Toki Pona and their functions. There's a lot of stuff I didn't touch on in this that can break down even further, so I plan on making some more of these analysis posts for different topics. Hopefully this was helpful, feel free to leave questions, comments, or let me know if I left anything out!
https://www.reddit.com/r/tokipona/comments/df0zbi/toki_pona_analysis_parts_of_speech/
International Auxiliary Languages
"That international auxiliary
language is best which in every point offers the greatest facility to the greatest number" - Otto Jespersen, 1908
International Auxiliary Languages (IALs) are languages constructed with the aim of facilitating communication between people who would otherwise have no other language in common. They are usually designed to be significantly simpler, and thus more easily learnt, than national or "natural" languages.
[...]
Here are some links to information on other International Auxiliary Languages. These links should lead you to all the information that is available on each language.
Esperanto - Don Harlow's compendious site.
Virtual Esperanto Library by Martin Weichert.
The International Language Ido maintained by myself.
The International Language Ido: improved Esperanto - Includes English-Ido, Ido-English vocabularies. By Robert Carnaghan.
Novial - Novial-Informatione, maintained by myself.
Novial - Bruce Gilson's pages on the language of Otto Jespersen.
Union Mundial pro Interlingua - Official Website of the Internationalllll Uniion for the IALA's Interlingua.
Interlingua 2001 - Celebrating 50 years of Interlingua. Pages by Thomas Breinstrup and others.
Glosa - Official-looking Glosa site with information in several languages, by Marcel Springer
Glosa - a possible second language for the world by Robin Gaskell.
Occidental - Naturalistic IAL published by Edgar de Wahl in 1922. Pages (partly in Norwegian) by Morten Svendsen.
Cosmoglotta - Electronic journal in Interlingue-Occidental. Pages by Robert Petry.
Latino sine flexione - Nice new pages from Jay Bowks on Peano's "Latin without inflexions".
Basic English - Simplification of English invented by C. K. Ogden. Pages by Jim Bauer.
Volapük - First IAL ever to gain mass acceptance, now looks quite archaic. Pages by Ken Caviness.
Dutton Speedwords - Shorthand system also proposed as an international language. Pages by Robert Petry.
Dutton Speedwords - Internet resource from the New Congress s.Z.
Novial 98 based on the language of Otto Jespersen.
Novial Pro - Novial reform by Marcos Franco.
Latino Moderne - Highly naturalistic Latin-based IAL proposed by David Stark.
Romanova - New naturalistic IAL. Pages by David Crandall and others.
LangX/Lang53 - New project to define a hierarchy of languages. Pages by Antony Alexander.
Lango - Project for an IAL based on a spelling reformed English, by Robert Craig and Antony Alexander.
Ceqli - Language based on English and Mandarin, by Rex F. May
Unish - International language project by Sejong University in South Korea. This site is now the home of the Journal of Universal Language, information on Unish can still be found here
Lingua Franca Nova - Romance-based IAL by Dr. George Boeree
Intal - Novial-like system developed by Erich Weferling
Intal - Le INTernational Auksiliari Lingue - new Intal site by Stefan Fisahn, with complete grammar of Intal
Folkspraak - Germanic-based IAL, presented by the The Folkspraak Institute
Universal Picture Language - context-based picture language, presented by Wally Flint
Aiola - New Esperanto-like project by the Aiola Research Group (ARG)
Blissymbolics - Symbol system by Charles K. Bliss. New activeBliss site courtesy of Matt Landau
Lojban - Logical language developed from James Cooke Brown's Loglan. Presented by the Logical Language Group (LLG)
Esata - Based on English cut down for international use. Including complete description of the language
Sona - by Kenneth Searight, designed with sonority in mind, based on a limited set of "radicals"
Neo Patwa - formerly Dunia Patwa, creole-based system by Jens Wilkinson
Atlango - Esperanto-derived system by Richard A. Antonius
Mondlango - Another Esperanto-based system, this time with a fair helping of English, by He Yafu
Kotava - La langue de communication universelle, aprioristic system developed since 1975
Latinvlo - a development of Stephen Chase Houghton's Master Language, by Paul Bartlett
Medilingua is an attempt to reform Novial in the direction of Interlingua (IALA)
Europaio / Modern Indo-European is a project to revive Proto-Indo-European, with multilingual website
Temenia is an international auxiliary language, or model for constructing one, which is unusual in that it uses the Greek alphabet
Pandunia is a constructed language with a cross-cultural vocabulary and phonology with traits from the most widely spoken languages of the world, by Risto Kupsala
Toki Pona is a constructed language with a limited vocabulary, simple phonology and positive outlook, by Sonja Elen Kisa
Sasxsek - A Language for Earth, a constructed language designed to be used as an auxiliary language, by Dana Nutter
Lingwa de Planeta or LdP, a new project based on world languages such as Chinese, Russian and Arabic. By Dmitry Ivanov and others.
[...]
*** Why Toki Pona? ***
Simple and Natural
Modern languages are cluttered with complex methods to express the simplest things.
What is a geologist but a person who studies the earth? Is there any useful difference between the words talk, speak, and say? Toki Pona breaks down all advanced ideas to their most basic elements. If you are hungry, you want eat. To teach is give knowledge.
This allows us to drastically reduce the vocabulary and grammatical structures needed to say what we have to say. Less is more.
Philosophy
A number of philosophies or principles have inspired me to create a language such as Toki Pona.
Toki Pona is semantically, lexically, and phonetically minimal. The simplest and fewest elements are used to create the maximum effect.
In many ways, Toki Pona resembles a pidgin. When people from different cultures need to communicate, they must focus on the concrete, simple things that are most universal to humanity.
Toki Pona follows the principles of Taoism, which advocates a simple, honest life and noninterference with the course of natural events.
I have also been inspired by primitivists such as John Zerzan, whose writings critique the totality of modern civilization, recognising the superiority of natural, primitive cultures.
Toki Pona can lead to an interesting game of semantic decomposition. Just as one can decompose a mathematical fraction such as 4/8 to 1/2, we can break down language to its most basic and tangible units of meaning and discover what things really mean.
According to reductionism, complex ideas and systems can be completely understood in terms of their simpler parts or components.
Since Toki Pona expresses things in their most natural and simple way, an inherent idea of goodness is transparent throughout the language. Health is good body. Happiness is feel good. Toki Pona itself means good language.
Above all, Toki Pona must be fun and cute. As everything seems to be oversimplified and ideas focus on the good, one could almost imagine a race of little cartoon creatures speaking in Toki Pona.
Cons
By being so general and vague, Toki Pona often lacks the ability to distinguish finer shades of meaning. For example, by lumping every possible bird species into one lexeme waso, we eliminate the need to learn hundreds of vocabulary items, however we are also left incapable of distinguishing between eagles and chickens. The closest translation might be an expression like waso wawa strong bird or waso nasa stupid bird.
Toki Pona has a rather narrow range of functions. Although it is very easy to communicate honest thoughts and everyday activities, it would be impossible to translate a chemical textbook or legal document in Toki Pona without significant losses. Such texts are products of the complex, artificial civilization we live in and are not suited for a cute, little language like Toki Pona.
Although the vocabulary and grammar are very simple, the language does contain a few basic syntax rules that are essential in keeping the sentence structure together. For instance, one must learn that the word li is used to separate the subject from the verb.
Etymology
The vocabulary was borrowed from other languages and adapted to the sounds of Toki Pona. The chief source languages are:
English
Tok Pisin
Finnish
Georgian
Dutch
Acadian French
Esperanto
Croatian
Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese)
[...]
Send comments or questions (in Esperanto, English, French, or German) to my e-mail address
Site last modified: January 2000
Slovio, wenedyk, toki pona i klingoński. 10 najciekawszych sztucznych języków
Łukasz Michalik
Spis treści: 3. Toki pona
Toki pona
Logo toki pona i części ciała w tym języku
Logo toki pona i części ciała w tym języku
Jaki powinien być dobry język? Kanadyjska lingwistka Sonja Elen Kisa doszła do wniosku, że powinien być przede wszystkim tak prosty, jak to tylko możliwe i pozwalać na przekazanie jak najobszerniejszych treści w nieskomplikowany sposób.
Rezultatem takich założeń jest inspirowany taoizmem toki pona ('dobry język'), składający się z 14 głosek i 118 wyrazów. Zgodnie ze wspomnianą przy języku loglan hipotezą Sapira-Whorfa tak prosty język ma ułatwić jego użytkownikom skupienie się na najważniejszych, pozytywnych stronach życia, czemu może służyć np. ograniczenie liczebników. W toki pona jest tylko jeden, dwa i wiele.
Jak brzmi tak minimalistyczny język? Oto przetłumaczona na toki pona modlitwa „Ojcze nasz”:
mama pi mi mute o, sina lon sewi kon.
mi wile e ni: nimi sina li sewi pona.
mi wile e ni: ma sina li kama.
mi wile e ni: ali li pali e wile sina lon sewi kon lon ma.
tenpo suno ni la o pana e moku tawa mi.
o weka e sona pi pali ike mi sama ni: mi weka e sona pi pali ike
pi jan ante.
o pana ala e wile ike tawa mi.
o awen e mi weka tan ike.
ni li nasin.
https://gadzetomania.pl/2725,slovio-toki-pona-i-klingonski-10-najciekawszych-sztucznych-jezykow,3
Curieux ?
Créatif ?
Utopiste ?
Pionnier ?
En recherche d'originalité ?
Boostez votre créativité en regardant la vie autrement. Ouvrez vous à une autre approche du monde. Une approche simple. Simpliste ?...
Osez l'aventure : découvrez le toki pona. Rien à voir avec la peinture ?... Peut-être pas !... Par exemple les couleurs sont construites à partir des trois primaires. Ce langage simplifié pourrait rejoindre la technique du croquis dans son approche schématique et minimaliste. Pour une vision plus globale, personnelle. Ou comment échanger sur ce qui nous entoure avec des moyens extrêmement limités ?
Un langage à la portée de tous. Peut-être la langue internationale de communication du futur... En tout cas, un exercice audacieux et intéressant sur une vision du monde et la manière dont nous l'exprimons à travers des mots.
Le maximum d'efficacité avec le minimum d'effort d'apprentissage.
Un alphabet succinct de 9 consonnes et 5 voyelles, flexible par rapport à la prononciation.
Une énonciation facile, qui évite les incertitudes.
Un vocabulaire volontairement limité à 120 mots. Le petit dictionnaire toki pona – français abrégé que j'ai rédigé tient sur une page A4.
Une grammaire extrêmement simplifiée.
Un apprentissage ludique et rapide. Ce n'est pas la mer à boire. Il est surprenant de voir comment dès que l'on commence, on a l'impression que la vie pourrait être simple, et l'apprentissage d'une langue, naturel.
Même si vous n'allez pas jusqu'au bout, le fait de vous interroger sur notre vocabulaire, nos règles grammaticales sera déjà une expérience enrichissante ou une parenthèse curieuse.
Osez essayer le toki pona !
En français :
http://lvogel.free.fr/tokipona/lecons.html
http://fr.wikibooks.org/wiki/Toki_pona
En anglais :
http://tokipona.org/ le site officiel
http://rowa.giso.de/languages/toki-pona/english/lessons.php http://rowa.giso.de/languages/toki-pona/english/toki-pona-lessons.pdf
« L’Arbre de l’Unité en Toki Pona », pour s’amuser
par libre fan - 4 janvier 2018 - 12:03pm
categories:Culture libre
tags:Sonja LangToki PonaPepper&Carrot
Voici un essai de traduction de l’épisode 24 de Pepper&Carrot en Toki Pona, petite langue réjouissante et reposante inventée par une linguiste canadienne, Sonja Lang, en 2001.
Le Toki Pona est une langue bien différente de l’Esperanto mais comme l’Esperanto, c’est une langue construite et très astucieuse.
Pepper&Carrot en Toki Pona ?
Il ne s’agit pas, pour moi en tous cas, de commencer à traduire tout Pepper&Carrot. Simplement, je trouve que cet épisode se prête bien au Toki Pona, qui ressemble un peu à un Pidgin. D’autres épisodes, comme « la Dent de Dragon » (n° 14) ou « Le Sage de la montagne » (n°16) ou encore « Le Souhait » (n°7), rendraient peut-être bien aussi en Toki Pona.
« L’Arbre de l’Unité » en Toki Pona
Ma tentative de traduction en Toki Pona d’un épisode de Pepper & Carrot « L’Arbre de l’Unité » doit sans doute être corrigée et améliorée mais surtout ne commencez pas à tout vouloir traduire. Le sens et la beauté du Toki Pona, c’est sa simplicité et son renoncement à tout exprimer et à mettre la vie et le monde en coupe réglée.
De plus, la paix et l’unité sont le but de cette langue. Pourtant, elle est paradoxale en apparence car elle est à peu près dénuée de mots se rapportant à ces idéaux. En revanche, les batailles, les conflits, le manque d’harmonie et d’entente, le bruit, les destructions et les catastrophes, les blessures, les tueries et la mort, s’expriment très facilement.
Dans « L’Arbre de l’Unité », l’idéal exprimé dans le titre n’est pas atteint et c’est plutôt le bazar le plus complet qui s’exprime librement. En réalisant la belle image de son sapin de l’Unité, l’apprentie-sorcière provoque dans la réalité une sorte de monstre d’exhubérance qui a échappé à sa baguette magique et qui transforme les 5 personnages en décorations de Noel. On imagine le travail des baguettes magiques des trois marraines pour tout remettre en ordre. Joyeux Noel et bonne année Icon wink
[...]
Linguistics Olympiad
[...]
Toki Pona Toki Pona is a constructed language, created in 2011 by the Canadian linguist Sonja Elen Kisa. Her aim was the language to be a minimal language, undervaluing the empty and abstract communication such as the ones of politicians and bureaucrats and pointing more directly to the concrete human life experiences. Therefore, the language makes use of only 123 words, with roots coming from different language families. What follows is a list of some words and expressions in Toki Pona and, out of order, their English translations: kiwen suno jelo, tomo tawa telo, jan Powi, ilo suno, telo jelo, jan ilo, jan toki, supa lape, supa moku, ma tomo, wile moku, tawa, nasin linja, wile pona, telo kiwen, lipu toki, wile lawa, linja lawa, tomo moku, linja kiwen prophet, well-intentioned, hair, lantern, ice, robot, boat, thorn, hungry, Boris, book, piss, city, bed, orthodoxy, movement, restaurant, dominant, dinner table, gold 1. Do the right associations between the words and translations. 2. Give the translation of all the simple Toki Pona words used in the compounded words and expressions of this problem. 3. How would you translate literally the name of the language? Problem by Bruno L’Astorina for the Brazilian Linguistics Olympiad 2012
https://mafiadoc.com/ancient-greek-linguistics-olympiad_59c5374d1723dd2b1c9e6710.html
International Journal of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Vol. 1, No. 1, August 2016 Publish Date: Jul. 21, 2016 Pages: 28-34
The Study of Machine Translation Aspects Through Constructed Languages
Evangelos C. Papakitsos1, *, Ioannis Giachos2 |
1Department of Education, School of Pedagogical and Technological Education, Iraklio Attikis, Greece
2Department of Linguistics, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
http://files.aiscience.org/journal/article/html/70580008.html#reference_14
#TokiPona #lipu_sona #uniwesita #ante_toki #pana_toki #translation #anno2016
Toki Pona discord gathering this Saturday 23rd 14:00 PST. jan Sonja will be along :)
(Deutsch/English below)
toki!
kulupu Discord "ma pona pi toki pona" la tenpo suno tu tu kama la kulupu toki uta en kulupu toki sitelen li lon kulupu Discord. jan Sonja li lon ni. ken la kulupu suli sama ni li pona, li musi.
sina ken toki. sina ken sitelen. sina ken kute. ale li pona.
ken la tenpo kama mute la kulupu toki li lon.
pona tawa sina :)
jan /u/sitelen_ike
------
Hallo!
Wir (Discord-Typen) werden was ausprobieren. Das heißt: eine große Toki-Pona-Chat-Session zu haben. Es wird diesen Samstag um 23 Uhr Berlinzeit auf'm Discord passieren, und soll Spaß machen. Jan Sonja wird auch dabei. Du musst nicht sprechen, du kannst auch durch schreiben oder einfach hören/lesen teilnehmen :) Das Ziel, wenn diesen Samstag gut geht, wäre das monatlich zu machen, für Leute die echtzeitige Kommunikation (alias "quatschen") durch Toki Pona üben wollen, aber nicht so viel Zeit haben im Discord allgemein rumzufaulenzen.
------
On the ma pona pi toki ponadiscord this Saturday the 23rd at 14:00 PST there'll be a two hour Toki Pona voice-chat session on discord. jan Sonja will be partaking, and I think it could be fun if a big group could hang out (you don't need to do voice chat if you don't want to, text will also be ok :) ). The goal eventually is to have this be a monthly scheduled activity. There's already regular voice-chat on the discord, but an organised hour every so often might be a nice addition.
https://www.reddit.com/r/tokipona/comments/dybn9w/toki_pona_discord_gathering_this_saturday_23rd/
#TokiPona #Discord #kulupu_toki #janSonja #anno2019
NB I missed it myself ...
16th October 2010 | Draft
Re-Emergence of the Language of the Birds through Twitter?
Harmonising the configuration of pattern-breaking interjections and expletives
[...]
Philosophical languages: a particular form of artificial language of potential relevance is philosophical language, namely those constructed from first principles, like a logical language, possibly with a strong claim to absolute perfection or transcendent truth rather than satisfaction of pragmatic goals. Especially suggestive are the vocabularies of oligosynthetic languages composed of compound words coined from a small (theoretically minimal) set of morphemes.
* The minimal (oligoisolating language) Toki Pona, designed by Sonja Elen Kisa, focuses on simple concepts and elements that are relatively universal among cultures in order to express maximal meaning with minimal complexity. The language, inspired by Taoist philosophy, has 14 phonemes and a vocabulary of some 120 root words. The root vocabulary is designed around the principles of living a simple life without the complications of modern civilization.
* Of related interest is Zaum, the linguistic experiments in sound symbolism and artistic language creation of Russian Futurist poets such as Velimir Khlebnikov and Aleksei Kruchenykh. Some of Khlebnikov's work has been explicitly related to the Language of the Birds. (Jennifer Wilson, Transrational Language: a revolution in semiotics -- Khlebnikov and Kruchenykh's experiments with cubo-futurism, The Birch, Fall 2005). Zaum has been linked to the Oulipo initiative -- whose creative "absurdity" is of current relevance to governance (Lipoproblems: developing a strategy omitting a key problem, 2009).
[...]
Subject:
Re: Conlanging with constraints
From:
Jörg Rhiemeier <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To:
Constructed Languages List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 17 Feb 2008 13:35:05 +0100
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
Parts/Attachments
text/plain (76 lines)
Hallo!
On Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:59:46 -0800, Sai Emrys wrote:
> I'm considering a topic for a talk at a future LCC, about conlanging
> with constraints.
>
> A literary allusion that comes to mind is that of the Abbe in Count of
> Monte Cristo, responding to the future Count's suggestion that as a
> free man is inventiveness might have known no bounds, to say that it
> were the bounds themselves that made him inventive.
>
> Drushek, Kēlen, and Toki Pona are some examples that come to mind
> offhand as being in some sense formed by the constraints within which
> they flourish - voicelessness, verblessness, and complicatedlessness
> (hee).
>
> What are other examples?
>
> How have you experienced your conlanging as being influenced (for
> better or for worse) by constraints imposed upon it, of whatever
> source? What constraints do you have, and whence derived? Why have you
> imposed them? What constraints have you considered trying?
>
> Please consider this a completely open-ended question (i.e. pretend I
> asked you the right question to elicit the most interesting answer
> :-P).
Each time an artist creates a work of art, he has to decide what
to do and what NOT to do. So you always have "constraints" of
some sort. In a conlang, you usually start with setting up a
phonology - by which you get a set of constraints determining
which word shapes may occur in your conlang and which may not.
You get further constraints when you decide on the morphology,
the syntax, etc.
My main conlang projects are meant to be naturalistic, and thus
naturalism is the main constraint for them. So, I would not have
a stack-based syntax, an oligosynthetic structure, a taxonomic
vocabulary, or anything else one would not expect to meet in a
human natlang.
Further constraints result from the intended position of the
language in question in the human language tree. Germanech,
for instance, is meant to be a Romance language that underwent
similar sound changes as German (High German sound shift) - this
means that it is guided by the application of a Grand Master Plan
derived from the historical phonology of German to Vulgar Latin.
That actually is quite much of a constraint that leaves little
freedom in the construction of the language.
I am working more freely in my Albic languages, but even there,
I have set myself similar constraints. The individual Albic
languages are linked to each other by a system of regular sound
changes, so as soon as I determine the shape of a word in one
of them, the shapes of its cognates in the other Albic languages
fall out from those rules automatically. Of course, a cognate
may have been lost and replaced by a word of different origin
in a particular language, or its meaning may shift, but most
of the words are determined by the interplay of the Proto-Albic
word form with the sound changes of the various Albic languages.
In my experimental engelangs, I use different constraints from
language to language. X-1, X-2 and X-3 all have (different)
self-segregation rules. In X-1, the valency of a predicate word
is equal to its length minus 2: a triliteral word is unary, a
quadriliteral word is binary, etc. In X-3, all native morphemes
are exactly one phoneme long (the language is oligosynthetic,
so I get by with a large but not utterly unmanageably large
phoneme inventory). However, none of these projects have
progressed much beyond the basic idea, as I find the constraints
rather difficult to follow through, and I feel that naturalistic
languages work better for me than engelangs.
... brought to you by the Weeping Elf
https://listserv.brown.edu/archives/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0802C&L=CONLANG&P=R1629
Learning Toki Pona
December 4th, 2009 in Earth (Literature), Water (Personal) and Wood (Spiritual)
I’m learning Toki Pona. Most people seem to think Toki Pona is a massage technique, some sort of tantric practise, or a musical instrument.
It must be the Polynesian-sounding name, but it’s more exciting than that!
Toki Pona is a constructed language, similar to its more famous relatives such as Esperanto and Interlingua. Anyone who knows me is probably smiling wryly, as I’ve also announced on this blog that I’ve been learning Mandarin, Xhosa and Spanish at various times. The fact that on Wednesday I thought someone speaking Spanish was actually speaking Italian tells you how far those have got.
But Toki Pona looks interesting, and achievable.
I’ve been interested in constructed languages for a while, with Interlingua previously being my favoured choice. The reason was mainly pragmatic, with it being my understanding that learning Interlingua is more useful for picking up other natural languages than the more widely spoken Esperanto.
Interlingua didn’t even get as far as an announcement on my blog.
But Toki Pona is different. It’s not the mind speaking, or the desire to visit Taiwan or Argentina, or have a better understanding of my own city. This is love! Toki Pona is a new language first published in 2001. Its designer is a young linguist and translator who has previously translated the Tao Te Ching into both English and Esperanto.
The well-known Sapir-Whorf hypothesis states that the language we use affects the way we think about the world. One of the more famous examples provided is the Hopi concept of time. Hopi language apparently treats time as a single process rather than distinct, countable units. It doesn’t therefore have any nouns for units of time, and the theory goes that this language construct is fundamental to all aspects of Hopi culture and explains certain behaviour differences.
Toki Pona is inspired by Taoist thought, and its goal is to shape our thought in a Zen-like fashion. The language is extremely simple (a key point of attraction for me!), and highly ambiguous. There are only 120 root words, so a sentence such as mi moku could mean I eat, I ate (there are no tenses) or I am food (the word could be a verb or a noun), amongst others.
The idea is to focus on the essence rather than the detail, which can be divisive in Zen thought.
Counting is similarly simple. There’s only ala (zero), wan, tu (say them out loud!) and mute (many).
The idea is that higher numbers are abstract and disconnected from reality. Are 978 seeds any different conceptually to 992? Toki Pona is described as embracing the natural flow of the universe and looking at the deeper patterns of reality.
It’s simplicity also helps to clarify certain problematic concepts. Take a bad friend for example. In Toki Pona, a friend is literally a good person, so the concept of bad friend is problematic. We’re forced to re-evaluate and perhaps not become judgemental so easily.
Sounds to me like toki pona li toki pona. Let’s see how it goes.
knarka | 2017
nasin.md
lipu pi nasin pona lon toki pona
nasin pona
toki. ni li lipu pi nasin pona lon toki pona. toki Sonko la nimi ona li "Daodejing" (anu "Tao te ching", kepeken ilo pi sin ala).
tenpo ni la lipu ni li pini ala. sina li wile pona e ijo la o toki tawa mi lon ilo IRC.
1
nasin li jo e nimi la
ona li nasin ala pi tenpo ale
nimi pi ken nimi li
wile ante tan tenpo
ala la mi nimi e tan pi ma en sewi
lon la mi nimi e mama pi ijo ale
ala li pona: mi ken lukin e ante nasin
lon li pona: mi ken lukin e ken nasin
tu la, ala en lon li kama tan tan sama
nimi ona li ante, pana ona li sama
sona ala lon sona ala
ni li open pi lon kin
2
jan lon anpa sewi
li lukin e "pona lukin" lon ijo pi pona lukin tawa ona.
kepeken ni la ona li sona e "ike lukin"
sama la ona li lukin e "pona" lon ijo pi pona tawa ona.
kepeken ni la ona li sona e "ike"
jan li ken sona e lon e ala tan ni: ijo ante li ante.
sama la, suli li pana sona tawa lili, ante la sewi tawa anpa.
kalama li wan la wan li lon.
wan li tawa, tu li kama.
tan ni la jan sona li pilin ala e ni: ona li jo e wile.
ona li pana sona e sona pi toki ala.
ona li toki ala, taso la soweli li pona.
jo li lon ala, taso la sewi li jo e ale.
tenpo pi ijo suli la pilin suli ala li lon.
tenpo pi pali la wile lukin li lon ala.
sina wile ala jo e suli la sina weka ala e suli.
3
jan lawa sona li pana sama e pona tawa jan ken en jan ante.
ni la ona li weka e utala.
ona li toki e ni: mani li suli ala.
ni la jan pi wile jo li kama ala.
ona li wile pini e kama mani
ni la lawa pi jan ona li kama ike ala.
tan ni mute la lawa pi jan sona
li pona e wile lon pi jan ona.
ona li weka e wile tan lawa ona
li pali e wawa insa ona.
ona li wile awen e pona pi lawa ona
li weka e wile ona.
ni la jan sona li kama sona e ni:
nasin ike ona li pali ala.
jan sona li pali e lawa pona la
ala li weka tan ma pona ona.
4
nasin li sama e telo pi tawa lili.
tenpo ale la ona li pana e wawa ona li pakala ala.
ni li sama e lupa suli suli lon kiwen.
mi mute li ken ala sona e ni, taso la ken la ni li tan ale.
ona li ken suwi e kiwen
li pona e utala
li pimeja lili e suno pakala
li wan e tu.
sona ala la, jan seme li sona e lon ona?
tenpo ni la mi sona e jan lili ala pi ni:
ona li sama e mama suli mi pi nasin pona.
5
sewi en ma li pona ala
li pali tawa ale sama soweli kasi pi pana sewi.
jan sona kin li pona ala.
lukin ona la jan ale li ante ala soweli kasi pi pana sewi.
insa pi sewi en ma
li ma mute.
sama la ma li lon lupa.
tomo ni li lupa li ante ala.
sina pali mute tawa ni la
ona li pana e kon mute
nimi li mute kin li kama tawa pini ona. pona la sina pilin ala pona anu ike li tawa e nasin lili.
6
pilin kama pona
li lon. nimi ona li meli pi ken ala sona.
open pi meli pi ken ala sona li
tan pi sewi en ma.
tan ni la, ken lukin ala la, taso la pini ala la,
wawa li tawa.
7
sewi en ma li pini ala.
ni li lon tan ni: ona li pali ala e ona.
sama la jan sona
li wile ala suli e sijelo ona.
nasa la sijelo ona li pona tan ni.
sijelo li sama ijo ante tawa jan sona.
tan ni la sijelo ona li pini ala.
ona li jo ala e sama la
ona li sona e sama ona lon anu seme?
8
jan pona li sama telo. telo li pana e lon tawa soweli ale li utala ala e ona li tawa ma ike. sama la jan pona li wile tawa ma ike ni la ona li lon poka nasin.
o pali pona e tomo sina,
o pali sona e lawa sina,
o pali pona tawa jan ante ala,
tenpo ale la o toki lon,
o lawa pona,
o pali pona:
ni la sina open e tenpo pona.
ni la nasin lon pi utala ala.
ni la jan li jo ala e ike e nasa.
9
sina jo e ijo mute pi wile sina la ni li pona.
taso la sina weka e ona la ni li pona mute.
sina pona mute e ilo kipisi la
ken la ni pakala.
sina li jo e mani mute lon tomo sina la
jan pi wile jo li kama.
sina jo e mani li pilin pona tan ni la
pini la sina pilin ike.
sina pini e ijo la o pini.
sina li pali e ni la sina sama nasin.
https://gist.github.com/knarka/fc961395b49b8c23ce2188d5a0e85ed6
#TokiPona #DaoDeJing #TaoTeChing #translation #ante_toki #anno2017
Re: Re: The Ultimate Test for Toki Pona
Postby Jonathon Blake » Sat Aug 14, 2004 12:06 pm
Phillip wrote:
> Being vague is built into the language
That describes several manuals for computer software I have.
>makes it very easy to utter vague platitudes
Which is why the DaoDeJing in Toki Pona is even more obscure than in Chinese.
xan
jonathon
Re: The Ultimate Test for Toki Pona
Postby frpeterjackson » Sat Aug 14, 2004 9:12 am
--- In tokipona@yahoogroups.com, Philip Newton <philip.newton@g...>
wrote:
> On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 22:28:22 -0700, Jonathon Blake
> <jonathon.blake@g...> wrote:
> > An Office Suite, or other software, that has _everything_ in Toki
> > Pona. Help files, documentation, skin,etc.
>
> Um. I don't think that would be usable.
>
> Documenting things require that you be precise. Toki Pona is not
about
> being precise. It's about "the simple things of life".
>
> Being vague is built into the language - "pona" means "good" as
well
> as "simple", for example, and that's (to me) just one example of
what
> makes it very easy to utter vague platitudes such as "ale li pona"
but
> hard to differentiate precise shades of meaning.
>
> I believe that it may be possible by connecting enough words
together
> to shrink the range of possible meanings to what you want to
specify,
> but that would make things so verbose that you would have to read
very
> much text, which may not even fit into the screen layout of the
office
> software.
>
> How would you say "file", for example? "ijo pi awen ijo" - "thing
for
> keeping things"?
>
> So basically, I think you'd either have to be vague or be verbose.
(Or
> use tons of foreign words, which kind of undermines the spirit of
Toki
> Pona.)
>
> Cheers,
> --
> Philip Newton <philip.newton@g...>
One of the joys of Toki Pona is finding ways to say things in just a
few words, and sometimes it's surprising how few words it takes. I
know that the idea behind TP was to make it all but impossible to
express subtleties, but I keep finding that TP is capable of more
than we usually credit it with.
toki pona li ken toki e nimi pi toki Inli kepeken nimi mute lili
lili. ni li pana e pilin pona tawa mi. tenpo mute la jan li ken
kepeken e nimi tu anu tu wan taso. jan li pali e toki pona tawa ni:
jan pi toki pona li ken ala toki e ijo pi pilin suli. taso mi kama
jo e ni: toki pona li ken pali e mute. jan mute li pilin e ni: toki
pona li ken pali e lili taso.
BTW, "file" can be simply "kulupu lipu".
jan Pita
The Ultimate Test for Toki Pona
Postby Corey » Fri Aug 13, 2004 10:01 pm
Hey everyone,
Well, I think I'll give a quick overview of my latest project, what
I think will be the ultimate test for Toki Pona's simplicity.
I have recently convinced my brother (11 years old) to study Toki
Pona with me for use in the countless times when we need to converse
without being understood. He absolutely loathes grammar in general,
and has never desired to study a foreign language despite all my
attempts to change his mind. I will admit that it took no small
amount of bribery (I'll play and enjoy your favorite video game with
you if...) and convincing (It's easy! I swear! And think of all the
insults we can hurl at people with them being none the wiser!) to
get him to accept.
I've given him a few lessons on pronunciation and slowly been spoon-
feeding him the lessons on Pije's site. The first phrase I taught
him was "toki pona li pona tawa mi". I told him it in passing, had
him repeat it for pronunciation practice, then forgot it. To my
complete surprise, ten minutes later he walked up to me, grinned,
and said, "toki pona li pona tawa mi!". If my brother can remember a
phrase like that for more than ten minutes, anyone can learn Toki
Pona.
I am very happy that he is actually enjoying the language, but it
has been a strong test of my patience as he constantly forgets
words. My dream is to someday be at a level where we can quickly and
fluently speak with each other about things that could otherwise be
overheard. Although I know this goal could be quite far away, I hope
that in the long run it will help us.
Anyways, that was just a quick report to show taht if my brother
wants to learn TP, then ANYONE should be able to do it easily. I may
decide to give a report in a few weeks about his progress.
mi tawa!
-jan Kowi
jan lawa pi lipu "www.tokipona.bravehost.com"
o lukin e lipu mi!
http://forums.tokipona.org/viewtopic.php?t=280
#TokiPona #experiment #pali_open #learning #kama_sona #jan_sama_lili #anno2004
3 октября 2008 в 03:23
Самый полезный искусственный язык
Изучение языков
Дорогие интеллектуалы!
Сегодня я хочу вам рассказать про искусственный язык. Не морщьтесь, не эсперанто. Эсперанто — лишь клуб по интересам, маркер «я интеллектуал», причём не первой свежести. Язык, о котором мы будем сегодня говорить, построен по совершенно другому принципу и с совершенно другими целями. И самое главное то, что в этом языке всего 120 слов, более того, большинство из них похожи на английские, французские, русские, а ещё в этом языке всего около десятка правил грамматики, практически нет орфографии, пунктуации и правил произношения. На изучение словарного запаса и грамматики требуется один выходной день или несколько раз по восемь часов в будние дни (откуда и когда их взять, не спрашивайте;))
Токипона (toki pona) разработана в начале 21-го века канадским лингвистом Соней Элен Кисой. Toki – это «язык, речь», а pona означает «хороший, добрый»: соответственно, токипона — это «добрый язык». По словам автора, язык не предназначается для международного общения. Это научный и философский инструмент. Токипона создана как игровая площадка для задорных экспериментов с гипотезой Сепира-Уорфа о том, что язык определяет мышление и мировоззрение. Если в мифическом Оруэлловском обществе людям потихоньку перекрывали свободу при помощи новояза, если в нашем с вами обычном мире можно было создать современный лицемерный язык СМИ со всякими «миротворческими операциями», «развивающимися и развитыми странами», «девушками лёгкого поведения» и др., нельзя ли создать язык на основе простых понятий, фокусирующийся на добре, мире и гармонии? Будет ли человек, говорящий на языке добра, становиться добрее?
Токипона — это мыслительное упражнение, которое всегда под рукой. Универсальная игрушка для интеллектуала. Как сказать на токипоне «хочу, но не могу» или «от любви до ненависти — один шаг» или просто «демократия»? А можно ли так вообще сказать? А почему? И такие вопросы будут посещать вас постоянно. Вы начинаете смотреть на вещи под другим углом, с другой стороны, с изнанки, в привязке к другим вещам; выявляете закономерности и наоборот, хватаете за хвост ложные закономерности. И сами становитесь чуть-чуточку Сепиром и Уорфом, начинаете экспериментировать: «А что, если ребёнка изначально воспитать, не обучая его слову «ложь»? Сможет ли он врать?»
А ещё токипона — это насмешка. Грубая и неприкрытая насмешка над общепринятыми критериями интеллекта. Ведь это самый простой и самый сложный, самый глупый и самый умный язык одновременно. Вы можете за полдня выучить этот язык до уровня «читаю со словарём», а затем посвятить полжизни доведению его до совершенства. А самая главная насмешка даже не в этом. Острая ирония токипоны состоит в том, что в конце концов мы понимаем: она не сильно беднее других языков в сравнении с бесконечной палитрой наших переживаний. Мы мучаемся, пытаясь сказать на токипоне «серая вислоухая собака» или «сядь на автобус, а не на троллейбус», но мы в равной степени мучаемся, пытаясь передать другу на нашем родном русском языке, как хорошо нам было в звёздную, но всё ещё тёплую августовскую ночь замереть на мосточке на берегу озера на пятнадцать секунд и послушать тишину, а затем вдохнуть полной грудью и задрать голову вверх полюбоваться на плеяды. Мы мямлим «было чудесно» или «ах, как хорошо!» или «п*дато», но в сущности… не та же ли это pona, просто в более вычурных одеждах?
Всем заинтересовавшимся:
Официальный сайт
Википедийная статья
Учебник онлайн
Удачи всем и любви!
A 123-Word Language That Can Be Learned In Under A Week
And its creator hopes it can help you chill.
https://archive.is/4qxYv
#TokiPona #article #lipu_sitelen #anno2019 (estimate)
Two Facebook reactions:
Kobi Kai Calev
between 4 and 6 weeks, of real usage - I'd say. I think toki-pona is (also) a great language learning étude, it helped me see, how fast I acquire vocabulary, how each grammar point changes my application of the language; and it's useful to this day.
some of Sonjaaa's older online publications - were really inspirational at the time, very idiosyncratic, 'teenage-like', fresh and raw. we're very lucky to have this language around. it went through enough iterations in the real world to be forged into a real language, and not just a bunch of unintuitive contradictory rules, etc.
Paul Bartlett
Different individuals learn at different rates and have varying amounts of time to devote to learning. Therefore, it seems to me to be a little out of bounds to tell someone, "You can learn this language in X amount of time," although it might be legitimate to assert that TP can be learned in general in less time than some other constructed languages.
the-music-man® schrieb am 8.5. 2009 um 11:00:28 Uhr über
Toki-Pona
Um 80 Prozent aller geschriebenen Texte zu verstehen, genügen dem Durchschnittsleser rund 1000 Wörter der jeweiligen Sprache. Doch Sonja Elen Kisa (geboren 1978) wären diese 1000 Wörter vermutlich schon viel zu komplex. In ihrer Arbeit als Übersetzerin (Englisch, Französisch, Esperanto) hat die Kanadierin sich mehr als einmal über die Kompliziertheit der Sprachen geärgert und versuchte seitdem, ihren inneren Sprachfrieden zu finden. 2001 veröffentlichte sie das Ergebnis: Die minimalistische Plansprache „toki pona“ (zu deutsch: „Die gute Sprache“).
toki pona zur Einführung
Der Minimalismus beginnt schon beim Alphabet. Während sich mit a, e, i, o und u noch alle Vokale wiederfinden, hat sich die Zahl der Konsonanten auf neun verringert. J, k, l, m, n, p, s, t und w reichen vollkommen aus. Viele Schüler würden sich vermutlich über diese Vereinfachung freuen. Nur noch das halbe Alphabet lernen!
Weiter geht der Minimalismus auch in Sachen Phonologie. Die Vokale werden nur lang ausgesprochen (wie in „Vater“ oder „Hof“) und die Konsonanten bleiben im Vergleich zum Englischen oder Deutschen lautlich unverändert.
Auch die erste toki pona-Regel zur Rechtschreibung ist wenig kompliziert: Wörter werden stets klein geschrieben, auch am Satzanfang. Einzige Ausnahmen bilden so genannte unoffizielle Wörter, also Eigennamen von Personen, geografische oder auch fremdsprachliche Bezeichnungen. Weiter geht es mit den Wortarten. Hier gibt es ebenfalls keine großen Überraschungen: Substantive, Verben, Adjektive, Adverbien, Konjunktionen und Präpositionen. Alles wie gewohnt. Doch wie kommt nun der geringe Wortschatz zustande? Das Rezept scheint simpel:
Zutat 1: Man verpasst jedem Wort in toki pona zahlreiche Denotationen. So heißt in etwa „suli“ nicht nur „lang“ oder „groß“, sondern auch „wichtig“. Oftmals ist die Wort- oder Satzgliedstellung eines Wortes für dessen tatsächliche Bedeutung entscheidend.
Zutat 2: Die geschickte Kombination von Wörtern erspart extra Bezeichnungen. Zum Beispiel wird aus „jan“( „Mensch“) und „pakala“ („verletzt“) „jan pakala“, also ein „Opfer“. Dabei ist der Anzahl der kombinierbaren Wörter nach oben keine Grenze gesetzt.
Zutat 3: Numerus, Genus und Kasus werden kurzerhand abgeschafft (übrigens wie im Japanischen).
Zutat 4: Weiterhin entfallen Konjugation und Deklination komplett.
Zutat 5: Das ach so wichtige Wörtchen „sein“ fehlt und damit auch sämtliche Zeitformen. Ein Satz kann gleichzeitig die Vergangenheit, Gegenwart oder Zukunft beschreiben (siehe Grafik).
Die Auswirkungen dieses Rezeptes sind klar: Der Sprecher muss sich genau auf seine Aussage konzentrieren und seinen Fokus stets auf das Wesentliche richten. Für den Hörer soll so automatisch deutlich werden, welche Bedeutung tatsächlich gemeint ist.
Kann man in toki pona nun wirklich verständliche Sätze bilden? Ja, man kann. Ein typischer toki pona-Satz besteht aus einem Subjekt und einem Verb oder Adjektiv (Beispiel: „mi awen.“ - „Ich warte./Wir warten.“). Komplizierter wird es bei komplexen Sätzen. Hierzu musste die Sprachentwicklerin Sonja Elen Kisa in die Trickkiste greifen. Damit man Subjekt, Objekte, verschiedene Verben oder auch Adverben und Adjektive voneinander unterscheiden kann, gibt es drei hilfreiche Wörtchen:
1. Mehrere direkte Objekte: „mi moku e kili e telo.“ - „Ich nehme Wasser und Früchte zu mir.“ Das „e“ zeigt an, dass „kili“ und „telo“ beides direkte Objekte sind und zu dem Verb „moku“ gehören.
2. Mehrere Verben: „waso li lukin li moku.“ - „Der Vogel schaut und isst.“ Das „li“ macht also deutlich, dass die beiden Verben „lukin“ und „moku“ sich auf das gleiche Subjekt „waso“ beziehen.
3. Kombination von Substantiven und Adjektiven: „jan pi pona lukin.“ - „Ein gut aussehender Mensch.“ Ohne das „pi“, hieße der Satz: „Der Mensch sieht gut.“
Diese drei Wörtchen haben also keine eigene Bedeutung, verhindern aber innerhalb komplexer Sätze ein Verständnischaos. Dennoch ist ihr Gebrauch sehr gewöhnungsbedürftig.
Doch das waren noch lange nicht alle Besonderheiten von toki pona. Wer mehr erfahren möchte, dem seien die Homepages www.tokipona.org und http://rowa.giso.de empfohlen.
Die Lehren von toki pona
Was sind nun die Vor- und Nachteile von toki pona? Der größte Vorteil ist sicherlich die sehr kurze Lernzeit. Bereits nach einem Monat regelmäßigen Übens ist es möglich, toki pona mitsamt seinen 120 Vokabeln und seinen grammatischen Regeln zu beherrschen. Und für den alltäglichen Kaffeeklatsch reicht der Wortschatz allemal, doch für mehr auch nicht. An komplexen Begriffen scheitert die Sprache. Denn die 120 Basiswörter türmen sich sehr schnell auf zu tausenden (teilweise willkürlichen) Wortkombinationen, die wegen ihrer Mehrdeutigkeit nur schwer zu fassen sind.
Aber toki pona hat auch nicht den Anspruch, eine neue Weltsprache zu werden. Niemand hat vor, Goethes „Faust“ in eine Minimalismusversion zu übersetzen. Vielmehr basiert toki pona auf den Lehren des chinesischen Taoismus. Die Beschränkung auf das Wesentliche bringen mehr Glück, als der Versuch der Komplexität und Hektik dieser Welt nachzurennen. Die Sprache soll in ihrem Ursprung und damit in ihrer Einfachheit verstanden werden. toki pona steht für sprachliche Bescheidenheit. So wird wohl niemand seine Doktorarbeit in toki pona verfassen. Aber jeder, der nicht nur die Regeln, sondern auch den Geist dieser Sprache begriffen hat, wird von sich sagen können: „toki pona li pona tawa mi.“ - „Ich mag toki pona!“
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Topic: Sewi Jan! - A Toki Pona Game of Linguistic Magic (Read 5303 times)
notquitethere
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Sewi Jan! - A Toki Pona Game of Linguistic Magic
« on: August 21, 2015, 07:53:14 am »
You are wizards, holy folk, the Sewi Jan. Each of you knows two words in the arcane language of Toki Pona. With these two words you can change your environment by altering the fundamental building blocks of reality. Together you will go on quests for the people of Ma who will reward you with new words.
Setting
Ma is in crisis. Irresponsible and cruel Sewi Jan from before have made a mess of the universe with their bizarre sense of humour. People have forgotten what magic is and have been tricked into spending their lives toiling for others rather than existing as transcendental energy beings. The last good sewi jan, the toki pona kulupu - the good language committee - have banded together to teach a few words to a new generation of speakers. You are those speakers. If you prove yourself, they will gift each of you with new words as you further the quest to transform the world back to its greater sense of pona.
Character Creation
Name: [this is your name]
Lexus: [pick two words from this list. At least one of them has to be a transitive verb (vt) and at least one has to be a noun (n).]
Colour: [Put your speech in different colours. Red is reserved for magic.]
Background: [The game is set in a contemporary but unspecified city. Tell us a bit about yourself!]
Gameplay
There will be a list of quests with known word rewards. Whoever satisfactorily completes a quest first will get the word. Treat this like any normal roleplaying game, you can do anything a normal human can do. The exception is when you use magic: to speak arcane words, embolden in red like so: Jaki Esun!. The potency of the magic is determined by how many words you know in total (so effects aren't very far reaching to begin with). The precision depends on how clear your intentions are. Generally you'll use your magic to do things ordinary people cannot to achieve your unusual quests.
In the beginning, the following word orders are valid:
Verb - Object (shake cat, heat rice, raise bar etc.)
Verb - Modifier Object (shake small cat, heat white rice, raise steel bar etc.)
Verb - Object Modifier (shake cat explosively, heat rice hotter, raise bar quickly etc.)
Verb - Modifier Object Modifier (shake small cat explosively etc.)
As you grow in power you will learn new and more potent combinations.
Players
Spoiler: Sharayna (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Shaon (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Alurjo (click to show/hide)
Webosoof
Joined Oct 2019
