Conlang Quest
Fourth Language Review: Toki Pona
2013
Toki Pona is based on the ideals of simplicity of thought. This seems fitting as it is immediately apparent that no complex thought went into the development of Toki Pona at all.
Toki Pona is seventh circle of ambiguity hell. I imagine that it’s very easy to learn, since many words can potentially mean lots of different things. Here are a few examples:
suno <- Sun, or Shiny/Something that shines, Day [2][1]
pona <- Good, great, cool, thanks [1]
suno pona <- A greeting that apparently can mean “good day” … it could also mean: “good sun, cool sun, great sun, thanks sun, good shiny something, cool shiny something, great shiny something, thanks shiny something”
GAH!
The grammar, as per usual, also doesn’t protect against syntactical ambiguity (much like Esperanto, Ido, or any other constructed language that I’ve reviewed thus far).
All in all I do like one aspect of the language… honesty
A classic example of this can be seen when translating to plain English the doublespeak that large organizations use to manipulate and dehumanize people:
“downsizing” mass firing of employees
“collateral damage” killing of civilians
“pre-emptive war” invasion of a foreign country
http://en.tokipona.org/wiki/What_is_Toki_Pona%3F
Summary
I find that Toki Pona would be an incredibly easy to learn language for very simple communication. It does not provide many, if any, scientific or industry terms. It’s limited, easy and as a result: ambiguous. If you’re looking for a more complete and more widely spoken language that’s also easy to learn, again, I suggest Ido.
[2] http://en.tokipona.org/wiki/suno
[1] http://en.tokipona.org/wiki/What_is_Toki_Pona%3F
https://conlangquest.tumblr.com/post/33991762544/fourth-language-review-toki-pona
