lipu-sona/pages/tokipona/index.md

% toki pona (WIP course)
% /dev/urandom
% march 2020

This is the a series of pages comprising an attempt at an educational course
about *toki pona*, a constructed language originally designed in 2001 and
then gradually revised over the years by Sonja Lang.

The language is designed around the ideas of minimalist design and simplifying
one's thoughts, with complicated ideas being broken into their basic components.
As a result, the language is considered to be incredibly easy to learn, with
some people claiming to be able to read it after only days and achieving fluency
within a week or two.

With an official vocabulary of around 120 words (plus some new additional
words created in the community), a simple grammar and an easy-to-learn phonology,
learning toki pona is, in fact, a relatively simple challenge, even compared to
other simplified constructed languages, such as Esperanto.

However, with that simplicity also come limitations. Many words have multiple
meanings, and a lot of phrases or sentences are ambiguous without context.
Expressing many concepts and ideas in toki pona will require one to come up with
their own phrases or rephrase them completely (which, as mentioned before, is
part of the language's idea).

The language is also designed to be easy to use regardless of one's native
language. The sounds and syllable structure used in toki pona are distinct from
one another and common across many languages, whereas the vocabulary features
words borrowed from many languages across the world.

# About this course

There are several good sources to educate yourself about toki pona available
already. The most important (and best, in my opinion), is the [official toki
pona book](https://tokipona.org/) (also known as "pu") published in 2014 by
Sonja Lang herself. It is not free, but it's a well-written book with lots of
additional texts to read and it explains the language very well.

Another useful resource is the online course ["o kama sona e toki
pona!"](http://tokipona.net/tp/janpije/okamasona.php) (learn
toki pona!) by Bryant Knight (aka "jan Pije"). It has some differences in how it
uses certain words, and the past versions of the course have attracted some
controversy, but it's also a well-made course.

My goal here is to try and present a version that tries to account for the
different ways people speak and write toki pona and the way it is being used
now. My personal style is mostly based on "pu", but with slight adjustments, but
other styles will be covered as well. 

The page numbered zero will provide basic info on the language's spelling and
pronunciation, and each page past that will introduce 10 new words.

## Table of Contents
* [page 0 - spelling and pronunciation](0.html)
* [page 1 - basic sentences](1.html)
* [page 2 - adjectives](2.html)
* [page 3 - verbs and objects](3.html)
* [page 4 - oh no! more vocabulary](4.html)
* [page 5 - this and that](5.html)
* [page 6 - prepositions and locations](6.html)
* [page 7 - interjections, questions, commands and names](7.html)
* * [page 7a - more about making unofficial words](7a.html)
* [page 8 - colorful language](8.html)
* [page 9 - (WIP) complex adjectives and contexts](9.html)
* [page 10 - pre-verbs and time](10.html)
* [page 11 - (TODO) numbers](11.html)
* [page 12 - (TODO) the final countdown](12.html)
* [page x1 - (TODO) community additions](x1.html)