diff --git a/pages/tokipona/8.md b/pages/tokipona/8.md index 6fcd809..6ffc79e 100644 --- a/pages/tokipona/8.md +++ b/pages/tokipona/8.md @@ -1,23 +1,105 @@ -% toki pona page 8 - interjections, questions, commands +% toki pona page 8 - interjections, questions, commands and names % /dev/urandom % march 2020 The vocabulary for this page: -| word | meaning | derived from | -|---------|---------------------------------|----------------------------------| -| a | (emotional interjection) | n/a | -| anu | or (for yes/no questions) | Georgian "an" (or) | -| mu | (any animal sound) | "moo" onomatopoeia | -| o | (addressing people, commands) | Georgian "-o" (vocative case) | -| seme | what? (for questions) | Mandarin "shénme" (what, smth) | +| word | meaning | derived from | +|-------|----------------------------------|----------------------------------| +| a | (emotional interjection) | n/a | +| anu | or (for yes/no questions) | Georgian "an" (or) | +| mu | (any animal sound) | "moo" onomatopoeia | +| o | (addressing people, commands) | Georgian "-o" (vocative case) | +| seme | what? (for questions) | Mandarin "shénme" (what, smth) | -| word | meaning | derived from | -|---------|---------------------------------|----------------------------------| -| kute | listen, hear, obey, ear | | -| | | | -| | | | -| | | | -| | | | +| word | meaning | derived from | +|-------|----------------------------------|----------------------------------| +| kute | listen, hear, obey, ear | Acadian French "écouter" (listen)| +| open | start, begin, open, turn on | English "open" | +| pini | end, finish, close, turn off | Tok Pisin "pinis" (perfective) | +| anpa | lowly, humble, to conquer/defeat | Acadian French "en bas" (below) | +| insa | inside, contents, center, stomach| Tok Pisin "insait" (inside) | +## Interjections and commands + +The word "a" functions like a emotional interjection. It is usually either added +at the end of a sentence or functions as a sentence on its own. + +> sina suwi a! -- You are so cute! + +More specifically, laughter is indicated with the sentence "a a a!" (ha ha ha!). + +The word "mu" substitutes for any sound made by any animal. + +The word "o" is used to address people and issue commands. + +When used on its own at the beginning of a sentence, it turns the rest of the +message into a command. + +> o kute e mi! -- Listen to me! + +When used after a noun phrase, it addresses a person. + +> sina o! -- Hey, you! + +Both uses can be combined. + +> jan pali o, kepeken e ilo awen! -- Worker, use protective equipment! + +## Questions + +There are two ways to ask questions in toki pona. + +If you want to ask a yes-or-no question, you phrase the sentence normally, but +replace the word being questioned with a "[word] ala [word]" structure. + +> sina pona ala pona? -- Are you okay? + +There are no words for "yes" and "no", so to answer positively, you repeat the +verb, and to answer negatively, you add "ala". + +> pona. -- Yes. + +> pona ala. -- No. + +(From what I understand, this structure is similar to what is used in Mandarin.) + +> ona li pali ala pali? -- Are they working? + +> jan lili li moku ala moku? -- Are the children eating? + +Alternatively, you can add "anu seme" ("or what?") instead. + +> sina pona anu seme? -- Are you okay? + +For freeform questions, you start with a regular sentence, but replace the word +you're interested in with "seme". + +> sina pali e seme? -- What are you (doing/working on)? + +## Names (unofficial words) + +So far, these pages only relied on native toki pona words to refer to things and +people. But this is clearly not enough when you need to call someone by their +name. For proper names, toki pona uses so-called "unofficial words". These are +usually names of people, cities, countries, etc., taken from their native +languages and adapted to toki pona's pronunciation rules. Unlike all toki pona +words, they're spelled with the first letter capitalized. + +Unofficial words are always treated as adjectives, which means that before them +is always a noun or a noun phrase describing what is being referred to. + +> jan Mimi -- (the person) Mimi + +> ma Kanata -- (the country) Canada + +> ma tomo Napoli -- (the city) Naples + +Thanks to different people interpreting both the native names and toki pona's +sounds in different ways, there may ultimately be several different unofficial +names for the same city or country's name. + +Also, people speaking toki pona are free to pick their own personal toki pona +names, either by adapting the name from their native language or coming up with +something new. diff --git a/pages/tokipona/8a.md b/pages/tokipona/8a.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c410f98 --- /dev/null +++ b/pages/tokipona/8a.md @@ -0,0 +1,59 @@ +% page 8a - creating toki pona unofficial words +% /dev/urandom +% march 2020 + +To learn how to adapt names into unofficial words, first you have to know how +toki pona's phonology works. The language's words consist of a series of +syllables assembled under a (C)V(N) system. This means that each syllable +consists of an optional consonant, then a vowel, then a nasal (the "n" sound). + +In addition, the sequences "ji", "ti", "wo" and "wu" turn into "i", "si", "o" +and "u". + +Here's a table of all possible syllables. + +| a | e | i | o | u | an| en| in| on| un| +|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:| +| a | e | i | o | u | an| en| in| on| un| +|ja |je | |jo |ju |jan|jen| |jon|jun| +|ka |ke |ki |ko |ku |kan|ken|kin|kon|kun| +|la |le |li |lo |lu |lan|len|lin|lon|lun| +|ma |me |mi |mo |mu |man|men|min|mon|mun| +|na |ne |ni |no |nu |nan|nen|nin|non|nun| +|pa |pe |pi |po |pu |pan|pen|pin|pon|pun| +|sa |se |si |so |su |san|sen|sin|son|sun| +|ta |te | |to |tu |tan|ten| |ton|tun| +|wa |we |wi | | |wan|wen|win| | | + +Another rule is that you can't follow a vowel sound by a vowel sound, and you +can't follow a nasal "n" sound with a "m" or another "n". + +Consonant sounds that don't exist in toki pona are replaced with similar sounds. +For example, Rome (Roma) turns into "ma tomo Loma" and Jakarta turns into "ma +tomo Sakata". + +| consonant | sounds it can represent | +|:---------:|:--------------------------------| +| j | y | +| k | k, g, sometimes h, French r | +| l | l, r | +| m | m | +| n | n, syllable-final m | +| p | p, b, f, sometimes v | +| s | s, z, j, ch, sh, zh, ts, x | +| t | t, d | +| w | v, w, sometimes r | + +To deal with several consonant or vowel sounds in a row, you can either remove +one of them or add an extra one. + +For names of cities, it's best to use pronunciations that people _in_ that city +would use. For example, the city of Toronto, Canada is transcribed in the +official book as "ma tomo Towano", not "ma tomo Tolonto". + +There are other rules, and interpretations of them differ. The "o kama sona e +toki pona!" course features [this +list of rules](http://tokipona.net/tp/janpije/tpize.php), and the official book +has its own. + +[Back to page 8](8.html) diff --git a/vocab.txt b/vocab.txt index 6d04843..c30b7df 100644 --- a/vocab.txt +++ b/vocab.txt @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ | ala | 3 | | alasa | | | ale/ali | 3 | -| anpa | 7 | +| anpa | 8 | | ante | 6 | | anu | 8 | | awen | 6 | @@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ | ijo | 4 | | ike | 2 | | ilo | 4 | -| insa | | +| insa | 8 | | jaki | | | jan | 3 | | jelo | | @@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ | la | | | lape | 6 | | laso | | -| lawa | 7 | +| lawa | | | len | | | lete | | | li | 2 | @@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ | o | 8 | | olin | 4 | | ona | 2 | -| open | | +| open | 8 | | pakala | 6 | | pali | 4 | | palisa | | @@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ | pi | | | pilin | | | pimeja | | -| pini | | +| pini | 8 | | pipi | 5 | | poka | 7 | | poki | |