The Toki Pona It is an artificial language created in 2001 by the Canadian translator Sonja Lang, composed of a vocabulary of about 120-137 words and using only 14 phonemes – 9 consonants (JKLMNPSTW) and 5 vowels (AEIU) – makes the accessible pronunciation to people of different mothers. The name “Toki Pona” derives from “Toki” (speaklanguage) and “pona” (good, simple), translatable as “language of good“or”simple language“. Lang, linguist and Esperantist, developed this language inspired by the Taoist philosophy and minimalismwith the aim of simplifying thought and promoting essential communication.
Beyond the reduced number of words and phonemes, this language has other peculiarities that make it very simple: A composition of the syllables made by consonant + vowel (as in Italian, theabsence of the verb to be And Only three numbers: “One”, “two” and “many”). The words are polysemicwhich is why the precise meaning depends on the context. Let’s take an example: “jan“means” person “, while” Jan Utala “refers to a” fighter “or” soldier “and Jan Lili” small human “,” child “;”Olin“It can be translated with” love “,” respect “or” compassion “. For the construction of the phrases, however, the particle”there“separate the subject and the predicate:
Soweli Li Moku. = The cat eats.
The denial is formed by adding the particle wing:
I lape wing. = I’m not sleeping.
The Toki Pona It is a language inspired by the Taoist philosophyand her creator calls him a mental and philosophical exercise. As well as meditating, talking it forces you to Choose carefully every word, to slow down, to find the hidden meaning Of things, through a process that forces us to think about things not for labels, but for functions and quality. Was also born A lively global community Dedicated to this particular idiom: there are active groups on Reddit, Discord. There are novels entirely written in Toki Pona, but also translations of the Little Prince. There are even parents who teach her children like Second “emotional” languageto teach that perhaps “the less it is really more“.
