Toki Pona
Toki Pona (rendered as toki pona and often translated as 'the language of good'; IPA: [ˈtoki ˈpona] (ⓘ); English: /ˈtoʊki ˈpoʊnə/) is a philosophical artistic constructed language known for its small vocabulary, simplicity, and ease of acquisition. It was created by Sonja Lang (née Elen Kisa) a Canadian linguist and translator, to simplify her thoughts and communication. The first drafts were published online in 2001, while the complete form was published in the 2014 book Toki Pona: The Language of Good. Lang also released a supplementary dictionary, the Toki Pona Dictionary, in July 2021, describing the language as used by its community of speakers.
| Toki Pona | |
|---|---|
| toki pona | |
The Toki Pona logo, presenting the words toki pona written in sitelen pona | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈtoki ˈpona] |
| Created by | Sonja Lang |
| Date | 2001 |
| Setting and usage | Testing principles of minimalism, the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis and pidgins |
| Users | 500 ~ 5000 (2021) |
| Purpose | Constructed language, combining elements of the subgenres personal language and philosophical language |
| Latin script; sitelen pona (logographic); sitelen sitelen (logographic with an alphasyllabary for foreign words); and numerous other community-made scripts | |
| luka pona, toki pona luka | |
| Sources | A posteriori language, with elements of English, Tok Pisin, Finnish, Georgian, Dutch, Acadian French, Esperanto, Serbo-Croatian and Chinese |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tok |
| Glottolog | toki1239 |
| IETF | tok |
Toki Pona is an isolating language with only 14 phonemes and an underlying feature of minimalism. It focuses on simple, near-universal concepts to maximize expression from very few words. In Toki Pona: The Language of Good, Lang presents around 120 words (referred to as pu), while the later Toki Pona Dictionary lists 137 "essential" words and a number of less-used ones (referred to as ku). Its words are easy to pronounce across language backgrounds, which allows it to serve as a bridge of sorts for people of different cultures. However, it was not created as an international auxiliary language. Partly inspired by Taoist philosophy, the language is designed to help users concentrate on basic things and to promote positive thinking, in accordance with the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. Despite the small vocabulary, speakers can understand and communicate, mainly relying on context, combinations of words, and expository sentences to express more specific meanings.
After its initial creation, a small community of speakers developed in the early 2000s. While activity mainly takes place online in chat rooms, on social media, and in other online groups, there have been a few organized in-person meetings.