Toki Pona as the PICO-8 of languages?

ice

I speak English because I grew up with video games and American/British music, movies and books (not to mention the web.) I used to know a bit of German and Latin, but I’ve forgotten most of it. I’m interested in Toki Pona for many reasons. First of all, it seems rather easy and fun to learn. This is important, because learning whole new languages always felt kind of daunting to me. Maybe it will be a “gateway drug” to other conlangs or even natural languages, who knows?

I’m also very interested in its minimal and positive aspects. In a way, maybe I’m wrong about this, but I tend to see Toki Pona as the PICO-8 of languages: a tiny but colorful palette where fun and creativity come from the limitations themselves, and allow for some playful experiments. I’m curious about how it could alter my way of thinking and perceiving the world. In these dire times, I’m craving for positivity and utopia.

On the long term, I’d also like to develop a game where everyone speaks Toki Pona, and see where it takes me. I also enjoy the glyphs system, so I’ll probably make my own version of the Toki Pona dictionary at some point. And of course, meeting new people and interacting with them through only 120 words is something I’m really looking forward to, and that’s why I set up this little forum.

whtrbt

The thing that interests me the most is how so many categories are collapsed into one - e.g. the terms ‘good’ and ‘simple’ are not easily distinguished in TP. Or ‘ko’ meaning all sorts of pastes and gels and oozes (ko jaki!), for another example.

If I do enough Toki Pona to affect my thought patterns, what will that be like?

ice

whtrbt I’m curious about this as well since I’ve read “Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes” that Devine recommended to me a while ago. The Pirahã language is as fascinating as their way of life, and the author often points how language, environment and world perception are interlinked. The Toki Pona creator also mentions this fact (known as linguistic relativity, or the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, I believe.) Coincidentally, there’s a link to Pirahã at the bottom of the Toki Pona Wikipedia page.

jasper

Simple could be something like: “ijo kepeken sona lili” "ijo kepeken sona lili i.e. thing using knowing little. Or could use ijo sona to make it a thing-thinking, like a concept? (note: don’t use word lists, maybe)

It is a little sentence itself, not sure how to use it in a sentence. Maybe use la la.

The above is an example of assumptions due to language? Kindah assumes complicated things off simple assumptions(simple knowledge) don’t exist.(they do) Also, well sona could mean “to be skilled in” instead, so also not..

ice

pona li pona ala?
pona li pona ala?

Haha, simple sounds complicated indeed :)

But yeah, I think ijo kepeken sona lili could make sense, maybe with more context. I agree it’s hard to use as a single word.

ijo pona li ijo kepeken sona lili.
ijo pona li ijo kepeken sona lili.

Nikos

It’s funny how consistent our community’s interests are. For me too the pico-8 is, like the toki pona, an entry into the world of constraint and minimalism that pushes us to find creative resources within ourselves. Not to mention the fact that D. Everett’s book is currently sitting on my bedside table. a a a

(I’m growing tobacco in my garden. Whoever cultivates kasi moku en kasi pi kon seli in their garden, raise your hand!

ice

Nikos Do you mean Daniel Everett’s book Don’t Sleep, There are Snakes? That’s a fantastic read for sure, very interesting from both cultural and linguistic perspectives.

And yeah, I think the PICO-8 analogy and the general craving for minimalism within our community make sense, especially since Devine’s work with Uxn uses similar limitations. I saw he’s now even doing conlang experiments within Uxn, so these various language/tool concepts we’re dabbling with may be in fact closely related.

I don’t grow tobacco in my garden, but I grow hops :)

mi suli e kasi pi telo nasa jelo lon ma kasi mi.
mi suli e kasi pi telo nasa jelo lon ma kasi mi