What is toki pona?

"What is a geologist but a person of rock knowledge?" - jan Sonja

toki pona is often regarded as one of the easiest languages. Bolstering a grand total of no more than 130 or so words, one can memorize the entire vocabulary in just a few hours of total study. In addition, the grammar is relatively remarkebly straightforward and exceptionless.

The language did not arise naturally, like English or Chinese. Instead, it was artificially designed in 2001 by jan Sonja. Since, it has developed naturally through use, but still mindful of the languages' core philosphies.

Sonjas' inspiration for the language was a desire for simplicity. She cites an abundance of words that are relatively useless to the average person. As quoted above, she points out that one could just as easily convey the semantic space of "geologist" by saying "person of rock knowledge".

Undestandably, many are skeptic of the languages ability to hold up in real conversation. If one were to use exclusively the 130 most common English words, their speech would hardly be functional. This is remedied by intentional ambiguity, and clarified by context. For instance, the word 'soweli' covers the meaning of any mammal. A dog? soweli. A horse? soweli. An ape? soweli. In context, your intented meaning of soweli usually becomes apparent. In instances where context is not supplied, one can use adjectives to further describe their intended message.

go to the recourses page to find useful tools for learning and practicing the language.