The language nobody can bullshit in

[topum]

I guess it would be hard to talk about complex things in Toki Pona but on the other hand it would be impossible to bullshit too.

Toki Pona is a minimal language, which focuses on simple concepts and elements that are relatively universal among cultures. It was designed by translator and linguist Sonja Lang (formerly Sonja Elen Kisa) of Toronto to express maximal meaning with minimal complexity.

The language has 14 phonemes and 120 root words. It is not designed as an international auxiliary language but is instead inspired by Taoist philosophy, among other things.

Toki Pona is designed to shape the thought processes of its users, in the style of the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, in Zen-like fashion.

Lang is reported to have said that at least 100 people speak Toki Pona fluently and estimates that a few hundred have a basic knowledge of the language. Traffic on the Toki Pona mailing list and other online communities suggests that several hundred people have dabbled in it. During International Congress of Esperanto Youth held in Sarajevo, August 2006, there was a special session of Toki Pona speakers with 12 participants.

ma tomo Pape (The Tower of Babel story)
Translation by jan Siwen (Stephen Pope)

jan ali li kepeken e toki sama.

jan li kama tawa nasin pi kama suno li kama tawa ma Sinale li awen lon ni.

jan li toki e ni: "o kama! mi mute o pali e kiwen. o seli e ona."

jan mute li toki e ni: "o kama! mi mute o pali e tomo mute e tomo palisa suli. sewi pi tomo palisa li lon sewi kon. nimi pi mi mute o kama suli! mi wile ala e ni: mi mute li lon ma ante mute."

jan sewi Jawe li kama anpa li lukin e ma tomo e tomo palisa.

jan sewi Jawe li toki e ni: "jan li lon ma wan li kepeken e toki sama li pali e tomo palisa. tenpo ni la ona li ken pali e ijo ike mute. mi wile tawa anpa li wile pakala e toki pi jan mute ni. mi wile e ni: jan li sona ala e toki pi jan ante."

jan sewi Jawe li kama e ni: jan li lon ma mute li ken ala pali e tomo.

nimi pi ma tomo ni li Pape tan ni: jan sewi Jawe li pakala e toki pi jan ali. jan sewi Jawe li tawa e jan tawa ma mute tan ma tomo Pape.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toki_Pona

Comments

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

Ya know, people are spectacularly good at repurposing language. A few years back LEGO had a brick virtual reality with a fixed, limited, child-safe vocabulary for interpersonal communication. It took only a couple of months before a slang language sprung up for expressing non-child-safe stuff through repurposed phrases. Proscriptivism is doomed.

[topum.livejournal.com]

Agreed. It should have been "it would be impossible to bullshit for a while too".

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

http://www.radiolab.org/story/257194-man-became-bliss/

[topum.livejournal.com]

Very interesting. Thank you!

[doomcookie99.livejournal.com]

I love learning new languages -- I'm currently trying to learn Russian. :-)

[topum.livejournal.com]

Me too! We are going to Russia (to Kamchatka) in August and I am trying to learn a bit of Russian. I can read already. Learning to read was easier than I expected.

[doomcookie99.livejournal.com]

I want to be fluent in French too. Enjoy your trip and take those awesome pix.

[found-world.livejournal.com]

There is a science fiction book by Harry Harrison, called West of Eden. The premise is, what if dinosaurs didn't go extinct? So roughly human-sized and human-level intelligence dinosaurs exist, and they don't have a concept for what a lie is, because it is impossible for them to lie with how they express their language. Some of them marvel at a particular human's ability to say something that is not true.

[doomcookie99.livejournal.com]

That's a scary thought. o_o

[found-world.livejournal.com]

Here's the wikipedia article on the book. I thought they were dinosaurs, but the article says they're reptiles that evolved when the dinosaurs didn't go extinct from an asteroid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_of_Eden

[doomcookie99.livejournal.com]

Dear Gods that is still very frightening.. (ok ok I'm watching a Jurassic Park movie lol) but that book looks interesting. :-)