Toki Pona

Toki Pona }} translated as ''the language of good''; ; )}} is a philosophical artistic constructed language designed for its small vocabulary, simplicity, and ease of acquisition. It was created by Canadian linguist Sonja Lang 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. In January of 2024, a third book was released, a Toki Pona adaptation of ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', written in . These three books are named , , and respectively in Toki Pona.

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, while the later ''Toki Pona Dictionary'' lists 137 "essential" words and a number of less-used ones. Between then and the publication of ''Toki Pona Dictionary'', varying counts were given for the number of words in the former (, ), ranging between 120 and 125. The ''Toki Pona Dictionary'' added 16 new "essential" words (, ), and states on its back cover that there are a total of 137. It also includes several less-used words ( or , ).}} 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. Provided by Wikipedia