Names for Latin letters and Arabic digits
Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 5:48 pm
There are times when the use of Latin letters or Arabic digits are unavoidable, like when you're trying to say you live at "221B". I was wondering how we would say these in Toki Pona.
A E I O U can be said as sitelen A, sitelen E, sitelen I, sitelen O, sitelen U.
P T K S M N L J W can be sitelen Pa, sitelen Ta, sitelen Ka, and so on.
Maybe B D G Z can sitelen Pa Pimeja (Dark P), sitelen Ta Pimeja (Dark T), etc. V can be sitelin Wa Pimeja.
For the others, I'm having trouble. That leaves C F H Q R X Y.
C - sitelin Sa Sike (round S) or sitelin Ka Sike (round K)?
F - sitelin Pa Walo (light P)?
H - sitelin Ka Walo (light K)?
Q - ???
R - sitelin La Pimeja?
X - ???
Y - sitelin I Elena?
Or maybe this is completely the wrong way to do it. Maybe we should approximate the Latin names: A, Be, Ke, Te, E, Epa, Ke, Ka, I, (they had no J), Ka, Ela, Ema, Ena, O, Pe, Ku, Ela, Esa, Te, U, (They had no V or W), Ekasa, I Elena, Seta.
The problem is, we have two Te's, two Ke's, two Ka's, and two Ela's. And no words for J, V, or W.
Or maybe we should use the English radio alphabet? Take Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta and turn it into Alpa, Barabo, Karli, Telata?
Any other ideas?
For the Arabic digits, I'm thinking we can take the names from Esperanto. sitelin Unu, sitelin Du, sitelin Turi, sitelin Kuwara, sitelin Kuwin, sitelin Sesa, sitelin Sepa, sitelin Oka, sitelin Nawa.
I'm not suggesting we use these for counting, which is why I used "sitelin" rather than "nanpa".
A E I O U can be said as sitelen A, sitelen E, sitelen I, sitelen O, sitelen U.
P T K S M N L J W can be sitelen Pa, sitelen Ta, sitelen Ka, and so on.
Maybe B D G Z can sitelen Pa Pimeja (Dark P), sitelen Ta Pimeja (Dark T), etc. V can be sitelin Wa Pimeja.
For the others, I'm having trouble. That leaves C F H Q R X Y.
C - sitelin Sa Sike (round S) or sitelin Ka Sike (round K)?
F - sitelin Pa Walo (light P)?
H - sitelin Ka Walo (light K)?
Q - ???
R - sitelin La Pimeja?
X - ???
Y - sitelin I Elena?
Or maybe this is completely the wrong way to do it. Maybe we should approximate the Latin names: A, Be, Ke, Te, E, Epa, Ke, Ka, I, (they had no J), Ka, Ela, Ema, Ena, O, Pe, Ku, Ela, Esa, Te, U, (They had no V or W), Ekasa, I Elena, Seta.
The problem is, we have two Te's, two Ke's, two Ka's, and two Ela's. And no words for J, V, or W.
Or maybe we should use the English radio alphabet? Take Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta and turn it into Alpa, Barabo, Karli, Telata?
Any other ideas?
For the Arabic digits, I'm thinking we can take the names from Esperanto. sitelin Unu, sitelin Du, sitelin Turi, sitelin Kuwara, sitelin Kuwin, sitelin Sesa, sitelin Sepa, sitelin Oka, sitelin Nawa.
I'm not suggesting we use these for counting, which is why I used "sitelin" rather than "nanpa".