Relexing for recreation - Is there a latinist in the room?

Tinkerers Anonymous: Some people can't help making changes to "fix" Toki Pona. This is a playground for their ideas.
Tokiponidistoj: Iuj homoj nepre volas fari ŝanĝojn por "ripari" Tokiponon. Jen ludejo por iliaj ideoj.
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janMato
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Location: Takoma Park, MD
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Relexing for recreation - Is there a latinist in the room?

Post by janMato »

Let me be clear I'm noodling with relexing for recreation, not like the lojban/loglan relex which was all about splitting the community from a creator that didn't get along with the fans.

I was thinking about if it was possible to "make a better relex" or if relex's deserve the bad reputation they have. I think in some cases, a relex might be useful. For example, if I was going to write a poem in toki pona for consumption by people who don't understand it anyhow, I might want to relex it to a more suitable phonotactic structure. I have in mind trying out Latin first-- it has a prestigious feel to it.

Here's my design options

- Transliterate toki pona into Latin (add consonant clusters, suitable vowels at the end of words, etc) soweli --> soverius
- Replace each toki pona word with a suitable Latin one-- either one that sounds like it or one that is in the same semantic range. meli --> puella
- A priori random words that fit Latin's phonotactics, soweli --> omnibius
- Or same as above, but replace "Latin" with any other language soweli --> "zver" or "dyr" or "bet"

The particles would still need to be short particles, the Latin words would have to lose their variety in endings either through picking a bare stem or a bare stem plus a suitable ending-- this would still be an isolating language after all.
jan Akesimun
Posts: 78
Joined: Sat Jun 05, 2010 2:15 am
Location: Huntsville, AL

Re: Relexing for recreation - Is there a latinist in the roo

Post by jan Akesimun »

toki. :) It's been a couple years since I messed with toki Lasina, but back in the day my cousin and I used to speak it fairly fluently, and we've been using Spanish since the grammar we were using disappeared. I dunno if that qualifies me as a "Latinist," but I'd be glad to see what comes of this idea. :) How exactly would this work though? Would it be like using Latin words and toki pona grammar, or Latin-ifying toki pona?
Yo estuve aquí.
janMato
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Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2009 12:21 pm
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Re: Relexing for recreation - Is there a latinist in the roo

Post by janMato »

Here is an English relex with sample text. As you can see, this is still toki pona, no English speaker is going to understand this without reading the toki pona grammar rules and memorizing the toki pona set phrases. Here is a web page that will relex other texts (it is 99% done)-- that is the page I hope to extend to support a Latin style toki pona relex.

Code: Select all

water is down from black white great 
me feel eh bird at with me 
bird is go air is go land hand hand drop one 
me with eh name with not sound 
bird is hunt eh air me 

bird is go down go land down 
is go air at drawing sleep me 
is go high eh me. me sleep. 
bird is go eh me from body me. 
me drop eh this. 

me many is go air at high bump land 
at water power. 
me see eh plant great this: 
plant is go power from power of air and water 
land room is sleep rock 

human of power air is give eh hand go this: 
human is give eh name speak go human of eye one. 
me see eh time end eh time this 
eh time come same one same time of not mouth. 

me can see eh land water of power air 
eh path of know not at body me. 
human of rock and plant is go play at circle me. 
time all if this is drawing sleep or what? 
Relex dictionary:

a ah
akesi frog
ala not
alasa hunt
ale all
ali all
anpa down
ante other
anu or
awen keep
e eh
en and
esun store
ijo thing
ike bad
ilo tool
insa inside
jaki yucky
jan human
jelo yellow
jo have
kala fish
kalama sound
kama come
kasi plant
ken can
kepeken with
kipisi cut
kili fruit
kin indeed
kiwen rock
ko muck
kon air
kule color
kute ear
kulupu group
la if
lape sleep
laso blue
lawa head
len cloth
lete cold
li is
lili little
linja wave
lipu sheet
loje red
lon at
luka hand
lukin see
lupa hole
ma land
mama mom
mani money
meli girl
mi me
mije man
moku eat
moli die
monsi rear
mu moo
mun moon
musi play
mute many
namako extra
nanpa number
nasa crazy
nasin path
nena bump
ni this
nimi name
noka leg
o oh
oko eye
olin love
ona they
open open
pakala break
pali work
palisa stick
pan bread
pana give
pata brother
pi of
pilin feel
pimeja black
pini end
pipi bug
poka with
poki box
pona good
sama same
seme what
seli hot
selo skin
sewi high
sike circle
sijelo body
sin new
sina you
sinpin face
sitelen drawing
sona know
soweli beast
suli great
suno sun
supa couch
suwi sweet
tan from
taso but
tawa go
telo water
tenpo time
toki speak
tomo room
tu two
unpa fuck
uta mouth
utala fight
walo white
wan one
waso bird
weka drop
wawa power
wile want
janMato
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Re: Relexing for recreation - Is there a latinist in the roo

Post by janMato »

Here is a google translate driven first stab at a Latinate toki pona relex, fixes to bad word choices are welcome.

Challenges-- which inflection to pick (dictionary form or something else), if to pick the verb, noun or prepositional form for something like tawa, and some of the Latin forms are way longer than one would want them for a language with 120 some words.

a a
akesi lacerta
ala non
alasa venari
ale omnes
ali omnes
anpa deorsum
ante alia
anu vel
awen custodi
e e
en et
esun copia
ijo res
Ike male
ilo instrumentum
insa intra
jaki foeda
jan humana
jelo flava
jo jo
kala pisces
kalama sonus
kama veni
kasi herba
ken possum
kepeken cum
kipisi incide
kili fructus
kin vere
kwien petra
ko stercus
Kon caeli
kule color
kute auris
kulupu classis
la si
lape somno
laso blue
lawa caput
len panni
lete frigida
li est
lili paulo
unda linja
lipu pagina
loje ruber
lon in
luka manu
lukin video
lupa foramen
ma terra
mama mater
mani pecuniam
meli puella
me mi
mije vir
moku manducare
moli mori
monsi tergo
mu emugio
mun luna
musi ludicrum
mute multa
namako supplementum
nanpa numero
crazy delirus
nasin iter
nena gibba
ni hoc
nimi nomen
noka tibia
o o
oko oculus
olin amor
ona eam
open aperta
pakala frangere
pali opere
palisa lignum
pan panem
pana do
pata frater
pi de
pilin sentio
pimeja nigrum
pini finem
pipi bestiola
poka cum
poki cisti
pona bona
sama idem
seme quod
seli calidus
selo cute
sewi alta
sike circuli
sijelo corpus
sin nova
sina te
sinpin faciem
sitelen tractus
sona scio
soweli bestia
suli magna
suno sol
supa lectus
suwi dulce
tan quia
taso sed
tawa ire
telo aquas
tenpo tempus
toki loqui
tomo locus
tu duo
unpa futuo
uta ore
utala pugna
walo album
wan unum
waso avis
weka gutta
wawa virtus
wile volo
jan Ape
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:44 pm

Re: Relexing for recreation - Is there a latinist in the roo

Post by jan Ape »

I see what you mean. This is a fun idea. I'll entertain it.

toki = toqui
pona = bon
mi = me
olin = aulen
sina - cina
e = es
ni = ne
li = li
seme = ceme

me aulen es cina. = mi olin e sina. (I love you)

ne li ceme. = what is that.

toqui bon = toki pona
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