Why didn't toki pona use more homonyms?

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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Why didn't toki pona use more homonyms?

Post by janMato »

I mulling the topic of language design and I'm wondering why tp doesn't have more homonyms. If words are scarce and meanings are plentiful why wouldn't words gain entirely unrelated meanings? The words that are related by metaphor are only as related as the obviousness of the metaphor, so "religion" and "road" are homonyms unless you speak English and know that metaphorically PHYSICAL PATHS=ABSTRACT SYSTEMS.

Would tp have been more difficult if there were more metaphors and flat out homonyms (unrelated meanings for the same word)? Is it cognitively more burdensome to learn a new word and new meaning or wouldn't it be less burdensome to learn a new meaning for a known word? (and a third option being to memorize a lengthy transparent circumlocution or a shorter opaque phrase, which might as well be a new word)

I'm leaning to thinking that toki pona underused homonymy.
janKipo
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Re: Why didn't toki pona use more homonyms?

Post by janKipo »

Well, those aren't strictly homonyms, which really are two different words that happen to come together phonologically. On the other hand, a look at tp vocabulary shows that it has expanded well beyond what might be expected from the metaphors of a given language, largely because we collectively know a bunch of languages and tend to mix and match as the need arises (the nasi for both path and religion comes from Chinese, in fact). And one response has been that some people object to these extensions -- either not allowing any new meanings at all or claiming that some other assignment is "natural" or "literal". My thought is just that whoever makes a jump (from someone's point of view) needs to promote it shamelessly and defend it against attack until it seems natural -- or is supplanted by another usage.
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