ع - Arabic script for Toki Pona poetry
Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 9:35 am
I was looking for the script suitable for tokiponic poetry and surprisingly found that the Arabic is probably an ideal one. My requirements were following: (i) one letter per one syllable (including those ending with -n) for clear syllabic structure; (ii) vowels marks should be optional for controlled ambiguity; (iii) the spaces between the words should be optional for graphical adjustment. Arabic script fits all these demands.
Consider the hokku:
waso li tawa
li lukin e moku sin
pipi lili o!
In consonant writing it looks:
WS L TW
L LK * MK S
PP LL *
, where * denotes a vowel. One could read this as
waso li tawa
li luka e moku sin
pipi lili a!
, or like this:
waso li tawa
li lukin. o moku sin!
pipi lili a!
Arabic letters of Toki Pona are consonants and have isolated, final, middle and beginning shapes:
none - ععع ع
j - ييي ي
k - ككك ك
l - للل ل
m - ممم م
n - ننن ن
p - ببب ب
s - صصص ص
t - ططط ط
w - ففف ف
The hokku above looks like this:
فص ل طف
ل لك ع مك ص
بب لل ع
This is without vowel marks. The 6 Arabic vowel marks mean a i u an in un:
ma - مَ
mi - مِ
mu - مُ
man - مً
min - مٍ
mun - مٌ
In toki pona there are two more vowels - e and o. o (on) could be marked exactly as u (un). e (en) is more difficult: in a first syllable it is like a (an), otherwise it is like i (in), i.e
tenpo - طًبُ
ken - كً
kin - كٍ
seme - صَمِ
lete - لَطِ
ala - عَلَ
al(e/i) - عَلِ
Now the hokku with full set of vowel marks:
فَصُ لِ طَفَ
لِ لُكٍ عَ مُكُ صٍ
بِبِ لِلِ عُ
Note, that e looks like a. This is the only exception, but it could not make a mess, as the e could never be used at the end of sentence, while a is never used in the middle. Moreover, e is apparently more abundant than a, so i suggest to use it just without vowel marks.
Now some answers to expected questions
Why `ain, not 'alif; why fa', not waw? Because with waw and alif in initial position, the letters of a single word are not joined together.
Why Sad, not sin, why Ta, not ta? For stronger graphical contrast with some other letters.
Are the middle and final forms of ain usable? May be only in exclamations like "aaa!" or "muu!".
Which words could be written without vowel marks? All trisyllabic (11 old + 4 new = 15); the following bisyllabic words: tawa, kama, toki, moku, mute, nimi, taso, tomo, tenpo, mama, lawa, lili, wawa, weka, awen, tenpo, nanpa, nena, pipi, waso, kasi, lete, lape, mani, mije, sike, telo kiwen, jelo, laso, noka, jaki, kute (33, did i miss anything?); and monosyllabic ni, sin and wan could never be confused with another official word even without vowel mark. Also, some other words could be used without vowel marks if they are apparently mor abundant than the words they could be confused with, like pi versus pan, also li, e, tan, jan, anpa, and may be something else.
PS does someone know, how could i align the text to the centre of the page?
Consider the hokku:
waso li tawa
li lukin e moku sin
pipi lili o!
In consonant writing it looks:
WS L TW
L LK * MK S
PP LL *
, where * denotes a vowel. One could read this as
waso li tawa
li luka e moku sin
pipi lili a!
, or like this:
waso li tawa
li lukin. o moku sin!
pipi lili a!
Arabic letters of Toki Pona are consonants and have isolated, final, middle and beginning shapes:
none - ععع ع
j - ييي ي
k - ككك ك
l - للل ل
m - ممم م
n - ننن ن
p - ببب ب
s - صصص ص
t - ططط ط
w - ففف ف
The hokku above looks like this:
فص ل طف
ل لك ع مك ص
بب لل ع
This is without vowel marks. The 6 Arabic vowel marks mean a i u an in un:
ma - مَ
mi - مِ
mu - مُ
man - مً
min - مٍ
mun - مٌ
In toki pona there are two more vowels - e and o. o (on) could be marked exactly as u (un). e (en) is more difficult: in a first syllable it is like a (an), otherwise it is like i (in), i.e
tenpo - طًبُ
ken - كً
kin - كٍ
seme - صَمِ
lete - لَطِ
ala - عَلَ
al(e/i) - عَلِ
Now the hokku with full set of vowel marks:
فَصُ لِ طَفَ
لِ لُكٍ عَ مُكُ صٍ
بِبِ لِلِ عُ
Note, that e looks like a. This is the only exception, but it could not make a mess, as the e could never be used at the end of sentence, while a is never used in the middle. Moreover, e is apparently more abundant than a, so i suggest to use it just without vowel marks.
Now some answers to expected questions
Why `ain, not 'alif; why fa', not waw? Because with waw and alif in initial position, the letters of a single word are not joined together.
Why Sad, not sin, why Ta, not ta? For stronger graphical contrast with some other letters.
Are the middle and final forms of ain usable? May be only in exclamations like "aaa!" or "muu!".
Which words could be written without vowel marks? All trisyllabic (11 old + 4 new = 15); the following bisyllabic words: tawa, kama, toki, moku, mute, nimi, taso, tomo, tenpo, mama, lawa, lili, wawa, weka, awen, tenpo, nanpa, nena, pipi, waso, kasi, lete, lape, mani, mije, sike, telo kiwen, jelo, laso, noka, jaki, kute (33, did i miss anything?); and monosyllabic ni, sin and wan could never be confused with another official word even without vowel mark. Also, some other words could be used without vowel marks if they are apparently mor abundant than the words they could be confused with, like pi versus pan, also li, e, tan, jan, anpa, and may be something else.
PS does someone know, how could i align the text to the centre of the page?