Toki Pona is one of the world’s largest and most well-known conlangs or ‘constructed languages’. It was created in 2001 by Canadian Sonja Lang, and has since grown rapidly in popularity, in mostly online spaces.
Owen Hellum (UG Computation Arts) will be leading a three-part Toki Pona workshop for anyone interested in picking up this hyper-easy language! We will be meeting in TAG, around our famous red table, on Wednesdays at 3pm for an hour and learn, practice, discuss, and think about Toki Pona! The first session is the beginner class, class two is intermediate, then the final class three will present our advanced curriculum.
But why is Toki Pona so cool??
It’s uniqueness and allure comes from the fact that it uses only 120-137 original words and only 14 sounds/letters. Relying on context and word combination, Toki Pona speakers are able to communicate statements, questions, commands, and even write poems. Equally a philosophy of life as a method of communication, the language emphasizes simplification, mindfulness, humour, and thinking before you speak. Some examples include jan pona meaning “good person” or “friend”, tenpo suno meaning “Sun time” or “day”, or even telo nasa meaning “funny water” or “alcohol”. Toki Pona is a carefully constructed language, allowing its minimal rules to be bent and adapted to its speakers. It is designed to be accessible from any language background, both in pronunciation and grammar, and is relatively easy to learn.
RESOURCES
- Official Toki Pona website
- 12 days of toki pona by jan Misali (really good educational Toki Pona YouTube series)
- Translation website that supports Toki Pona
- Toki Pona dictionary/quiz (made by Owen)
- Toki Pona playlist on Spotify
WORKSHOP #1 Wednesday, August 3 – 3-4pm EST
WORKSHOP #2 Wednesday, August 10 – 3-4pm EST
WORKSHOP #3 Wednesday, August 17 – 3-4pm EST
WORKSHOP #4 *UPDATED*Wednesday, August 24 – 4-5pm EST (!!!)
WHAT? 60-minute workshop
WHERE? In TAG Lab
WHO? All TAG and Milieux members are invited