Toki Pona/Morphological typology
Morphological Typology
[edit | edit source]Toki Pona is an isolating language. The morphological processes are limited to possible particles. No content words inflect.
"A bound morpheme is a morpheme that must be attached to some other morpheme to be integrated naturally into a discourse." 1997 Payne
Bound Morphemes
[edit | edit source]The following words cannot stand alone:
- e – object phrase marker
- en – subject phrase marker
- la – contextual phrase marker
- li – indicative verb phrase marker
- o – optative verb phrase marker or vocative case marker
- pi – modifier regrouper
The particles listed above consistently have the same host. e, en and pi always precede a noun and no other word can go between them and the noun without changing the sense of the phrase.
How bound is pi? One test is to examine how pi reacts to conjunctions.
mi lukin e soweli pi ma Sonko.
I see the Chinese animal.
mi lukin e soweli pi ma Sonko e tomo ona.
I see the Chinese animal and its enclosure.
The specifications to date do not make it clear whether conjuncted modifiers or pi-complements are legal or not.
How bound is e? anu moves e from its head noun.
mi lukin e waso e soweli.
I see the bird and the animal.
mi lukin e waso anu soweli.
I see either the bird or the animal.
Auxiliary or serial verbs may go between li and the head verb. li marks the beginning of a verb phrase that continues until e or a preposition.
Periphrasal Patterns
[edit | edit source]Because Toki Pona is strongly isolating, the equivalent of derivational operations do not involve binding morphemes. This doesn't mean that these processes don't exist, but instead they are clausal or discourse level operations.
There isn't any bound infixation, but at the phrasal level, plural markers can be inserted in the middle of the phrase.
tomo pi telo nasa
building(s) of strange liquid (a bar / bars)
tomo mute pi telo nasa
buildings of strange liquid (bars)
jan pona
a good person / people (a friend / friend)
jan pona tu
two good people (two friends)
Stems or base words are never modified. Reduplication has no special meaning.
Note that singularity or plurality is not the default. "tomo" can both mean one building or multiple buildings.
Head / Dependent Marking
[edit | edit source]It isn't clear if the head or the dependents are being marked.
lipu jan
the person's book
lipu mute jan
the person's books
lipu pi jan mute
the people's book
lipu mute pi jan mute
the people's books