Sigh. Do you need a pizza again?

lipu sewi li ken nasa a

This has been on my mind too much today. I'm sure jan Sonja has some specific cases in mind. But ... I keep my journal in tp. I write (and publish) poetry in tp. I *pray* in tp, sharing my deepest thoughts and troubles with God. It has really stung to hear jan Sonja say I am just eating her food

jjan li alasa e sona pi nasin toki tan kulupu ale la, ken suli la jan wawa ale li ken sona e sona pini. taso ona li sona e ona lon nasin ante. sina kin li sona e ona lon nasin ante. nasin sona mute li lon; ona ale li lon ala lawa sina!!

sina ken ni tu. sina mama pi toki pona la, jan ale pi toki pona li olin e sina. taso tenpo sama la, sina ken alasa sama jan wawa ante pi toki pona, li ken pali lon poka ona.

"a mi sona e ni. mi kin li ken ni!" ni li ike. mi wile toki e ni: "ni li pona wawa!" ni li pona. ni li suli e wawa pi jan mi.

lon la, jan ale li ken ante. jan wan li ken ala ijo ale.

o sitelen e ni lon lawa: jan mi li toki e ni tawa mi: "mi pali e ijo sin a! ona li suwi mute tawa mi!" ken la, mi kin li ken ni. ken la, tenpo pini la, mi toki e ni tawa mi: "mi wile pali e ni!" taso mi pali ala e ona. mi o toki seme tawa jan mi? ...

sina o len ala e sona sina. taso nasin pi toki pona la, tenpo mute la, sina en jan ante pi ken toki wawa li sona sama. sina o sama jan ante pi ken wawa. ...

mi toki pona. lon la mi sona kepeken nimi "la" lon nasin mute a. taso - toki pona la, sina sona e ijo ale pi tenpo ale kama la, toki ni li toki pi lili ike. tenpo sike tu wan la, mi suli e sona mi pi toki ni. toki sina la, pali mi o pini. mi ken ala ijo sin.

.... truly the miraculous thing about it. When you ask what you should do: you can limit the language in the eyes of others by saying it's all already known to you, or you can build it up by marvelling at powers even you could not have seen.

... then it really must be a silly little toy language. Because the knowledge and imagination of all human beings are limited. We're not God. The astonishing thing about toki pona is that every day it shows it can do something new. Or rather, a speaker finds new power in it. That's ...

I've read almost everything you've written. I even made suggestions for the FAQ. My point is: saying that you foresaw every development in the language from the beginning diminishes your achievement in toki pona. If one person could see everything it could become ...

The greatest power is to be able to make something so ingenious that you cannot see what it might become.

That's in no way a criticism of you, but a testimony to the extraordinary power of this language you conceived, this amazing gift to the world.

It would be impossible for anyone to anticipate the ingenuity of thousands of people stretching the language in new ways, sometimes laboring for hours to discover a power in the language no one could have seen....

I learned toki pona from lipu pu, which I still think is the best textbook (lipu pu sin o kama lon tenpo poka!). The "Limitations" listed there have, I think, been taken more as a challenge to ingenuity. People *have* used toki pona for technical and philosophical purposes...

... the rise of usage of one word, collapse of another. I don't know what you anticipated from the beginning! But there are lots of very flexible uses of "la" for example that are just not documented, but intelligible. la to start a sentence, eg, where ni LA would be strictly "correct"

Don't misunderstand me - toki pona was a work of genius, and I'm sure you anticipated things in it no one could have foreseen! On census etc., yes they will probably confirm what any observant user of the language has already seen out in the wild. But there will always be something unanticipated...

Though no one could actually know that about a living language. And the language has evolved in usage, style, and utility in ways quite different from anything hinted at in lipu pu, for example.