Kokanu
Kokanu, formerly known as Toki Ma, is a Tokiponido and an International auxiliary language notable for being compared against Toki Pona. It has around 360 words[1], all from different languages around the world. It also has free word order, with the subject, verb and object all being marked by particles.
The name Kokanu is derived from the Kokanu phrase te kota kan usen ("to speak with eachother"). Its first public draft was published in June 2020. Discussions about Kokanu are ongoing on Discord. As of September 2023, the Discord server has more than 320 people, and the r/tokima subreddit (soon to be replaced by r/kokanu) consists of more than 600 people. The official website for the community is at kokanu.com.
Phonology
Consonants
Kokanu has 11 consonant phonemes, two more than Toki Pona, with the addition of /tʃ/ and /h/.[2]
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Plosive | p | t | tʃ ⟨c⟩ | k | |
| Fricative | s | h | |||
| Approximant | l | j | w |
Vowels
Kokanu has five vowel phonemes, similarly to Toki Pona.[2]
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Mid | e | o |
| Open | a | |
Likanu
Likanu is an Abugida writing system developed for Kokanu using only Unicode characters. The inherent vowel is a, and a syllable-final n is typically marked by a macron, but a variety of other diacritics are possible. Vowels are always written after their consonants. To start a word with a vowel, the letter "o" is used as a null consonant.[3]
| Latin script | Likanu |
|---|---|
| (null consonant) | o |
| p | ʜ |
| t | ʌ |
| k | x |
| w | ɕ |
| l | ʋ |
| j | ɂ |
| m | ɞ |
| n (syllable initial) | ƨ |
| n (syllable final) | ◌̄/◌̃/◌᷆/◌̾ |
| s | ɤ |
| c | ɛ |
| h | ɵ |
| -a | (no change) |
| -e | ◌ȷ |
| -i | ◌ı |
| -o | ◌ʃ |
| -u | ◌ſ |
| . | : |
| : | – |
| , | ,/､ |
| ? | ≈ |
| ! | ʭ |
| { | ‹ |
| } | › |
| " (opening) | ｢/◖ |
| " (closing) | ｣/◗ |
Example texts
| Kokanu[4] | Likanu | Toki Pona | Literal translation | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| mi le makan in kuwosi un mi le lo sun jan ne. | ɞı ʋȷ ɞx̄ ōı xſɕʃɤı ōſ ɞı ʋȷ ʋʃ ɤ̄ſ ɂ̄ ƨȷ: | mi moku e kili. mi tawa tan ma ni. | I [verb marker] eat [direct object marker] fruits and I [verb marker] move from place this. | I eat fruits and I leave. |
| te makan in kuwosi, le tope. | ʌȷ ɞx̄ ōı xſɕʃɤı､ ʋȷ ʌʃʜȷ: | kili li pona tawa jan. | [relative clause verb marker] eat [direct object marker] fruit [verb marker] good. | Eating fruit is good. |
History
Origins
Kokanu started out as a version of Toki Pona with expanded vocabulary and grammar. At the time, the name Toki Ma meant "world language" in both Toki Pona and Toki Ma itself.
Toki Ma did not aim to improve on Toki Pona and make it "better", but to adapt and repurpose it for a different goal. It aimed to be an international auxiliary language instead of a philosophical language, but to retain the minimalist and easy-to-learn qualities of Toki Pona.
In subsequent years, Toki Ma diverged more and more from Toki Pona. The grammar was changed a lot based on community discussions. Eventually, it was also decided to replace all Toki Pona loan words with new words and to rename the language. This was done to allow Kokanu to have its own identity, and to make it easier for Kokanu and Toki Pona to coexist without constant comparison and competition.
Important events
On June 18th, 2020, the first draft of the language was presented on Reddit.[5]
On December 17th, 2020, a Wiki page was made in toki ma.
On June 11th, 2021, a complete proposed handbook was presented on Reddit based on community proposals and discussions on Reddit and Discord.
In early 2022, the core community on Discord decided to replace all Toki Pona words in Toki Ma.
In mid 2023, the name of the language was changed from Toki Ma to Kokanu.
Notes and references
External links
- Official website
- Interactive dictionary
- r/kokanu on Reddit
- Likanu documentation and generator
- Discord server (invite link)
