lesson 6 - the particle pi

ale is everything. this can be either everything ever or a smaller subset of everything. If you modify ale with another word, it is limited to objects that have that word's quality, such as "ale loje" for "all things red," "ale lipu" for "all things related to books," or "ale pali" for "all things related to working." this is often similar to the reverse, but not exactly the same. for example, "loje ale" is all reds, not all things red, "lipu ale" is all books, and would not talk about a printing press or reading glasses, and "pali ale" would be something like all jobs or activities, and wouldn't talk about a hammer or a cheesecloth.

pini is the moment something comes to a close. this can be as simple as a door shutting or a light turning off, but it can be more abstract, like a department at a college fizzling out. pini has no connotations of irriversability, unlike "pinis" in its language of origin (tok pisin), which can grammatically specify irriversability.

lipu's semantic space is tied together by a piece of flat paper with writing on it. lipu can talk about both the texture and properties of that paper or the information contained on it, often both. For example, a document on a computer, while in no way as flimsy as a paper, is still very much lipu. If you take the writing off of a piece of paper, it's just as much a lipu. Some speakers argue that this is an extended metaphor and by using lipu to describe these files, one is framing the computer as a lipu. For example, in Southeast Asia, language was written on dried palm leaves, which without writing are still lipu. In fact, many speakers use lipu for all leaves, be they large or small, without any implications of writing. Anything flat and flimsy can be a lipu for these speakers. As soon as it gets hard, it's likely to be a supa unless it has writing on it, though. For example, a maya staela could be lipu, but a rock shaped like one with no writing on it would almost definitely not be.

Any creature that swims habitually is a kala. This can include anything from fish to whales to seals. The most important aspect of a kala is its relation to water. kala tend to either live in the water or spend a good portion of their time in it. Some speakers extend this usage a bit and let it refer to anything that is in water, like a human swimmer or a pool noodle. Sometimes, toki ponists will describe the act of showering as kala. This usage is often interpreted as somewhat funny, but it is commonly understood.

The semantic space of pana contains all acts that set objects in motion. This can be a type of emmission. The act of a fire giving off heat it pana. The act of a child laughing is pana, because the child is emitting laughter, setting it in motion. Throwing a baseball, hitting a hockey puck, and kicking a football (the kind that Americans call a "soccer ball") are all pana. Defenestration is a type of pana, because you are setting something in motion (out a window). the object that does the act of pana doesn't have to set something in motion away from itself. Buying a piano online for a friend is pana, or at the very least the act of having the piano be delivered is pana. Less physical objects can be the subject of pana too: knowledge, advice, or good feelings.

kasi is any number of types of plants. big plants like trees are kasi, and small plants like weeds are too! anything largely in the category of "plant" is a kasi. There's some controversy about fungi, though. many believe them to be within kasi's sematnic space, while others disagree entirely and use a new word, "soko." if you want to learn about someone's view on this, just pull up a picture of a mushroom and ask "ni li seme?" and wait for their response.