语言与文风2015theatlantic.com
Toki Pona：一门只有120个词的人类语言
Toki Pona: a human language with 120 words
导读
这篇介绍只有约120个词的人造语言 Toki Pona，讨论极简词汇如何支撑交流、又会在哪些地方依赖语境和听者推断。对写作者来说，它是一面镜子：限制词汇会逼出更清晰的结构，也会放大歧义和表达损失。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
用少量常用词改写复杂内容，会迫使作者先想清楚核心意思和句子结构。
- 02
极简表达常把大量信息留给读者补全，写作时要主动检查上下文是否足够、歧义是否可接受。
- 03
词汇受限能完成基本沟通，但会削弱修辞力量和语义细微差别，重要文本仍需要精确表达。
- 04
可以把“限词写作”当作练习：用很少的词解释一个复杂概念，再对比原稿看损失了什么。
HN 评论精选
词汇受限能完成基本沟通，但会损失修辞力量和语义细微差别。
Basic English 大约用850个词，丘吉尔和罗斯福曾用它通信。丘吉尔在信中说，如果美国支持把 Basic English 作为国际交流工具推广，它会成为人类的巨大恩惠，并增强盎格鲁-撒克逊民族在世界事务中的影响力。罗斯福回信调侃：如果在1940年5月你只能用“血、工作、眼水、脸水”向英国人民表达，历史会怎样——这大概是 Basic English 对那几个著名词能给出的最好说法。
mcguire查看英文原文
Basic English uses approximately 850 words, and produced this communication between Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt: Churchill (so much for automatic text recognition): "When I was with you in the United States last August you expressed to me your interest in Basic English. The Cabinet Committee which I appointed here to consider the possibilities of Basic and means of promoting its wider use have reported and we have adopted the recommendations they have rode. I thought it might be of interest to you to see the Report and am sending you copi [...] "If the United States authorities feel able to give their powerful support to the promotion of Basic English as a means of international intercourse, I feel sure that that would ensure its successful development. My conviction is that Basic English will then prove to be a great boon to mankind in the future and a powerful support to the influence of the Anglo-Saxon peoples in world affairs." FDR: "...Incidentally, I wonder what the course of history would have been if in May 1940 you had been able to offer the British people only "blood, work, eye water and face water", which I understand is the best that Basic English can do with five famous words...." http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/psf/box37/t335k01.html
翻译复杂文本是检验极简语言表达力的好方法，也能暴露多少信息被留给读者补全。
测试一门编程语言是否成熟有个经典办法：看它能否“自举”，也就是用这门语言本身写编译器或解释器。我很想看到这篇文章被翻译成 Toki Pona，以感受它的表达力：有多少意思要留给听者去猜原本想说什么。
ColinWright查看英文原文
It's a classic test of a computer programming language to see if it can self-host - that is, to write a compiler or interpreter for the language, in the language. I'd love to see this article translated into Toki Pona to get a sense of the expressiveness of the language. How much is being left to the listener to figure out what must have been meant ... edited for typos
词汇设计借用和简化常见词，能降低记忆负担，也体现语言创造中的取舍。
Toki Pona 的创造者似乎是芬兰语爱好者。若干词直接借自芬兰语（虽去掉变音符号）并保留原义，如 älä、kala、nenä、nimi、sama、sinä；pimeja 是 pimeä 的轻微变体。另一常见做法是把英语词的读音简化缩短，如 ale（all）、en（and）、insa（inside）、jaki（yucky）、jelo（yellow）、kama（come）、ken（can）、mi（me）、toki（talking）、wan（one）、wile（will）。还有些词略有变形但仍接近原词，如 anpa（under）、pilin（feeling）、sewi（ceiling）、sike（circle）。这其实很帮助记忆词汇。
shangaslammi查看英文原文
The creator of toki pona seems to be a fan of the Finnish language. Several of the words are loaned directly (although without umlauts) and keep their original Finnish meaning. At a glance: älä, kala, -kin, nenä, nimi, sama, sinä are exact Finnish words and "pimeja" is a slight alteration of "pimeä". Kiwen, lipu, linja and walo are probably Finnish inspired as well. Another common trend seems to be using a simplified and shortened forms of the phonetic spelling of English words such as "ale" (all), "en" (and), "insa" (inside), "jaki" (yucky), "jelo" (yellow), "kama" (come), "ken" (can), "kule" (color), "lukin" (looking), "mani" (money), "mi" (me), "mun" (moon), "nanpa" (number), "pata" (brother), "suwi" (sweet), "tawa" (towards), "toki" (talking), "tu" (two), "wan" (one) and "wile" (will). Slightly distorted, but still close: "anpa" (under), "kulupu" (sounds like a Japanese transliteration of group, グループ), "pilin" (feeling), "sewi" (ceiling) and "sike" (circle). This actually helps a lot in memorizing the vocabulary. :)
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