Appendix:Toki Pona/pi

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Toki Pona

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pi in sitelen pona

Etymology

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From Tok Pisin bilong (of, belonging to), from English belong.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /pi/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -i

Particle

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pi

  1. Introduces a postmodifying multi-word phrase.
    tomo telo nasa li sama ala tomo pi telo nasa.
    A weird washroom (weird liquid room) is not the same as a pub (weird-liquid room).

Usage notes

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  • Without pi, each content word modifies the preceding phrase individually in succession. pi regroups the following words to modify the preceding phrase as a unit. It is roughly equivalent to hyphenating a phrasal adjective in English.
  • Using pi followed by one word is proscribed. As there is nothing to regroup, the meaning is unchanged from the same phrase without pi.
  • If pi is used twice in one phrase, there is no consensus on whether the second pi phrase modifies the first pi phrase (nested), or both modify the head phrase (flat).
  • pi is often glossed as “of”, in the sense of introducing a postmodifying noun phrase. Using pi for its other senses is proscribed. Note that phrases without pi can be translated using of, as in toki pona, “the language of good”.
  • While pi can occur before possessive phrases, it does not itself mark the possessive. Compare tomo mi, “my house”, and tomo pi jan Epawan, “Abraham's house”. Both modifiers are possessive; the pi merely groups the two words in the proper name.