a Sitelen Pona descendant for the Kokanu IAL
Ikama Tasuwi (Drawn Words) is a Sitelenponido (i.e. writing system descended from Sitelen Pona) for Kokanu, the Minimal IAL. It was made as an attempt to bridge the gap between Kokanu and its parent language Toki Pona, while reflecting how far it has diverged from it.
- If there is a directly corresponding word in Toki Pona, use that Sitelen Pona, except for:
- Color words, which have been replaced with a new radical.
- ha (<tu - two), which has been replaced with the Hindu-Arabic numeral “2” to match the other number words.
- Words for which the Sitelen Sa looks better to me than Sitelen Pona: cina (from lili - small), ci (what), ka (interrogative particle) (both from seme), and o (from o)
- Other ad-hoc exceptions, such as:
- nan (<ken - can, able to), which no longer makes sense being represented by a capital K.
- inpali (≈iseki - flower), which I drew before I knew of iseki
- meja (≈kisa - cat), cuwi (≈misa - mouse), suwina (≈kolo - pig), which I drew before I knew of any of these Sitelen Pona coinages
- ju (<wile - want), using the closed variant, so that I can use the ω shape for titi (breasts)
- If there is no directly corresponding word, the Ikama Tasuwi glyphs are:
- derivations from other Ikama Tasuwi or from Sitelen Pona:
- Antonymization via 180° rotation: uli (weak) is an 180° rotated len (<wawa - strong).
- Exceptionally, ujanu (awake) is antomi (<lape, asleep) 90° rotated, so that the stickman head that was lying down is now upright.
- Visual punning: wala (sibling) has two “children” under the “parent” from matuwa (<mama - parent).
- Negation stroke: napa (pure) is derived from the yin-yang symbol huwonho (mixed) with a diagonal stroke through it.
- (ideally) internationally recognizable symbols:
- wiki (fast) and tile (slow) are taken from audio/media symbols for “fast forward” and “slow”.
- huwonho (mixed) is a simplified yin-yang symbol.
- iwe (imply) is the double-stemmed right arrow “⇒”, the “implies” logic symbol in Boolean logic.
- joli (beneficial), juka (detrimental), and peman (vow/promise) are gestures represented in Sutton SignWriting: respectively, thumbs-up, thumbs-down, and pinky-promise.
- Sometimes Japan-specific symbols: While katin (difficult) is two diamonds, referencing the biking/skiing trail difficulty symbol, sula (easy) is the Japanese novice driver symbol.
- kikolo (bitter) is mouth + bitter melon, which has a distinct shape but might be too specific to Japan and SE Asia.
- new original/arbitrary glyphs: * nan is represented by a flexing bicep, showing off one’s own power or ability. * haja (alive), represented by a heart shape with a heart rate monitor line going through it, is the antonym of tiku (<moli, dead), represented by a stickman head with two crossed-out eyes.
As of yet, Ikama Tasuwi is unfinished, and anyone can use it with the caveat that some logograms are subject to change. Feedback is welcome in the official Kokanu Discord server and here on GitHub.