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.
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 consonanants. To start a word with a vowel, the letter "o" is used as a null consonant.[3]
| Latin script | Likanu |
|---|---|
| (null consonanant) | 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. |
