new language for a tropical island

[neksianus]

I have an idea to make the game more interesting. When we look at the map of the world, we can see that there are large areas of the sea. I have an idea to create one or two very small islands in the middle of the sea with two or at most three locations. There could be one spawn location for users of artificial language - Toki Pona.

Here is information about this language:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toki_Pona

In Polish:

http://tokipl.wikidot.com/

Toki Pona language sounds like the language of the natives of Polynesia.

Here are some examples: The story of the Tower of Babel

jan ali li kepeken e toki sama. jan li kama tan nasin pi kama suno li kama tawa ma Sinale li awen lon ni. jan li toki e ni: "o kama! mi mute o pali e kiwen. o seli e ona." jan mute li toki e ni: "o kama! mi mute o pali e tomo mute e tomo palisa suli. sewi pi tomo palisa li lon sewi kon. nimi pi mi mute o kama suli! mi wile ala e ni: mi mute li lon ma ante mute." jan sewi Jawe li kama anpa li lukin e ma tomo e tomo palisa. jan sewi Jawe li toki e ni: "jan li lon ma wan li kepeken e toki sama li pali e tomo palisa. tenpo ni la ona li ken pali e ijo ike mute. mi wile tawa anpa li wile pakala e toki pi jan mute ni. mi wile e ni: jan li sona ala e toki pi jan ante." jan sewi Jawe li kama e ni: jan li lon ma mute li ken ala pali e tomo. nimi pi ma tomo ni li Pape tan ni: jan sewi Jawe li pakala e toki pi jan ali. jan sewi Jawe li tawa e jan tawa ma mute tan ma tomo Pape.

On the island would be a little raw: fish, seaweed, wood, sand, stone, coconuts, bananas, grass, potatoes (sweet potatoes instead).
There would be little animals: speckled tortoise, bushpig, crabs

The island would be isolated from the great contonents, but it could lay between them, near the routes of ships . Sailors could find food on the island. Sailors speaking different languages ​​could create an international village. There they could trade with each other sailors and with the natives. The presence of mysterious natives, speaking a strange language could be a source of interesting stories.

In the game players would find the place creating a climate of true, tropical island.
Of course the I do not expect many users of that language, but a few characters that could live on the island.

I am able to translate the game into Toki Pona.

[Henkie]

Love it! Do it! Nice and confusing

[Snickie]

Is there anywhere that a curious user/player could learn said confusing language for free and with no set-in-stone time table?

[neksianus]

There are several pages about this language.

http://bknight0.myweb.uga.edu/toki/lesson/lesson0.html

in Polish

http://tokipl.wikidot.com/toki-pona

The language is very simple, all words are about 120, contains 60 basic concepts common to all human languages.
Toki Pona has only 14 sounds, there are no tenses, it all depends on the context. You can create the necessary words alone.

example:

potato: kili ma pimeja. Fruit / vegetable, soil, dark
banana: kili palisa jelo. Fruit / vegetable, long, yellow
tree: kasi suli. Plant, big
crab: kala kiwen. Fish, hard
sand: ma jelo. Soil, yellow

Of course, Toki Pona is not suitable for creating complex philosophical treatises, but it can serve as a language of "natives" in Cantr II

[Henkie]

Took me half an hour to decipher some simple sentences and write a reply to them... It's so bloody annoying!

So as with everything else, I LOVE IT! haha very very entertaining

[Piscator]

I am able to translate the game into Toki Pona.

Okay, that's something I would like to see. I assume you will encounter serious troubles when you're trying to translate some of the more obscure tools and animals.

Anyway, if you get at least four more players, there's nothing speaking against creating a new language group. We won't create a new island for them though, although we would of course look for a suitable spot on one of the existing islands.

[psychowico]

Like I say in polish thread, I think that nothing precludes doing this now in game. You character can treat it like language made up by him and try found other character who want learn it. And live in some interesting please.

[Ronja Rotschopf]

If you make up a language ingame, you would never have newspawns in that language.

[KAOS]

I like the idea.
I learned Toki Pona a few years ago, but never really used it (cause I never managed to find others who wanted to talk Toki Pona with me) and forgot most of it.
It will probably be difficult to translate everything, because the language is not created to name complex things. But if it works, I think it will be a great experiment to try out if this language is suitable for every day life of characters in Cantr.

[neksianus]

I am glad that you interested in this topic. I think I will do as said psychowico. I'll create a character in the Polish zone and I'll try to play a "native". It will be "test". You have a right: it is difficult to translate complicated words. I know about it. Therefore, this language can function only in a simple environment.

[psychowico]

At first you can use only few words, some like specific language dialect, or secret language that give you and you character friend to communicate and other won't be understand you. This can work, good luck

[Mr. Bones]

Yeah, you can do this already. I had a character that spoke his own language and he taught people some of the words, they started to speak it as sort of a second language there with my character, but it was only the few bits I taught them. You could always recruit some people to learn the language and then set up your own community, abandoned towns in Cantr are easy to find.