# jan ti

in Tok Pisin, ti is a pejorative term meaning 'little fucking' so you cannot say it (ever).

{% hint style="info" %}
this is a joke. please don't take it seriously.
{% endhint %}

## ti as an illegal syllable

why is ti an illegal syllable? many languages have gone through a sound shift called palatalization, where alveolar stops have become affricates before front high vowels. these affricates would then be pronounced as si, not ti. native speakers of these languages would have a hard time pronouncing ti without it sounding like si, so Sonja decided to forbid ti to avoid this. *tan seme la kalama 'ti' li kalama ike? toki mute la, kalama ante 'platalization' li lon - ni la, kalama 'alveolar stops' li kama 'affricates' lon sinpin 'front high vowels'. 'affricates' ni li kalama e 'si', e 'ti' ala. jan pi toki ni li toki e 'ti' la, kalama ona li sama 'si'. tan ni la, jan Sonja li weka e kalama 'ti'.*

## references

* [ma pona pi toki pona](https://discordapp.com/channels/301377942062366741/316066233755631616/730964300046270485) - **in tok pisin, ...**
* [ma pona pi toki pona](https://discordapp.com/channels/301377942062366741/316066233755631616/730964445723099166) - **ti as an illegal syllable**
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