monsutatesu

introduction; open

the Monsutatesu is a phenomenon occurring in toki pona where every sentence with a transitive verb can potentially mean two completely opposite meanings, provided that the word used has a verb definition. ijo Monsutatesu li ijo lon toki pona. ona la, toki ale pi kepeken nimi Transitive Verb li ken kon e kon tu pi ante mute. nimi ni li jo e kon Verb la, ni li lon.

kalama
mi kalama e ona	i make.sound OBJ it	i recite it
mi kalama e ona	i apply.sound.making OBJ it	i make it recite

monsuta
mi monsuta e ona	i apply.fear OBJ them	i make them afraid
mi monsuta e ona	i monster OBJ them	i make them a monster i am afraid of them

in toki pona, there is no way to tell which meaning is being said, except with context. lon toki pona la, waleja li lon ala la, jan li ken ala sona e ni: kon seme li lon.

etymology; tan nimi

the word ‘monsutatesu’ was derived from the phrase ‘monsuta test’ - monsuta, from the toki pona word ‘monsuta’, which is from Japanese モンスタ(monsutā ‘monster’) and in turn, English ‘monster’. this is because ‘monsuta’ was the first word to have failed this test, and brought on a lot of confusion about its usage, due to this phenomenon. and the word ‘test’ is from the English ‘test’. nimi ‘monsutatesu’ li kama tan toki ‘monsuta test’ - ‘monsuta’ li tan nimi ‘monsuta’ lon toki pona. ni li tan nimi モンスタ(monsutā ‘monster’) lon toki Nijon, tan nimi ‘monster’ lon toki Inli, tan ni: nimi ‘monsuta’ li nimi nanpa wan nasa, li nimi nanpa wan pi kama ala ni. ni li pana e sona ala mute tawa nimi ‘monsuta’. nimi ‘test’ li tan ‘test’ lon toki Inli.

history

it seems that the first discussion about transitive monsuta was on 4th October 2010, in the toki pona forums, with the question asked by jan Kipo. it is also one of the earliest usages of transitive monsuta. however, this discussion about transitive monsuta was short, and quickly turned into a question of whether monsuta was a ‘real word’ in toki pona. there seems to be no answer. toki nanpa wan pi nimi ‘monsuta’ li lon tenpo suno tu tu pi tenpo mun October pi tenpo sike 2010, lon lipu Forums pi toki pona. toki pi wile sona li tan jan Kipo. ni li lon tenpo pini mute mute. taso, toki ni li lili, li ante tawa ni: monsuta li lon ala lon, lon toki pona? ona li toki ala e nasin pi kepeken monsuta.

where else it was discussed is unknown, but the first time it the discussion occurred on the ma pona pi toki pona discord server was on 27 July 2019, questioned by jan Mantala. the general consensus of this discussion was that tawa should be used and to avoid transitive monsuta. sona ala la toki ni li lon ante seme. taso, toki nanpa wan ni lon ma pona pi toki pona li lon tenpo suno 27 pi tenpo mun July pi tenpo sike 2019. jan Mantala li wile sona e ni. ona mute li toki e ni: o kepeken ‘monsuta e’ ala, o kepeken ‘monsuta tawa’. work in progress