Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word Appendix:Toki Pona/tonsi. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word Appendix:Toki Pona/tonsi, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say Appendix:Toki Pona/tonsi in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word Appendix:Toki Pona/tonsi you have here. The definition of the word Appendix:Toki Pona/tonsi will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofAppendix:Toki Pona/tonsi, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
This word was made by the Toki Pona community after the publication of Sonja Lang's 2014 book Toki Pona: The Language of Good. It has later been recognized as essential vocabulary by Sonja Lang in her 2021 publication The Toki Pona Dictionary and in the Esperanto translation of Toki Pona: The Language of Good.
According to Linku, this word is classified as "widespread", being used by 83% of respondents in a poll from August 2023.
Using tonsi to describe binary transgender people is somewhat controversial. Most speakers consider tonsi to be a third gender term coordinate to meli and mije, and there is no consensus whether being born on the other side of the meli–mije duality necessarily causes one to be tonsi. According to Lipamanka, binary transgender people may decide to adopt the tonsi label or reject it, based on their personal conception of what being trans means.
Some ways in which binary transgender people may express their identity are as follows. (These wordings are for trans women; for trans men, swap mije “man” and meli “woman”)
meli — “woman”, finding the fact that they are transgender unimportant or irrelevant
meli pi sijelo mije — “male-bodied woman”, using sijelo to allude to the sex–gender duality
mije pi kon meli — “woman-souled male”. kon is also sometimes used to mean “gender”, in contrast with sijelo to mean “sex” as in the previous example.
Note that, however, because Toki Pona words have broad meanings, someone who uses these alternatives may not be transgender, but instead a gender non-conforming person or a crossdresser who intends the phrase to be taken in a different metaphorical sense.
A minority of speakers with strong feelings about gender elect to use neither meli nor mije. Some of them will use tonsi while not mentioning gender if it is binary, while others decide not to mention gender in any way in Toki Pona.
