Toki Suno Grammar

Toki Suno is a light-based realisation inspired by Toki Pona.
Grammar is expressed through rendering order, pauses, framing, and colour, rather than through particles or spatial word order.

This document describes how utterances are structured and interpreted in Toki Suno.

1. Core principle

An utterance in Toki Suno is revealed over time, but interpreted as a whole.

• Colour carries lexical meaning.
• White framing carries grammatical function.
• Pauses (darkness) mark boundaries.
• Rendering order determines structure and attachment.

There are no explicit grammatical particles.
Special lexical renderings (used by some words) are separate from role frames and do not mark subject/verb/object. They take grammatical frames externally according to their role in the sentence.

2. Rendering order and pauses

Rendering order is essential to interpretation.

• Elements are illuminated in sequence for clarity.
• Within a group, previously revealed elements remain alight while modifiers are added.
• A pause (darkness) indicates the completion of a group.
• After a pause, attachment resets and a new group begins.

Pauses fulfil the structural role of particles such as li and e.

3. Heads and modifiers

Each group has a head, followed by modifiers.

• The head is framed in white and remains illuminated.
• Modifiers are shown in solid colour without a frame.
• Modifiers are revealed one by one in order.
• When needed, modifiers may be highlighted simultaneously as a group.

Modifier grouping is handled visually; no grouping word (such as pi) is used.

4. Subject group

• The subject head is shown in solid colour(s), framed by a solid white frame.
• Subject modifiers are revealed in solid colour(s) without a frame.
• Once the subject group is complete, a pause follows.
• For multiple subjects, the same procedure is repeated before moving on.

5. Verb group

• The verb head is shown in solid colour(s), framed by a flowing white frame.
• Verb modifiers are revealed in solid colour(s) without a frame.
• A pause follows once the verb group is complete.

6. Object group

• The object head is shown in solid colour(s), framed by a pulsating white frame.
• Object modifiers are revealed in solid colour(s) without a frame.
• Modifiers may be grouped visually when necessary.
• A pause closes the object group.

For multiple objects, the same procedure is repeated.

7. Preposition and connective words

Words such as la, anu, and o are treated as lexical items.

• Their function is determined by placement and rendering order.
• Attachment follows temporal proximity: a connective applies to what immediately follows, unless a pause intervenes.

8. Attachment rules

Attachment is determined by rendering order.

• A modifier or group attaches to the most recently completed head.
• A pause closes the current attachment scope.
• Grouped highlighting overrides simple proximity when used.

This replaces syntactic markers used in spoken languages.

9. Negation and questions

Toki Suno does not introduce special grammatical mechanisms for negation or questions.

• Negation is expressed lexically using ala, following Toki Pona usage.
• Questions are expressed lexically using seme.

Their visual rendering is defined in the lexicon.

10. Flexibility

The grammar of Toki Suno is not prescriptive.

The system is designed to:

• adapt to different visual implementations
• tolerate variation
• evolve as new constraints are explored