This language is largely based on toki pona with less ambiguity. In this version, there are also slight changes to the phonotactics as listed below. The letter M is used, but only before a P.

1. After an initial consonant, a fricative (L or J) can occur before the vowel.

2. Syllables can end with a nasal consonant ([n], [m] before a P), [l], or [s].

A—[a]

E—[e] or [ei] or [ɛ]

I—[i]

O—[o] or [ou]

U—[u]

And now the consonants:

T—[t] or [d]

P—[p] or [b]

K—[k], very rarely [g]

J—[j]

L—[l]

N—[n], sometimes written as M before a P, in which case it’s [m]

S—[s], very rarely [z]

This would make the tokiponization of the English word “exactly” go from something like “esakili” to “eksakli”, which is much closer to the original word. It also makes words faster. Anansi is like an industrialized version of toki pona—more accurate, fast, and in-depth while keeping the signature easy grammar of its predecessor.

Playing with Nouns

Anansi is fairly simple, as is toki pona. Nouns are made plural with the particle “mute” placed after the plural word, for example “klupu” (cf. toki pona “kulupu”), meaning “group”, becomes “klupu mute”. To mark the word as a direct object (more about these in the verb section), place the particle “e” before it, so klupu becomes e klupu.

Verbs

Anansi verbs have no conjugation, except that you may add tense to a verb if you want. Except for pronouns, use the particle li before a verb to show that it is a verb. Use the particle “o” to make a verb imperative—“o moku” is “Eat”

Verb Tense

Verbs are tricky little fellas to show tense for, so I’ll show you two ways—one for general, easy use, and one for much more accurate use. The general one is with three modifiers—“pitempo”, “nitempo”, and “kantempo”, which mean “past time”, “this time (now)”, and “coming time” respectively. Replace the li, or o with an imperative verb, before a verb with one of these words to show the tense, “Mi moku” (I eat) becomes “Mi pitempo moku” (I ate). Note that nitempo is usually used in poetry/songs, in order to meet the meter, or as an intensifier: “o moku” “Eat” (as a command) becomes “nitempo moku”, “Eat (right) now!” If you want to add a more specific time to it such as “nighttime” or “yesterday”, use tempo and then the time. For example, “pimeja”, night, could become tempo pimeja, or “nighttime/during the night”. Erase the li and place your tempo construction before the verb—“Mi tempo pimeja kama” could mean “I come during the night”, “I came last night” (probably if said in the morning), or “I will come tonight” (again, in context). To be more specific, use “pin”, meaning past, “ni”, meaning “this” (obviously, using ni with words such as pimeja, would mean different things: ni pimeja is “this night” or “tonight”), and “kama” to mean coming, such as “kama pimeja”, meaning coming night, or probably “tomorrow night.”

Verb Negation

Almost out of the woods! Verbs can be made negative with “ala”, such as “Mia ala pitempo moku”, “I did not eat.”

Numbers

Anansi numbers can be much more specific than those of toki pona, and have been based on the Roman Numeral system in that it is based upon the number 1 and multiples of five, yet are written in the Arabic system (ordinary numbers like 1, 2, 3, etc.)

1—wan

2—tu

3—tri

4—kato

5—luka

9—lukato

10—tis

100—sen

1000—suli

To make a number like 15, add the smaller one after the larger one, so “tis luka”. 17 is made much the same way—be sure that the smallest value number is last! 17 is “tis luka tu.” Numbers that are multiples of 10, 100, or 1000 are made by prefixing tis, sent, and suli with the number: E.G. 300 is “trisent” and 30 is “tritis”. Numeral adverbs, such as “once” or “twice” are made by adding tempo after a number—such as “luka tempo—five times.” Distributive adverbs, such as “one by one” or “two by two (two people at a time)” are made with the construction “# tawa #.”, as in “wan tawa wan”, “one by one.”

Specializers

In toki pona, each word can have several meanings. For example, insa can mean “inside (as a noun, or location), inside (as an adjective), or to go/be inside.” With that many meanings, it’s easy to become ambiguous. And so, in Anansi, there’s a special set of words known as specializers that can be used to specialize the word. To use one, use the construction “specializer ule word.” Here’s some specializers:

tanje—the state of

tun—the act of

iki—the cause of (EG iki ule moku would be “to cause to become food”, possibly “to prepare food”)

iksi—the becoming of (this can be used to form the passive voice)

ali—relating to (EG ari ule mama could be “relating to a parent” or “parental”)

ap—by means of

jota—for the purpose of (EG plo ule moku could be “for the purpose of eating” or “in order to eat")

If you're interested in a full wordlist, let me know--I have the whole thing typed up, complete with toki pona counterpart, as well as the etymology of the toki pona equivalent and the etymology of every toki pona and Anansi word. Thanks for reading!