it's a word proposal innit
Katala's semantic space is gender and also category or genre. You can kinda think of it like how gender and genre came from the same root (that was my inspiration at least.) Is this necessary? Of course not, but not having a good word for gender made me actively, physically sad. I found poki to be too restrictive and boxed in, and kule to be too metaphorical (and more associated with the lgbtq than gender). I tried to be as creative as possible to show how it could be useful, and even if you don't use it you can see how someone would.
Katala doesn't have to be strict categories. The edges and boundaries of the categories can be more fuzzy or broad, like how the difference between music genres is muddy and subjective. Katala doesn't necessarily have edges. Just like how gender is endless, free flowing, and ever changing, so is katala. They're not just boxes you put someone in, but they're also names you apply to a gradient of ideas. Categorizing mental illnesses, with their overlaps and comorbidity, can be katala. Putting books on the right shelf and organizing them (IE: cataloging) can be katala (as in, categorizing them in a way). I like it when toki pona words are broad, useful, and descriptive. So, I'd love it if you want to use it to be as creative as you want! Maybe colors are just katala of the color spectrum. Maybe you needed a good way to describe how science is often just describing and categorizing things even if it's arbitrary sometimes. Maybe you needed a better term for gender that didn't have a negative connotation, or maybe you're like me and you hate describing yourself as "tonsi" and wanted a better way to specifically address who you are without feeling like the language itself is rejecting you.
I really just wanted to post this so I could use it sometimes and have something to point to for others to understand. And my favorite part of toki pona is seeing people use words in ways I never would've expected or thought of, and if my word is useful to someone, anyone, out there: I think that means I did a good thing.
Besides, this word is infinitely more useful than epiku x3 (katala was brought to you by nanpa wan epiku hater) /j
katala li suli tawa jan mute.
katala musi ona li katala Pantasi.
ona li jan pi katala ala. ona li jo ala e katala.
mi katala li lipu. mi jan pi katala lipu lon insa tomo lipu.
katala mi li meli. tenpo pini la sijelo mi li mije. mi pilin ike.
Here's the sitelen pona I wrote of these sentences :3
(A venn diagram was the best idea I had for a simple symbol that could be used to represent the idea of category. But I don't like it that much. While it has that idea of gradients, nuance, and the allowance of fuzziness baked in due to the nature of venn diagrams, it feels too close to ale. It's definitely usable, but I won't be mad if someone comes up with a better idea for the sitelen pona, this is a community after all x3. The word itself is from the word category, and also because I love all the words in toki pona that have that same cadence. Utala, pakala, kalama, etc just roll of the tongue so well I love it. I like to think the la in katala is the r is category. It's definitely not one-to-one, because the gender meaning is important too. Which, g can also map to k and the r in gender can map to la if you wanted to, so I think it matches pretty well. More importantly, I love saying it soo)
note: I'll put what those sentences are supposed to mean in a reply to this post, just in case you want to figure it out yourself <3 - soweli Pikusune