A statement from members of the Toki Pona community.
Dedicated inbox: [email protected].
April 27, 2026

In the past few days, those of us who are in prominent roles in the Toki Pona community have fielded an increasing number of concerned messages regarding the wellbeing of this language’s creator, who in the past was known as Sonja Lang. More recently, she has used a number of different names; here we will refer to her as Amatullah, the name she used in her most recent publication and has been relatively consistent in using.

First and foremost, this is a statement about someone many of us have considered a cherished friend and mentor. In 2001, Amatullah shared her dearest art project with the world and received a response larger than she had ever imagined. For over two decades since, despite her hesitation and wariness around becoming a public figure, Amatullah has served the people who are drawn to contribute to this living work of art with generosity and patience.

Toki Pona has changed the trajectory of all of our lives, whether that’s through following the language’s original purpose as a meditation tool, using it as a platform to build artistic and educational content for an extremely eager community of learners and speakers, or getting introduced to people who became our close friends or even partners. Many of us can personally attest to Amatullah being a shepherd of others’ endeavors and a source of stability in times of trouble.

This began to change last year. Starting around June, and becoming more visible around August, Amatullah started to come into conflict with many members of the community, often for reasons that were hard to understand. When she sought a community of people who would provide her solutions to a painful situation, a number of us individually tried to support her by serving as ears, brainstorming solutions, and keeping her company. We were slow to recognize just how much the situation was affecting her.

We are not mental health experts, and many of us had no firsthand experience with what to do when a hole to another reality seems to appear at the center of an otherwise lucid person’s reasoning. By November, a few of us began to notice that Amatullah’s speech patterns and her convictions of persecution resembled what we’d seen in people experiencing psychosis—a state in which someone has difficulty distinguishing what is real¹—but that only made us more uncertain about how to best support her. In the moment, it seems like you should just be able to talk someone out of a hole like that. But from their perspective, every word you say in disagreement is further evidence that they understand truths about the world that no one else does and that you are one of many people trying to suppress that. We were further alienating her from us, and us from her. We didn’t have a solution then, and don’t have one now.

Our efforts to intervene with Amatullah were complicated by concern for the wellbeing of other community members individually and the Toki Pona project as a whole. Most of the Toki Pona community’s governance is informal and decentralized, but some facets have a formal legal structure. The need to quietly reduce Amatullah’s role in that structure limited our ability to respond publicly in more informal settings. In January, Amatullah was removed from her role as the president of the Sitelen Pona Publishers & Typographers Association (kulupu pali pi sitelen pona). Complicating efforts for a quiet and compassionate transition, Amatullah did not ensure the website domain name, sitelenpona.org, was transferred to the incoming leadership. The Association has redirected the website to sitelenpona.net. She also retains ownership of tokipona.org (historically the de facto homepage for the community) in her individual capacity. The community has now responded by launching a replacement homepage at tokipona.net.

While initially this crisis was visible only to those in direct contact with Amatullah, this has now become a very public, and very tragic, break from reality across her entire online presence. For many of us who have spent the past several months weathering various forms of hostility from her, this is a dramatic reversal of circumstances, to watch her in overt crisis and vulnerable to the many terrifying outcomes possible for someone who suffers in this way so publicly.

There is time for all of us to reflect on what, if anything, we could have done differently in the past few months. For now, we are focused on the immediate future.

Above all else, to Amatullah:

If you are reading this, please, we beg you, get help. We know that to you we will seem like the villains here, but please believe that this plea comes from a place of love and care. Please consider reaching out to those you know and love in your offline life, and to those who might otherwise help you through this. There are options for addressing the issues you have been facing that preserve your autonomy, approach your symptoms holistically, and will not take away the creative genius that has made you who you are; there are support groups and professionals who, far from stigmatizing the way you see the world, can help you navigate these options and find what is best for you. Please understand that, while you have been removed from many Toki Pona spaces for the time being, this is not a “cancellation” or permanent expulsion; we would love to see you, in time, return to the community you have built in a way that is healthy for both you and it.

To anyone who knows Amatullah personally:

We have been limited in our ability to help by mostly only knowing her online. While many of us have met her in person, we have limited contact with the people in her daily life. If you know her in person and would like to speak with us, please contact us at [email protected].

If you are looking to help Amatullah, the best that most of us can do is to avoid either platforming or making a spectacle of her. Don’t talk to her, don’t repost her posts, and don’t gawk at her or discuss her actions publicly. We do not suggest this course of action out of spite, nor out of an attempt to silence criticism; rather, from our experience, continued engagement with Amatullah—even with the best intentions—risks widening the scope of the problem. It is heartbreaking to ignore someone who is suffering, but in this case it is likely the kindest thing you can do. If Amatullah reaches out to you in a way that you think needs a response, we encourage you to contact us at [email protected].

As part of this effort, we ask the community to support the new websites, tokipona.net and sitelenpona.net, which are still finding their footing as replacements for their predecessors. Where appropriate, please update or replace links to tokipona.org and sitelenpona.org. If you have advice to share, or would like to contribute, we would like to hear from you at [email protected].

More broadly, we understand that this is a difficult time for the whole community. Depending on your experience of learning Toki Pona, Amatullah may have been your first exposure to the language, your primary teacher, a revered community elder, a mentor or collaborator, or even a personal friend. It is worth stressing that we hope she can return to being all of those things. But for so long as she isn’t, know that you’re not alone in grief and pain that you’re experiencing.

The Toki Pona community has never just been Amatullah, and has not for a long time been defined by Amatullah. This is good. This is how a language community should work, and how a massive collaborative art project should work. Even with Amatullah’s absence from most Toki Pona spaces, nothing changes about the experience of learning Toki Pona and engaging with its community, including using Toki Pona as a way to simplify and better understand one’s thoughts. Amatullah’s struggles are a good reminder that Toki Pona is not a cure-all, but many of us have found it an essential component in our own recoveries from mental illness.

It’s okay to feel conflicted about things she said and did that were hurtful—either directly to specific community members or toward groups of people in general—knowing simultaneously that these were things said while apparently very unwell, but that they still had real negative effects on real people which don’t disappear in light of what we now understand about her state of mind. There is no easy answer in addressing that duality. In practice, closure may only be possible in the event that Amatullah recovers and returns to mend fences. In the meantime, we do not ask that anyone who was hurt suppress those feelings, but we do ask people to be mindful of the circumstances in framing their criticisms, and consider what it would be like to start perceiving a reality that no one around you perceives, and to feel hindered by people denying what you know to be true; if the situation all of us have been left in is painful and stressful, we can only assume that the situation she is in is even more so.

For future inquiries, we would encourage you to contact [email protected], or if the matter specifically concerns Sitelen Pona, to contact the Sitelen Pona Publishers & Typographers Association as described on their Contact page.

To everyone else:

At the end of the day, this is a very sad story about a very talented person who still has the potential to recover. We understand that some may wish to sensationalize a public crisis like this, but we would implore anybody to consider the ethics of the situation before publicizing this matter to a wider audience than is already exposed to it, or interjecting with prying questions.

Now is a time for healing, for this community and hopefully also for Amatullah. We hope you will let us focus on that.

Signed (alphabetical by name):
jan Alin
kala Asi
jan Eta
jan Isapela (formerly “jan Asiku”)
waso Juwan
jan Ke Tami
mun Kekan San
waso Keli
pipi Kewapi
jan Lakuse
soweli Lapate
lipamanka
jan Lisaki
jan Mika
sitelen ko Pela
jan Sepulon
jan Suko
ilo Tani
wan Tansin
jan Tekinowi
jan Telesi
jan Tepo

And the moderation or leadership teams of:
kama sona (Discord)
kulupu pi toki Epanja (Discord)
ma mun (Discord)
ma pona pi toki pona (Discord)
Ma Toki Pona VR (VRChat)
r/tokipona (Reddit)
Sitelen Pona Publishers and Typographers Association
toki pona - jan pi wile pona taso (ilo Telekan)

(Contact [email protected] to add your community’s name to this list.)

kulupu pi toki pona la jan mute li toki e ni.
sina ken toki tawa poki [email protected].
sike #2026 la mun #4 la suno #27

mi mute li jan suli lon kulupu pi toki pona. tenpo suno mute poka la jan mute li lukin e ijo nasa mute li toki pi wile sona e ni tawa mi: “mama pi toki pona li pona lon lawa lon sijelo anu seme?” tenpo pini la mama ni li kepeken nimi ‘jan Sonja.’ tenpo poka la ona li kepeken nimi ante mute. lipu ni li toki e ona kepeken nimi ‘anpa Ama’ tan ni: ona li pana e lipu esun sin kepeken nimi ni, li kepeken nimi ni lon ijo mute ante kin lon tenpo poka.

lipu ni li toki e anpa Ama. tawa mi mute la anpa Ama li mama taso ala. tenpo suli la ona li jan sona li jan poka li jan pona. toki pona li kama tan anpa mama Ama lon tenpo sike pini nanpa mute luka. anpa Ama li pana e pali musi suwi lili ona tawa lukin pi jan ante a, ona li pilin ala e ni: jan mute li lukin. taso jan mute li kama lukin e pali li wile lon kulupu pi toki pona. anpa Ama li wile ala kama nasin e kulupu, taso ona li weka e pilin ona pi wile ala li kama jan nasin tawa kulupu pi toki pona lon tenpo suli. ona li ni la anpa Ama li pana pona mute li pali pona mute li toki pona mute. pali ona li pona li wawa e kulupu.

tawa mi mute la toki pona li toki musi lili taso ala. ona li nasin li ilo suli. jan ante li kepeken toki pona sama ilo suli lon nasin ante mute. sama wile open pi anpa Ama la jan li pona e toki insa ona kepeken toki pona. jan li pana e musi e sona tawa kulupu wawa pi toki pona. jan li kama sona e jan poka, e jan olin lon kulupu pi toki pona. mi ale li kepeken toki pona lon nasin ante. taso mi ale pi nasin ante li lukin e ijo ni sama: anpa Ama li pana pona e sona nasin tawa jan ante lon pali jan, li awen pona e kulupu lon tenpo ike.

taso tenpo pini poka la anpa Ama li kama ante. tenpo mun #LW pi tenpo sike pini la pilin utala li kama suli lon ni: jan mute pi kulupu ni en anpa Ama li toki. tenpo mute la ala li sona e ni: seme li kama e pilin utala ni? pilin utala ni li tan seme? tenpo wan la, anpa Ama li pilin ike pakala tan ijo ike wan la, ona li wile e ni: jan poka pi mute lili li kama li ken alasa e nasin pi pona pilin. jan mute pi kulupu mi li kama toki tawa anpa Ama lon ijo pilin, li alasa pona e ona, li alasa kute e ona, li alasa kama e pona, li alasa awen lon poka ona. taso jan poka ni li kama ala lukin e ni lon tenpo suli: lon la pakala li suli a.

jan li sona pona e ali, la lupa nasa li kama lon lawa ona, li kama e sona tan lon ante pi lon ala, la jan poka ona o seme? mi sona ala. mi jan misikeke ala. mute la mi lukin ala e pakala ni lon pini. tenpo mun #LLW pi tenpo sike pini la mi pi mute lili li kama pilin e ni: toki ona en pilin monsuta ona li sama nasin lawa ni: ijo pi lon ala li ken sama a ijo lon a.¹ taso ni li nasa e alasa pona mi. mi wile pana e sona lon tawa ona kepeken toki. taso tawa ona la toki mi li lon e monsuta pi pilin ona. tawa ona la ona li sona wawa e lon wawa; monsuta la, mi sona ala, li alasa anpa ike e sona pona ona. mi kama weka e ona tan mi, e mi tan ona. tenpo pini la mi jo ala e nasin pona. tenpo ni la mi jo ala e nasin pona.

ni kin li nasa e alasa pona mi: mi wile awen e pona lon jan kulupu pi toki pona, lon pali suli pi toki pona. mute la kulupu en pali li jo ala e nasin pi jan lawa suli wan. taso, ijo lili la mi jo e ni. mi o anpa suwi e wawa pi anpa Ama lon ijo ni, la ni li lili e ken toki mi lon ma ante. tenpo mun #W pi tenpo sike ni la kulupu “kulupu pali pi sitelen pona” li weka e wawa suli tan anpa Ama. anpa Ama li pana ala e nimi lipu sitelenpona.org tawa kulupu ni. ni li nasa e alasa pi kama anpa suwi. ni la kulupu li kama kepeken nimi lipu sin sitelenpona.net. kin, anpa Ama li jo e nimi lipu tokipona.org. taso, tawa jan mute la ni o lipu kulupu, o lipu ona taso ala. ni la kulupu li pali e lipu sin tokipona.net.

open la taso la mi pi poka ona li ken lukin e pakala ona. ike a la kulupu ali pi ilo Intene li kama ken lukin lon tenpo poka e ni: anpa Ama li weka a tan lon. mi mute li kama pakala tan toki ona lon pini poka, la ante suli ni li monsuta. tenpo ni la mi lukin e ni: ijo mute li ken pakala e ona a.

mi ali o toki insa lon pali pini mi. seme la mi ken pali ante? taso, tenpo ni la mi lukin e kama.

nanpa wan la, anpa Ama o:

sina lukin e ni, la mi toki wawa e ni tan anpa: o kama pona. mi sona e ni: mi toki e ni, la tawa sina la mi jan ike. taso ni li kama tan olin, tan wile pona. o toki tawa jan poka olin sina, tawa jan pi ken pona. nasin mute la sina ken pona e ike sina, li ken weka ala e ken lawa sina, li ken misikeke e ali nasin sina, li ken awen e wawa sona musi sina. kulupu pi jan sama en jan misikeke li ken anpa ala e lon wawa sina, li ken alasa e nasin pona tawa sina. tenpo ni la mi weka e sina tan ma mute pi toki pona. taso ni li ken a pini. mi wile e kama sin sina lon tenpo kama. ni li ken pona tawa sina, li ken pona tawa kulupu.

sina sona pona e anpa Ama, la:

jan mute li sona e ona lon ilo taso. ken mi li lili tan ni. jan li lukin e ona lon ilo taso ala lon ma kin, taso ni li jan poka a ala. mi sona ala anu sona lili taso e jan poka ona. sina a sona e ona la sina wile toki tawa mi la, o kepeken nasin ni: [email protected].

sina lon kulupu pi toki pona la:

sina wile ante pona e ijo tawa anpa Ama la, pona nanpa wan la kulupu li ken ni: o suli ala e ona, e toki ona; o kama ala e musi tan nasa ona. o toki ala tawa ona, o pana ala sin e toki ona e sitelen ona, o kama ala e lukin mute tawa ona, o toki ala e ijo ona lon kulupu suli. mi toki pi nasin ni tan seme? mi wile ala a ike e ona; mi wile ala anpa e ona, e kon ona, e wile ona, e toki ona; mi kama sona: mi awen toki tawa ona la, mi awen lon ona la—mi wile pona taso kin la—ni li suli taso e pakala. pakala li lon jan la, sina wile weka e pakala la, sina ken pilin ni: “mi o weka ala tan ona” taso lon ijo ni la, lon tenpo ni la, lon anpa Ama la, o awen ala lon ona, pona li ken tan ni. anpa Ama li toki tawa sina la, jan o toki tawa ona la, o sona: sina ken toki tawa mi kepeken ni: [email protected]

nasin ni en pali ni la, mi wile e ni lon kulupu: sina ali li pana li suli e lipu sin kulupu: tokipona.net en sitelenpona.net. jan pi mute ala li sona e ona, jan mute li sona e lipu ante a. sina ken la, lipu sina pi sin ala li tawa lipu tokipona.org anu lipu sitelenpona.org la, o ante e lipu sina, lipu o tawa lipu sin. sina sona e ijo la, sina wile pana e ijo la, sina wile pali lon kulupu la, mi wile kute e sina a, o kepeken nasin ni: [email protected]

ale la, mi sona: ni li tenpo nasa tawa ale kulupu, li ken tenpo ike tawa jan. sina kama sona toki la, anpa Ama li ken jan open tawa sona pi toki pona, li ken jan sona tawa sina, li ken pana e nasin kulupu tawa sina, li ken sama mama sona anu jan pi pali wawa. kin la, sina ken pilin pona lon poka ona, sina en ona li ken toki mute lon tenpo mute li pilin wawa lon poka. o sona, mi wile e pona ni ale lon tenpo sin. taso anpa Ama li ni ala lon tenpo pi ijo pakala ni la, o sona: pilin sina li ike anu pakala anu anpa la, sina wan taso ala.

tenpo ala la, kulupu ni li anpa Ama taso. tenpo suli la, anpa Ama li nasin ala e kulupu a. ni li pona. ni li nasin pi kulupu toki. toki li toki kulupu la, ijo li ijo kulupu la, ni o lon. anpa Ama li weka tan ma mute pi toki pona, ni li ante ala e sona toki, e ken pi sona toki, e awen kulupu. sina awen ken ale, sina awen ken kama sona, sina awen ken lon kulupu, sina awen ken toki lon nasin pona, sina awen ken lukin e kon sina e sona pi pilin sina kepeken toki pona. toki pona li ken ala pona taso e pakala ale lawa; mi lukin e anpa Ama lon tenpo ni la mi ken sona e ni; taso jan mute a la toki pona li ilo suli wawa lon ni: jan li ante pona e nasin pi lawa ona.

tenpo poka mute la anpa Ama li pali ike li toki ike, li ike e jan, e kulupu jan. taso ona li pana e ike ni la, lukin la nasin nasa lawa li lon ona. taso awen la, pali ni li kama e ike; ike li tan nasin pi lawa ona la ni li weka taso ala e ike. ijo tu ni li lon tenpo sama. pilin tu ni li ken utala nasa lon lawa sina. tu ni la, nasin ala li ken kama e pini pona tawa ali. ken la ni taso li pini pona: tenpo la, anpa Ama li kama sin, li pali tawa pona. ni li kama ala la, mi wile e ni: o pilin a e pilin sina, o anpa ala e ona. taso sina toki tan ni ale la, o awen sona e nasin pi nasa ona. sina kama sama ona, li kama sona e lon wawa sin, la jan poka ala a li pilin e lon ni, li anpa e lon ni, li utala e sina tan ni, la sina pilin seme? nasa ni ale la, mi ale li pilin ike tan utala. mi o pilin e ni: pilin sama suli a li lon anpa Ama a.

sina lon ala kulupu, li ken wile toki tawa kulupu kepeken anpa Ama lon tenpo pini la:

sina wile e sona e pali lon toki pona la, mi wile pana e nasin tawa sina: [email protected]
sina wile e ijo lon sitelen pona la, o toki tawa kulupu pali pi sitelen pona kepeken nasin pi lipu ona.

sina ante la:

kama ni ale li ike a. anpa Ama li wawa a li pali pona a lon tenpo pini, li awen ken kama pona sin a. mi sona e ni: jan li ken wile toki suli e pakala pi kulupu mi tawa jan mute, tawa musi. taso o sona e wile mi a: sina wile pana suli e ijo pi kulupu mi tawa kulupu ante suli, li wile alasa e sona mute mute tan jan pi kulupu mi, ni li nasin ala nasin pona? o alasa e pona.

tenpo ni la wile mi li ni: pakala o kama pona kepeken tenpo, lon kulupu mi, lon anpa Ama kin. o pona tawa ni.

tan jan ni:
jan Alin
kala Asi
jan Eta
jan Isapela (tenpo pini la “jan Asiku”)
waso Juwan
jan Ke Tami
mun Kekan San
waso Keli
pipi Kewapi
jan Lakuse
soweli Lapate
lipamanka
jan Lisaki
jan Mika
sitelen ko Pela
jan Sepulon
jan Suko
ilo Tani
wan Tansin
jan Tekinowi
jan Telesi
jan Tepo

tan mama pi kulupu ni:
kama sona (ilo Siko)
kulupu pali pi sitelen pona
kulupu pi toki Epanja (ilo Siko)
ma mun (ilo Siko)
ma pona pi toki pona (ilo Siko)
Ma Toki Pona VR (ilo Wijasa)
r/tokipona (lipu Wesi)
toki pona - jan pi wile pona taso (ilo Telekan)

(sina wile e nimi pi kulupu sina lon lipu ni la, o toki e wile ni tawa ni: [email protected])