nimi pi ante ale lu sama nimi "lili" lu tawa nimi "suli" li lon la jan pi toki wawa li ken toki e ijo mute mute li ken kepeken e nimi mute lili If there was an adjective that marks something as meaning it's opposite (in the same way that ala points to the lack of something) then that would greatly expand what can be said and greatly reduce the amount of words needed.
nimi ken|Candidates:
mi sona ala taso ken la lipu ni li ken pona. ken la ni li pona: nimi sin ni li kepeken taso e sitelen lili lu san i lu sama nimi "ala". ni li pona lu tawa mi: nimi sin ni li toki taso e ante ale lu tan ni: ona li suli mute. nimi ken ni li ike lu tawa mi i lu tan ni: I don't have any answers but perhaps this list can help bring inspiration. I'm inclined towards it being 3 letters (to match ala). I'm also inclined towards this being the only meaning that word (or at least its adjective form) has because it'll be so important. To discuss why i don't like some of the obvious options:
nimi "ala" li ken ala lu tan ni: tenpo ni la ona li pali e mute mute. nimi pi ante ale i mute li lon (pona/ike, pali/pakala, ale/ala, walo/pimeja, monsi/sinpin, noka/sewi, selo/insa, seli/lete)
ala is wholly insufficient for the task, it already has a big job denoting the lack of something. There's a reason there're already many antonyms (pona/ike, pali/pakala, ale/ala, walo/pimeja, monsi/sinpin, noka/sewi, selo/insa, seli/lete)
ken la nimi "ike" li ken. ona li nimi pi ante ale pi nimi "pona". ona li jo e sitelen lili lu san. taso... mi mute kepeken e ona la jan pi toki pona li ken sona e toki wawa pi lili mute. ante ale li ike ala. nimi "ike" pi tenpo ni li nimi suli
ike catches my attention because it's kind of just defined as the opposite of pona and because it is vowel-consonent-vowel just like ala. But to use it would probably greatly reduce toki wawa's compatibility with toki pona. And it comes with the connotation that to be opposite is to be worse. And it would mean entirely changing the meaning of a decently important word.
nimi "ante" li lukin pona. taso- ala. ante li ante ale ala. sina wile toki e ante lu sama nimi "lete" lu tawa nimi "seli" la nimi "ante ale" li pona mute ala
ante seems at first glance like it might be- but to be different is not to be opposite. That's a big enough distinction that i don't think it's reasonable to use the same word to denote both.
ijo pi mi ken lu lon lipu ni li ijo pi jan ale. taso ni li pona lu tawa mi: sina pali e ijo pona lu kepeken ona la o pali e ni: mi sona
Whatever i might hold a copyright claim to on this page, is instead released to the public domain. However i make a request: if you make something cool using it, please tell me.