Paolo Coluzzi (MA University of Exeter, PhD University of Bristol) was born in Milan (Italy) and worked at the University of Brunei before coming to Malaysia twelve years ago, where he works as an associate professor at the Universiti Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. His research interests are endangered languages, language planning, the linguistic landscape, new speakerhood, and nationalism. Lately his research interests have included the practical applications of Toki Pona and other constructed languages.
This article is based on preliminary research on the way three well-known constructed languages—Esperanto, Klingon, and Toki Pona—are perceived by non-speakers. The main aim of this research was to estimate the degree to which the perceptions of non-speakers and the intentions of the creators and other users of these languages match. To this purpose two tests were conducted among a sample of students at the University of Malaya (Universiti Malaya) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Both were based on association of ideas, but one test focused on the sound of the three languages and employed a verbal-guise technique, whereas the other test focused on the visual appearance of the scripts of these languages (Latin characters for Esperanto, sitelen pona for Toki Pona, and pIqaD for Klingon). Based on the words provided by the students when listening to short tracks in these languages and when looking at brief sentences written in their scripts, it may be affirmed that the phonological and graphic choices of their creators were indeed appropriate.
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