Re: Numbers and math

The Gevey entry follows:

> A classic question is: how do you count to ten in your conlang?
> Generalizing:
>  - do you form ordinals from cardinals? how? if not, how?
>  - do you have a zero?
>  - can numbers be negative?
>  - fractions? percentiles? if it's not a decimal system, is there
>    something instead of percentiles?
>  - how do you add, subtract, multiply and divide? (if you know how)
>  - what about raising to the nth power and n-roots?
>
> I think I'll stop there but you get the idea :)
>
> I'm asking because there are lotsa new langs here, plus I've finally
> gotten those much wanted târuven numbers from 0 to 10 in place, but my
> guesses at how higher numbers (for instance 73 (decimal)) are formed
> somehow feels wrong, so I need tips (actually I need a târuven book on
> mathematics but I haven't found any so far ;) ).
>
>
> t.
>
Gevey counts in base 10.

In Gevey, cardinal numbers (one, two, three) are considered to be
adverbs of quantity and will generally go in front of the noun or
pronoun they qualify:

0 - zerhu, 1 - ónu, 2 - drasu, 3 - besu, 4 - vilu, 5 - finu
6 - dizu, 7 - áderu, 8 - éspenu, 9 - nuunu

(zerhu is singular, unlike in English where zero is plural)

10 - óki, 11 - ókionu, 12 - ókidrasu, 13 - ókibesu
14 - ókivilu, 15 - ókifinu, 16 - ókidizu, 17 - ókiderhu
18 - ókispenu, 19 - ókinuunu

10 - óki, 20 - draki, 30 - beski, 40 - vilhki, 50 - fiñki
60 - dizgi, 70 - ádeki, 80 - éspeki, 90 - nuuñki

100 - óci, 200 - draci, 300 - besci, 400 - vilhci, 500 - finci
600 - dizji, 700 - ádeci, 800 - éspeci, 900 - nuunci

1000 - ókici, 2000 - drakici, 3000 - beskici, 4000 - vilhkici
5000 - fiñkici, 6000 - dizgici, 7000 - ádekici
8000 - éspekici, 9000 - nuuñkici

Some examples:

1,993 - ókinuunci nuuñkibesu
2,329 - drakibesci drakinuunu
3,160 - beskioci dizgi
4,714 - vilhkideci ókivilu
5,058 - fiñkici fiñkispenu
6,671 - dizgidizji dekionu
7,405 - ádekivilhci finu
8,247 - éspekidraci vilhkiderhu
9,536 - nuuñkifihnci beskidizu

Note that in Gevey numbers such as 4,714 are not spoken in the form
"four thousand  seven hundred and fourteen" but rather in the form
"fourty seven hundred and  fourteen" - vilhkideci ókivilu

There are, however, seperate words for 10,000 "milhu" and for
100,000,000 "tastrhe", which  are placed after their portion of the
number. So a number such as 53,612,804,719 (fifty three thousand
million eight hundred and four thousand seven hundred and nineteen) is
spoken in Gevey as:

   536 1280 4719
   536 tastrhe 1280 milhu 4719
   finci beskidizu tastrhe ókidraci speki milhu vilhkideci  ókinuunu

Cardinal numbers (first, second, third) in Gevey are treated as
adjectives, and are formed by adjusting the end of the final number in
a number complex as shown below.

Adverbs of time are formed directly from the cardinal numbers:

1st - otuu, 2nd - dratuu, 3rd - bestuu, 4th - viltuu
5th - fintuu, 6th- distuu, 7th - ádetuu, 8th - éspetuu
9th - nuuntuu, 10th - ókituu, 100th - ócituu

1stly -  ótuuë, 2ndly - dratuuë, 3rdly - bestuuë
4thly - viltuuë, 5thly - fintuuë, 6thly - distuuë
7thly - ádetuuë, 8thly - éspetuuë, 9thly - nuuntuuë
10thly - ókituuë, 100thly - ócituuë

Finally, cardinal numbers can act as nouns in Gevey, without
changing. The meaning of the word is deduced by its position in the
clause or sentence (adjectives are always attached to the noun or
pronoun they influence). "Ótuu (yuu ot)" means  "first" and "once".
Similarly "dratuum (yuum drat)"  twice, "bestuum (yuum best)" thrice,
"viltuush (yuush vilt)" four times, etc.

The noun forms are used to form fractional numbers (subject form
first, direct object form following in brackets):

   1/2 - onu dratuu (yuu onu drat)
   1/3 - onu bestuu (yuu onu best)
   2/3 - drasu bestuum (yuum drasu best)
   5/8 - finu éspetuush (yuush finu éspet)

I have not yet considered mathematics in Gevey, but will need to soon
- the language is supposed to be a trade language, so maths will be a
central feature.

Exponentials? Eeeek!

Rik

--
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The Gevey Language Resource.