Re: Tarnese Numbers

Hello,

Geoff Horswood wrote:
<<<>-----Tarnese Numbers-----
>
>The Tarnese use an octal number system.  The Tarnese don't
>have calculators.  Instead they calculate on their version
>of an abacus, called a sílemùwd.
Interesting.  If you have a "magical" noun category, I
assume you have
magic, so is magic widely available enough for a magical
abacus as a
calculator-equivalent?>>>

   Yes, they do have magic.  The '-uwd' indicates that the
abacus is man-made rather than magical.  Perhaps a
self-calculating abacus is the next big thing in Tarnese
mathmatics.
   I'm thinking I might switch the numbers around so they
go from left to right, instead of right to left.  I was
trying a couple of math problems this morning and found it
extremely difficult to keep the numbers straight,
especially on an abacus when I'm used to doing things the
other way.

<<<>A small math vocabulary
>
>to add - shanílew
>addition - kazhánùwd
>to subtract - longílew
>subtraction - kalóngùwd
>to multiply - pezílew
>multiplication - kabézùwd
>to divide - thidílew
>division - kadhídùwd
>to count - telàmendílew (lit. something like 'to one-two'
is there a difference between _ew_ and -u`wd_?>>>

Yes, there is.  I don't think there's much of a sound
difference between 'ew' and 'uw', but I'm not a native
speaker (of course :)) so I don't know if they'd be able to
hear a difference.  However, I do think of them as
different vowels.  '-ilew' is the infinitive ending for
intellectaul verbs (actions that require mostly thinking,
but some movement too.  Examples are 'to talk', and 'to
look')  The suffix '-uwd' is the ergative suffix for
man-made nouns.

[snip]

<<<What do you conceptualise as the difference between
"unnatural"
and "man-made"?>>>

Man-made items are anything that is made by a person,
houses, furniture, tools, etc.  Unnatural things are things
that are not supposed to have happened, or things that are
out of place.  So called natural disasters like floods and
earthquakes would be considered unnatural.  Also something
like a magical spell gone wrong would be unnatural.
(Idiomatical it's also used as an insult.  Attaching an
unnatural suffix to a word, implies that that thing should
not exist.)

Thank you for the suggestions.
---Etak





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