Re: Padraic's numbers (fi: JG's list of conlangs)

On Thu, 24 Jul 2003 19:59:04 +0100 Joe <joe@...> writes:
> > That sounds like fun :-P
> > [je@n]
> > [tje@n]
>  [e@]?  [&], I would think.
-

Well, i don't know what dialect of English the people who use this
counting system speak, so i was just going by how i'd pronounce the words
based on how they're written, and hoping that it's somewhat close :-) .
The [e@]~[E@] diphthong is a NYC Metro Area (as well as other places)
allophone of /&/, search the archives at listserv.brown.edu for "NYC and
grass" for more specific info.

> > ['tET@r@]
> > ['mET@r@]
> [D], I would guess, from intuition.
> > [pImp]
> > ['sET@r@]
> > ['lET@r@]
> > ['hVv@r@]
> > ['dVv@r@]
> I would guess [O], here.  I'm not quite sure.  And I doubt the [h]
> would be pronounced in 'hovera'.
> Welsh ones?  I'm giving the pronounciations I hear, as an
> anglophone.
> un - [i:n]
> dau - [dai]
> tri - [tri]
> pedwar - [pedwar]
> pump - [pimp]
> chwech - [xwex]/[xuex](|we| might be a dipthong, I'm not sure)
> saith - [saiT]
> wyth - [uiT]/[wiT]
> naw - [nau]
> deg - [deg]
-

Okay, now those definitely are much more remeniscent of the numbers i
learned in Irish class.  Except for 4-6,8.  (warning: potentially
horribly misspelled Irish words approaching)  a haon, a dó, a trí, a
ceathair, a cúig, a sé, a seacht, a hocht, a naoi, a déag.

> The ones John gave, AFAIK, are generally seen as the last remnant
> of
> Cumbrian.  The system in question here comes from Borrowdale.
> Incidentally,
> this system was referred to in 'The Wee Free Men', by Terry
> Pratchett.
-

What's Cumbrian?

> yan - cognate with |un|
> t(y)an - things in this system tend to come in pairs.  This is
> cognate with
> |dau|, but influenced by 'yan'.
> tethera - This is cognate with |tri|, and influenced by 'methera'
> methera - cognate with 'pedwar'.  This is sometimes seen as pethera
> or
> fethera, too.
> pimp - Rather obviously cognate with pump
> sethera - not particularly obviously cognate with 'chwech'.  Looks
> like
> 'six' though.  Influenced by 'methera', again.
> lethera - Don't have a clue.  Could be made up, in order to
> distinguish it
> from 'sethera'.
> hovera - It might be pronounced without |h|, as they do up north.
> Which
> would make more sense.  Again, not sure on this one.
> dovera - n > d?  Maybe originally 'novera', which looks kind of
> similar to
> [nau]. which would explain. 'hovera', as being influenced by novera,
> but
> being consonant-less(initially), it just got transformed entirely.
> dick - this is obvious, really.
> In this system, 15 is 'bumfit', and 20 is 'jiggit', or something
> similar.
> After 10, you have 'yan a dick', 'tan a dick', and so on, until 15.
> After
> 15, it's yan a bumfit, tan a bumfit, again, until 20.  I assume it
> goes yan
> a jiggit, then, but I don't know.  I don't think the system goes
> much
> further than 20.
-

Cool.


-Stephen (Steg)
 "I wouldn't care about my spirits if my legs weren't so tired.  Slugs
are lucky not to have legs.  I think I'll be a slug."
     ~ bluebell, 'watership down' by richard adams