Re: OT: Semitic number games [Was:Numbers in Qthen|gai (and in Tyl Sjok)]

Yes, sorry. I wasn't being specific enough, since in formal written Arabic the
gender switching only occurs from 3 to 10, generally.
Krista
>Gender polarity occurs in Hebrew as well as Arabic.  Moreover, there are
>complex rules in both languages regarding the form of the noun that
>follows these pesky numbers.  In Arabic, for example, the noun may be
>singular or plural and in the accusative or dative case.  And in
>colloquial Arabic, while most of the gender polarity has vanished, the
>old polarized forms live on with a few words that very often occur next
>to numbers (days, months).  As for why - there are very long theories
>about that but I do not believe there is really an accepted explanation.
>I lent out my Arabic grammar that discusses this so I can't give the
>references.
>
>Shaul