Numerals in Maggel (Was: Re: Judajca)

En réponse à Barry Garcia <barry_garcia@...>:

>
> Numerals are one of the easier parts of conlanging to do. In
> Montreiano,
> they escaped relatively unharmed phonologically speaking. :
>
Since we are at numerals sharing, I thought I might give something about
Maggel's numerals I've been working on (although it's only partial as I'm not
finished yet with them ;))) ).

In Maggel there are no "cardinal" numbers opposed to "ordinal" ones. But there
are "declarative" numbers (used when referring to the number itself, like in a
phone number), "combined" numbers (which are equivalent to cardinals, ordinals
and multiplicative numbers), "distributive" numbers (meaning "one by one", "two
by two" or "each one", "each two"...) and some incomplete sets used to count
particular things, like people (those are called "personal" numbers). I've
worked until now only on the first two categories.

The declarative numbers are the basic form, and the combined numbers are
generally derived from them. Numbers use base-20 (of course! ;))) ). The basic
declarative forms are (pronunciation in modified X-SAMPA with & for ae-ligature
and ' for stress - marked only for non-monosyllables for conciseness -):
1: gho [ho:]
2: snah [znaI]
3: tehg [TEM\]
4: ideeir [t9x]
5: fomd [fO~]
6: gsie [ksi]
7: saib [s&p]
8: jbone [SoUn]
9: tiuotajm ['TyT@~N]
10: ignuil [kNur]
11: eln ['iln=]/[iln]
12: holn ['hOln=]/[hOln]
13: snahln ['znaL\N=]/[znaL\N]
14: ignuideeir ['kNut9x]
15: ignufomd ['kNufO~]
16: ignugsie ['kNuksi]
17: teodadeh ['TE:d@deI]
18: snaodadeh ['zna:d@deI]
19: hoodadeh ['ho:d@deI]
20: oatdeh [ad'deI]
21: ghoba oatdeh ['ho:v ad'deI]
...
29: tiuotajmba oatdeh ['T9~Fv ad'deI]
30: ignuba oatdeh ['kNuv ad'deI]
...
40: oasnao [a'zna:]
60: oatehg [a'TEM\]
80: ideeirde ['t9xtI]
100: fomde ['fO~dI]
120: oagsie ['aksi]
140: oasaib ['as&p]
160: oajbone [a'SoUn]
180: tiuote ['TyTI]
200: fomdhsnao [fO~'4na:]
220: oatdeh a heln [ad'deI @ 'hiln=]
240: oatdeh a hholn [ad'deI @ 'Coln=]
260: oatdeh a hsnahln [ad'deI @ '4naL\N=]
280: oasaibhsnao [as&b'4na:]
300: tiuotbagsie ['TyDv@ksi]
320: oajbonnao [aSO~n'na:]
340: teodanao ['TE:d@na:]
360: snaodanao ['zna:d@na:]
380: hoodanao ['ho:d@na:]
400: gdhmabgis [dvE:Iz] (remember that one ;))) )
...
800: gdhmabgis snao ['dvE:Iz 'zna:]
1200: gdhmabgis tehg ['dvE:Iz 'TEM\]
...

Note that you stop counting with those numbers at 7999 (which is in Maggel
|hoodadba hoodanaoba gdhmabgis hoodadeh|
['ho:d@dvU 'ho:d@na:vU 'dvE:Iz 'ho:d@deI]). Above, you must use normal nouns
instead (which complexifies everything even more ;))) ). The three most used
nouns are the feminine |iuemahl| ['yImIL\]: eight thousand (as all feminines,
this form is the plural indefinite. I won't show all four numbers but note that
the dual of this noun is |sismahl| ['sEzbmIL\] ;))) ) and the neuter
|muorhiadf| ['mIr\_j&d]: million and |bmuorhiadf| ['bIr\_j&d]: "billion" (in
the European continental sense: a million million). Those last two are probably
strange borrowings from "myriad" ;))) . Since the last two are meant for base-
10 instead of base-20, big numbers are a mess to name in Maggel. But hey,
that's the goal ;))))) .

Note also that for values just preceeding an integer amount of twenties or 400,
you can name them substractively, like for 17, 18 and 19. So instead of
|snaodadba oatdeh| ['zna:d@dv ad'deI] for 38, you can simply say |snaodasnao|
['zna:d@zna:].

By the way, the clitic |-ba| simply means "and" and is used with nouns as well.

Here come some combined forms. I won't spend long on them, since I didn't
finish work on them. They are generally derived from the declarative forms by
adding the article |a| and a |h-| at the beginning of the number. But some have
a more complicated derivation than that (including some which lack the
article ;))) ). A quasi-regular rule is that you derive multiplicative adverbs
from  the combined numbers by getting rid of the article and of the |h-| when
this one is graphically the first letter of the word. So when a |h-| has been
added, but not as first letter of the word, it stays even when you get rid of
the article (complicated? Yes, but that's what Maggel is all about ;)))) ). But
here are the main combined numbers:
1: a ghho [@ 'Co:]
2: a hsnao [@ '4na:]
3: a htehg [@ 'CEM\]
4: a ihdeeir [@ 'x9x]
5: a hfomd [@ 'wO~]
6: a ghsie [@ '4i:] (hehe, adding a |h-| can make many changes ;))) )
7: a saihb [@ 's&T]
8: a hjbone [@ 'GboUn] (idem :)))) )
9: a tiuohtajm [@ 'TyC@~N]
10: a nuig [@ 'nuk]
11: a heln [@ 'hiln(=)]
12: a hholn [@ 'COln(=)]
13: a hsnahln [@ '4naL\N(=)]
14: nuideeir ['nut9x]
15: nufomd ['nufO~]
16: nugsie ['nuksi]
17: a teodadeh [@ 'TE:d@deI]
18: a snaodadeh [@ 'zna:d@deI]
19: a hoodadeh [@ 'ho:d@deI]
20: a haineh [@ ha~'deI]
21: aghhoba aineh [@ 'Co:v a~'deI] (as I said, when the article is omitted, the
initial |h-| must go too, in any case, not only for the multiplicative adverbs)
...
29: a tiuohtajmba aineh [@ 'T9~Fv a~'deI]
30: a nuigba aineh [@ 'nugv a~'deI]
...
40: a hasnao [@ hI'zna:]
60: a hatehg [@ hI'TEM\]
80: a ihdeeirde [@ 'x9xtI]
100: a hfomde [@ 'wO~dI]
120: a hagsie [@ 'hIksi]
140: a hasaib [@ 'hIs&p]
160: a hajbone [@ hI'SoUn]
180: a tiuohte [@ 'TyCI]
200: fomdhsnao [fO~'4na:]
220: a helnde [@ 'hiln(=)dI]
240: a hholnde [@ 'Coln(=)dI]
260: a hsnahlnde [@ '4naL\n(=)dI]
280: oasaibhsnao [as&b'4na:]
300: a tiuohtbagsie [@ 'Tyj\v@ksi]
320: oajbonnao [aSO~n'na:]
340: a teodanao [@ 'TE:d@na:]
360: a snaodanao [@ 'zna:d@na:]
380: a hoodanao [@ 'ho:d@na:]
400: a hdhmuhois [@ 'Gvi:Yz]
...
800: a hdhmuhois snao [@ 'Gvi:Yz 'zna:]
1200: a hdhmuhois tehg [@ 'Gvi:Yz 'TEM\]
...

As you probably recognised by now, multiples of 400 are given by following 400
(whether in declarative or combined form) with a multiplicative adverb.

For the rules of counting nouns with numbers (cardinal sense), the basic idea
is that like in Irish Gaelic, only the smallest number is put before the noun
(which has mandatorily the article and is in complement form if possible, so we
have two articles in this construction :)) ). The rest is put behind (and it's
the noun that takes the clitic |-ba|). Note that there is number agreement, but
only with the part of the number in front of the noun. So with 42 the agreement
would be in the dual for instance ;))) .

Well, that's all I have so far (I've not worked yet on how to count big amounts
of a noun using the counting nouns too, nor have I worked on the ordinal and
multiplicative use of the combined numbers). What do you think of it? Maggelish
enough? ;))))))

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.

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