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Phaleran Update: Numerals

From:Thomas R. Wier <artabanos@...>
Date:Saturday, August 11, 2001, 10:53
Hello all.  Here's another installment of some new features of
Phaleran (I've been getting a whole lot done now that my sleeping
schedule is the reverse of normal people):  numeral systems,
causative constructions, and relative clauses.

Numeral System of Phaleran

The Phaleran numeral system is fairly complex because you have
three different systems superimposed on top of one another.  Using
arabic numerals for metadescription, from 1 through 24, the numerals
operate according to a base 8 system, whereby it counts from one to
eight, and then structurally starts again with constructions like 'eight + one',
'sixteen + two', etc.  Beyond that, however, from 25 through 29, there's
a base five system, and from 100 up a base ten system.  Thus:

    1        esa                'one'
    2        nû                  'two'
    3        meo               'three'                    ( < C'|ali _miu_, 'three')
    4        teo                 'four'                     ( < C'|ali _tiu_, 'four')
    5        plenai             'five'
    6        sorkwa           'six'
    7        phwali            'seven'
    8        snâ                 'eight'
    9        snâsa              'eight + one'
    10      myumen          'ten'                       ( < C'|ali _möumæn_)
    11      snamyu           'eight + three'
    12      snatyu             'eight + four'
    13      snaplenai         'eight + five'
    14      snâskwa          'eight + six'              (*sna + sorkwa)
    15      snâphli             'eight + seven'
    16      anta                 'sixteen'
    17      antâsa              'sixteen + one'
    18      antanu              'sixteen + two'
    19      antamyu           'sixteen + three'
    20      tyumen             'twenty'                   ( < C'|ali _töumæn_)
    21      myusuthwola    'three from 24'
    22      nusuthwola       'two from 24'
    23      essuthwola       'one from 24'
    24      thwola              'twenty-four'
    25      pleñklounai       'five times five'        (*plenai + klo + plenai)
    26      pleñklounaisa    'five times five + one'
    27      pleñklounainu    'five times time + two'
    28      pleñklounaimyu 'five times five + three'
    29      pleñklounaityu   'five times five + four'
    30      šanmen             'thirty'                    ( < C'|ali _š|anmæn_)

I don't want to bore all of you with an exhaustive list (!), but beyond the
notes given above, it is worth mentioning that the Phaleran numeral system
has borrowed C'|ali number terms wholesale, because for a long time, the
C'|ali were the dominant civilizing force on Phalera.  Their language is not
related to Phaleran, however, deriving from an even earlier stock of colonists.
C|ali's number system is based on ten, which is why when you can get a sense
of C'|ali morphology even in Phaleran borrowings (_möu_ = 'real, genuine',
_töu_ = 'two', _š|an_ = 'three';  _mæn_ = 'ten').    Any questions, comments?

Coming up:  causatives!

===================================
Thomas Wier | AIM: trwier

"Aspidi men Saiôn tis agalletai, hên para thamnôi
  entos amômêton kallipon ouk ethelôn;
autos d' exephugon thanatou telos: aspis ekeinê
  erretô; exautês ktêsomai ou kakiô" - Arkhilokhos

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Thomas R. Wier <artabanos@...>