Numbers in Camzic

On the subject of numbers, and as I seem to have been posting more about
natlangs than constructed ones lately, I thought I'd present the number system
I dreamed up one day for Camzic, a language with slightly Semitic-like changing
vowel patterns.

In Camzic, nouns have five grammatical numbers - singular, dual, their equivalents
for 3 and 4 individuals (trial? quadral?) and a "common plural", the last
being used for unspecified number greater than four.

The number declination of _hana_, 'boy':
Singular: hana
Dual: heni
3-number: hieni
4-number: hine
Common plural: hanë (e-diaresis)

The numerals are powers of ten and their halves (5, 50, 500...) and have
the same grammatical numbers as the nouns.

Some numerals:
kac - 5
: keic '10' : kiehic '15' : kiec '20' : kaëc
safa - 10
: sefi '20' : siefi '30' : sife '40' : safë
laspa - 50
: lespi '100' : liespi '150' : lispe '200' : laspë
nafs - 100
: neifs '200' : niehifs '300' : niefs '400' : naëfs

And this is how it works:

hana - a boy, one boy
heni - two boys
hieni - three boys
hine - four boys

_Kac_ 'five' denotes five when used with a plural noun, six with a singular
noun, seven with a dual noun etc.

kac hanë - five boys
kac hana - five + one = six boys
kac heni - seven...
kac hieni - eight...
kac hine - nine...

safa hanë - ten...
safa hana - 11...
(Actually, I keep wanting to say instead
keic hanë - two fives boys
keic hana - two fives + one boys, etc.)

kiehic hanë - three fives = 15...
kiehic hana - three fives + one = 16...

sefi hanë - two tens = 20...
sefi hana - 21...
sefi kac hanë - 25...

sife kac hanë - 45...
sife kac hine - 49...

laspa hanë - 50...

laspa siefi kac heni - 87... (50 + 3x10 + 5 + 2)

nafs hanë - 100...

liespi hanë - 150... (3x50)

neifs hanë - 200...

If one wanted to have a number separated from the things counted, one could
probably replace the noun with a pronoun.

Now, I don't know if I will use this system, but I did find it in a way funny
and worth sharing. What's the anadewism?


- M. Astrand
"Neeba." - "Teeba?" - "Qeesvefar la:lka." - "Djo:ly."
"Guess what?" - "What?" - "I've learned how to speak." - "Great."

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